Vulgarity and profanity in the WFH era


Vulgarity and profanity have no place in the workplace. Not only is profanity unprofessional, the use of it can spread through a workforce and if the problem is not curtailed, it may become commonplace.

Today, with the workforce working from home in their own silos, vulgar language used during meetings and discussions is being exposed to the other members of the employee’s homes. Across Sri Lanka many employees still don’t have a dedicated workplace and are sharing the work place with the extended family at home. While this usage of profanity would have been tolerated or ignored inside the boardroom among the co-workers, today the impact of the usage of profanity is not limited to the employees in the organization.

This exposure of profanity impacts the employee’s self-confidence and slowly but surely deteriorates the respect the family members have towards the organization as well as the value held by the wage earner in the family. 

Recent surveys carried out on post pandemic work life balance indicate that 1 in 7 employees have experiences improper work conduct by their superiors. One of the primary causes of grievance is the improper and and deliberate use of profanity and usage of examples that are sexual in nature. The survey findings further reveal that this behavior impacts both males and females, especially in the full-nest 1 and 2 stages.

Today more than ever companies need to establish a zero-tolerance profanity policy. Companies need to communicate a new company policy addressing the use of vulgar language in the workplace. Detail which words and phrases are not acceptable and let employees know that action will be taken if the new policy is not followed to ensure that the employees are not placed in an uncomfortable place.

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