In the workplace, employees and people managers use a distinctive type of corporate jargon that can sound like a lot while meaning very little. These buzzwords can appear in emails, meetings, and conversations.
Buzzwords are common in the workplace, but a lot of people hate many of them. In addition, some buzzwords are so bad that if people see them in a job ad, some won’t bother to apply. Those are some findings from our recent survey of 1,551 American office workers.
Business jargon is at times a necessary evil, with three out of four respondents saying it can make a person sound more professional, but that doesn’t mean people love every snappy catchphrase exchanged between coworkers.
Here are the best and worst business buzzwords to use at work in 2022:
10 most frequently used business buzzwords
- Win-win
- Culture (e.g., “Company culture”)
- ASAP (as soon as possible)
- Think outside the box
- Moving forward/going forward
- Circle back
- It’s on my radar
- On the same page
- Bring to the table
- New normal
10 most annoying business buzzwords
- New normal
- Culture (e.g., “Company culture”)
- Circle back
- Boots on the ground
- Give 110%
- Low-hanging fruit
- Win-win
- Move the needle
- Growth hacking
- Think outside the box
10 least annoying business buzzwords:
- At the end of the day
- Debrief
- Sweep the floors
- SMB (Small and mid-size business)
- Table this
- B2C (Business-to-consumer)
- Blue sky thinking
- Ideate
- Game changer
- Teamwork/Teambuilding/Team players
10 terms most likely to be red flags in job descriptions:
- Rockstar
- Wear many hats
- Thick skin
- Work hard, play hard
- Schedule TBD
- Urgently hiring
- Ninja
- Hit the ground running
- Fast-paced environment
- Overachiever
10 terms least likely to be red flags in job descriptions:
- Proactive
- Empower
- Leverage
- Lots of perks and benefits
- Proven track record
- Resilient
- Fun/Amazing/Unique company culture
- Sense of humor
- Passionate
- Competitive salary
