Use of appropriate workplace language aligns with good communication. Excessive slang or other crude or double meaning words may seem acceptable among friends, but it does not support your image as a good communicator at work, said HRM professional and Executive Director, Kent Ridge (Pvt) Ltd. Janaka Kumarasinghe, responding to the need to maintain refined language and workplace ethics to boost confidence and productivity among employees. He said the use of a certain words could be perceived as harassment by different genders.
At the same time excessive use of professional jargon also disconnects certain employees as it cannot be understood by all.
The purpose of communication is to convey a message in a way that could be understood.
The use of jokes should be done carefully as it can be perceived by people differently.
Use of appropriate workforce language and communications is vital not only to create an engaging and productive workforce to face challenges and develop one’s career but also to survive in an hostile environment such as the current pandemic.
“Today we are in a dynamic and a diverse working environment. Employees work from various offices, homes, countries and other locations for the same organisation. It can be at a desk, on the bed, while traveling or attending to other matters,” he said.
People from different generations, genders, religions, cultures, educational and social backgrounds work together.
They communicate with each other through different methods. It could be face to face, body language, telephone, email or social media. Sometimes communications through the phone, computer or mobile of an employee can be heard, seen or felt by a spouse, parents and children. All of them should be comfortable with the language used by the others and we should show respect and dignity to others in the use of language. However, that doesn’t mean tonality and selection of words should be the same to handle different situations.
According to HR experts, ethics are the guiding principles that determine how people conduct themselves in every aspect of their lives, including the workplace.
While ethics and workplace behavior has always been important, there’s been a shift over the past few years in how the public and employees view major issues such as sexual harassment.
As a result, there is increasing pressure on business leaders and human resource departments to ensure that ethics and behaviour at the workplace are maintained.
Honest, hardworking employees who are driven by principles of decency and fairness increase overall morale, improve your company’s reputation and help ensure long-term success.
Experts believe it’s important to give your employees a means through which they can alert business owners about unethical behaviour at the workplace. Business owners are often the last people to know that some members of their staff are behaving in ways that could negatively impact the long-term reputation of their companies.
This is less likely to happen if you have a strong system in place that gives employees a means to report unethical behaviour. A vital aspect of the workplace is working well with others. That includes everyone from peers to supervisors to customers. While not all employees will always like each other, they do need to set aside their personal or even work-related differences to reach a larger goal.