While there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’, there are three in ‘irritating’ which is how nearly one in three of office workers in Birmingham (31%) would describe hearing that cliché at work.

Buzzwords and jargon seem to be unavoidable in the modern workplace, no matter how many people find them annoying. Business telecommunications provider, 4Com, has looked into the phenomenon, surveying office workers in Birmingham to discover the city’s biggest pet peeves when it comes to office jargon.

The top ten most annoying buzzwords and phrases according to Birmingham’s office workers are:

  1. There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ (31%)
  2. Thinking outside the box (25%)
  3. Let’s touch base (22%)
  4. No brainer (21%)
  5. Close of play (19%), win-win (19%)
  6. Draw a line in the sand (14%)
  7. Game changer (13%), I’ll just ping that over (13%), Having bandwidth to take on more (13%)
  8. Value added (11%), 110 percent (11%)
  9. 110 percent (10%)
  10. Check in (8%), Wash-up (8%)
Despite more than a third (35%) of Birmingham workers agreeing that office jargon is annoying, over one in five (21%) admit to using buzzwords daily, while more than one in fifty (3%) confess to using them every hour!

Some claim to using office jargon without really noticing (11%), while others choose to do so in order to make themselves appear more professional (6%), and impress their coworkers (18%). One in ten workers (10%) even confess to using the language at home - and enjoying it.

Additionally, the survey looked into the jargon that Birmingham workers use most often. The top ten most common office buzzwords and phrases are:

  1. Thinking outside the box (42%)
  2. ASAP (39%)
  3. No brainer (33%)
  4. At the end of the day (31%)
  5. Win win (29%)
  6. Back to the drawing board (26%), Give you a heads up (26%)
  7. Close of play (25%), To be fair (25%)
  8. I’ve got a lot on my plate (24%)
  9. Smashed it (21%)
  10. Catch up (19%)
Using phrases like “close of play” rather than “end of the day”, and asking to “catch up” instead of asking to discuss, begs the question, why is office slang so popular in Birmingham when workers find them irritating and over a third (35%) use them without knowing their meaning?

Commenting on the research, Mark Pearcy, Head of Marketing at 4Com said, “We can all be guilty of using the odd buzzword or two when talking to colleagues. It might sound snappier in an email, but unless the person receiving it knows exactly what you mean, there’s not much point!

“As a telecoms provider, we are all about communication - the more straightforward, the better. When it comes to making a point or explaining your ideas, it’s definitely more important to be understood than to sound slick.”