Defence

Work Life

Sheer blasphemy

Side story: Cowardly cussing

Your boss just told you your job is being restructured for the third time this week, your computer doesn't work but you can't call the helpdesk because although you moved desks last Tuesday, your phone didn't. Then you spill coffee down the front of your new top. Kathryn Fitch tackles the delicate issue of swearing in the workplace...

It's enough to make a saint swear... but if that saint worked in Defence, should they? And let's just say - hypothetically of course - that the saint did swear, what are the repercussions? And when it comes right down to it, what counts as swearing anyway?

Admittedly trying to define swearing is difficult because it's a grey area. What is everyday conversation to one person can make another person's eyes water - and then there are some people who seem to use swearing like punctuation.

The Macquarie dictionary defines a 'swearword' as an obscene or blasphemous word, and to 'swear at' as to speak to with curses or blasphemies or abuse. Obscene? Blasphemous? Once again, without wanting to get too pedantic, we turn to the Macquarie dictionary - which incidentally is infamous for the inclusion of four letter words. Obscene is defined as "offensive to modesty or decency, indecent, inciting to lust or sexual depravity" and to blaspheme is "to speak impiously or irreverently of god or sacred things".

This only raises more questions to an inquiring mind. How do you define indecent or impious? How would you benchmark modesty or decency? Is it still impious or irreverent if you are unaware of the religion? Come to that, which god?

The different shades of grey would probably keep a lively discussion going at the pub on a Friday night - but what you are a person who swears, or an annoyed co-worker, or a manager that has to moderate between the two. What are the actual rules?

Richard Dittler, who works as a trainer in Defence Policy, says rather than wading into the classification debate Defence views swearing at work from the effect it has on the person hearing it.

"Swearing in the workplace is defined by its effect on people. The legal test is what effect the language would have on a reasonable person. What society regards as reasonable is usually defined by the courts - there are specific cases that deal with swearing in the workplace, and these define our view of what is fair and reasonable in a particular set of circumstances. For example, an Army section commander giving fire orders in combat may reasonably use language that is unacceptable in an office environment. Context is important." Mr Dittler says.

According to Mr Dittler, people regularly modify their behaviour depending on the situation they're in and that how we speak depends on our audience - the language we use with our mates is often different from that which we use to talk to our grandmother. He says, likewise it is important that we recognise that the workplace has certain rules, and (even though some of our colleagues may also be our mates), our behaviour should consider everyone who may be around and take their possible sensitivities into account.

Ok, so the saint swore, and that upset someone...

"The most common misconception is that a person has to be warned that their language is upsetting someone before they can be pulled up on it. It doesn't work like that. Like anything that is covered under Unacceptable Behaviour - there is an assumption that people have attended the annual Equity and Diversity training, and that they are aware of their responsibility to treat those around them with respect," he says.

"But this does not mean that every time someone swears, they should be punished for unacceptable behaviour. It simply means that the language should fit with the situation and the measure is that a 'reasonable' person would use similar language given the same situation. For example, someone in a workshop who drops a heavy object on their toe would have a reasonable case for swearing. On the other hand, doing so while delivering a presentation to a boardroom is harder to justify."

After a vox pop in this office it looks like the saint would be off the hook in that instance - but you can't be sure of the same everywhere. Like everything in the modern workplace, staying on the right side of law and policy means treating your colleagues with respect and courtesy, so unless you work in a soundproofed office alone, it's probably better to leave the locker room language there.

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