Have you ever looked at a phrase in an email and cringed? Turns out you’re not alone.
Language learning platform Preply conducted a survey of 1,002 people about their perceptions of office colloquialisms and found out a lot of popular terms get on people’s nerves. Coming in at the top spot? “Circle Back.”
The phrase, which usually refers to coming back something, is most annoying according to those surveyed, with work hard, play hard, boots on the ground, let’s table this and synergy and put a pin in it rounding out the top 5.
In terms of most overused? The term (or acronym) “FYI,” which stands for for your information, with a whopping 81% using it at home. Another 2 in 3 people use the expressions “at the end of the day” (65%), win-win (64%), and “touch base” (63%) when not at work.
Why should you care about this information? Using the wrong language is the difference between getting what you need from a co-worker and being ignored.
According to Entrepreneur, people think others understand their messages 90 percent of the time, but the actual statistic is only 50 percent. What’s more poor company comms is a pathway to disengagement, according to Gallup. As FirstUp points out, the overall percentage of engaged workers during 2022 is only 34%, down from 39% in 2021, so there is definitely work to be done to get those numbers up. Teams who effectively communicate stand to more profitable by a factor of 21%.