Cut out these annoying phrases at the office for your New Year’s resolution

Traditionally, New Year’s resolutions are often set as personal goals to better ourselves, ranging from visiting the gym more often through to learning a new language. For 2017, Kit Out My Office wants colleagues across the UK to come together and set a New Year’s resolution for their team – to stamp out the most annoying phrases and improve morale.

Kit Out My Office, an online retailer of office furniture, has compiled a list of the most annoying office phrases based on feedback from 2602 office workers across the UK.

The top five most annoying office phrases are:

1. Think outside the box
2. It’s not rocket science
3. Amazeballs
4. Going forward
5. Can I borrow you for a second?

Office jargon is often used as a tool to make a task or job seem bigger or better than it may actually be, but it can also be used in a much more innocent way, explains Gareth Jones, Business Manager at Kit Out My Office.

“The modern working life is fast-paced, and as such we strive to deliver information in a clear and concise manner,” says Jones. “The downside of this is it is a breeding ground for jargon. Setting a collective New Year’s resolution in your office to stamp out jargon in 2017 could definitely help to improve morale.”

Dr Julia Claxton, Principal Lecturer in Leadership and Organisational Development at Leeds Beckett University added: “Hurt feelings, unclear goals and ambiguous strategies are just a few examples of issues that can arise and contribute to low morale and are the basis of an ineffective team that can be easily avoided.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum lays “best practice”, which is the least annoying phrase used, with nobody stating that it was irritating or overused.

Top five phrases that won’t annoy your colleagues:

1. Best practice
2. Thrown under the bus
3. No brainer
4. Cool beans
5. Move the goalposts.