New Reckon Survey Reveals Australia’s Most Hated Corporate Jargon

In offices across Australia, ‘touching base’, ‘thinking outside the box’ and ‘picking up the momentum’ are all common phrases thrown around daily that wouldn’t typically be used outside of the workplace.

But just how many Aussies are using corporate jargon in the workplace?

Accounting software company, Reckon, surveyed 1,000 Australian office workers to reveal the most frequently used corporate jargon and the phrases Australian workers hate.

Let’s ‘deep dive’ into the results…

The Reckon study found that seven out of ten Australian office workers use corporate jargon regularly to communicate in the workplace. People aged 25-35 years old are most likely to use corporate jargon, with 80% of those surveyed stating they use corporate jargon at work, compared to only 64% of workers aged 55-64.

Surprisingly, only one fifth (21%) of Australians express negative feelings towards corporate jargon and one third of enjoy it or like using it when appropriate (39%). The majority of participants said they use corporate jargon to ‘save time and have more efficient communication in the workplace’ (52%).

The most commonly used phrase is ‘touch base’, with almost half (48.4%) of Australians using the phrase regularly. Ranking in as second most common was ‘get the ball rolling’ (47.8%) and ‘think outside the box’ (45.3%). Interestingly, the biggest difference between genders was the use of 'I hope this email finds you well', with 44% of women using the phrase, compared to only 19% of men, which may suggest that females focus more on friendly communication and building emotional connections in the workplace.

When it comes to the most hates phrase, ‘ducks in a row’ takes the lead being disliked by almost a fifth (17%) of survey participants. This was followed by ‘reinvent the wheel’ (15.7%) and ‘put a pin in it’ (15.1%).

‘Ducks in a row’ topped the list of least favourite phrases across nearly all age groups. 'On my radar' had the largest gender gap, with 67.7% of those who hated the phrase being men, compared to only 32.3% of women.

According to the report, when it comes to corporate jargon in different industries, the tech industry is the biggest offender with ith 85% of those surveyed using industry-specific terms. The most popular phrases included "bandwidth" (43%), "get the ball rolling" (42%), and "deliverables" (41%).

View the full report here: https://www.reckon.com/au/small-business-resources/corporate-jargon-survey/