“Holibobs”, “teamwork makes the dream work” and “giving 110%” are the UK’s most hated office buzzwords, according to new research, with more than a quarter of workers finding these phrases irritating.
The new study by Brother UK, the office electronics retailer, surveyed over 1,000 Brits to uncover which behaviours office workers find the most annoying along with identifying the most irritating phrases used in the office.
The buzzwords people are most likely to find annoying:
Rank Buzzword/Phrase Percentage
1 Holibobs 29%
2 Teamwork makes the dream work 27%
3 Giving 110% 25%
4 Happy Hump Day 25%
5 Happy Fri-Yay 25%
6 Touch base 24%
7 Nice to e-meet you 22%
8 Beer-o’clock 22%
9 Go the extra mile 19%
10 Think outside the box 19%
Just under a third of workers (29%) find the phrase “holibobs” the most irritating commonly used office phrase. And while intended to be inspiring and uplifting, the saying “Teamwork makes the dream work” closely follows as the second most annoying phrase at 27%.
Overly cheerly phrases such as “giving 110%”, “happy Hump Day” and “happy Fri-yay” can clearly have the opposite desired effect, with one in four office workers finding the phrases annoying. A phrase that many people will find familiar since the pandemic is “nice to e-meet you”, which comes in at 22%.
The behaviours workers are most guilty of
Rank Guilty Traits Percentage
1 Working on something else whilst on a video call 23%
2 Not turning on your camera on calls 23%
3 Slow responses to emails or messages 17%
4 Messaging out of hours 16%
5 Interrupting 15%
6 Long lunch breaks 13%
7 Oversharing personal stuff 13%
8 Eating on camera 11%
9 Putting messages in the wrong channel or group chat 10%
10 Overusing GIFs 9%
The research also explored which annoying behaviours we are ourselves guilty of. Almost one in four respondents admitting to not adhering to proper video call etiquette. This included not giving their full attention to the speaker and attempting to multitask on another project during a video call, as well as not having their cameras on for calls (23%).
Interrupting, oversharing personal information, and overuse of GIFs also made the list, with 15%, 13% and 9% of workers saying they commit these office faux pas, respectively.
Bad workplace habits differ depending on the level of seniority. Director level respondents were more likely to admit to messaging out of hours (30%), whereas respondents who were business owners described their worst workplace habit as being slow to reply to messages (31%).
You can find more information about the research here: https://www.brother.co.uk/business-solutions/hybrid-working/what-makes-a-good-work-friend