‘I’ll ping you’ and different office jargon Brits use with out even realising

Lots Brits are confused on a daily basis by corporate jargon and workplace speak so let’s connect the dots and put a pin in what they don’t understand

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From “synergy” to “leveraging” and “shifting the needle”, as many as nine in ten (90%) Brits confess they are baffled on a daily basis by ‘meetings speak’, with 89% wishing colleagues would use simple everyday language instead of ‘boardroom talk’,

‘TLDR’ (16%) which stands for ‘too long, didn’t read’, ‘let’s whiteboard this’ (15%), ‘shift the needle’ (14%), ‘close the loop’ (13%) and ‘EOD’ (13%) which refers to the ‘end of day’ are among the most pointless terms.

One in ten (12%) have been left puzzled after being asked to ‘align offline’ (12%), while a further 12% have no clue what a ‘key takeaway’ is.

Sales and marketing departments (29%) are the worst offenders, followed by IT (21%) and HR (18%), while the generational differences are clear – Gen Z (50%) are significantly more likely to use corporate gibberish than Millennials (35%), suggesting the trend is not slowing down anytime soon.

According to a survey of 2,000 adults, commissioned by network SMARTY, a third (31%) admit they have feigned understanding phrases in meetings, just to avoid embarrassment.

Simon Hall, Lingo expert and creator of the award-winning course in writing, public speaking and storytelling at the University of Cambridge, says: “Jargon is one of the most common challenges in work and everyday life.

“Buzzwords and corporate phrases are used to make things sound clearer or more impressive but quite often, they end up confusing people instead.

“I’ve begun to think as we shift from work to our personal life, frequently on the same devices, we’re only promoting jargon, as people become trapped in a workplace mentality and communication style. It’s difficult to turn off the corporate brain – I can speak from experience.

“As I always say when I’m teaching: keep it simple. Because simple isn’t stupid. Simple is smart. The irony is that people don’t use jargon to be confusing; they use it in an attempt to sound professional. But clarity is professionalism, it’s as simple as that.”

The research also revealed that half (48%) believe abandoning the jargon would make work conversations online or face-to-face more productive.

‘Corporate speak’ emerges an average of nine times a week, while out for drinks with mates (49%), at family gatherings (32%), while watching telly (29%), at family meals (28%) and parties (23%).

One in ten (9%) admitted to using ‘work talk’ on a date with ‘I’ll ping you’ (18%), ‘best practice’ (14%), ‘reaching out’ (12%) and ‘just flagging’ (10%) the most frequent culprits.

A spokesperson from SMARTY Mobile said: “At SMARTY we know life is complicated enough without having to decode jargon from colleagues and friends.”

Through its new AI jargon-busting tool, SMARTY is helping customers cut through the noise and translate everyday corporate slang into language that actually makes sense.

Office jargon us Brits find confusing

1. I’ll ping you – 25%
2. KPI – 17% (Key Performance Indicator)
3. Low-hanging fruit – 17%
4. TLDR – 16% (Too Long; Didn’t Read)
5. Deep dive – 16%
6. Let’s connect the dots – 16%
7. Put a pin in that – 16%
8. Let’s whiteboard this – 15%
9. Can you clarify the ask? – 15%
10. Per my last email – 15%
11. Circling back on this – 15%
12. Onboarding – 14%
13. Shift the needle – 14%
14. OKR – 14% (Objectives and Key Results)
15. Synergy – 14%
16. Drill down – 14%
17. Move the needle – 14%
18. We need to cascade this – 14%
19. COB – 14% (Close of Business)
20. EOD – 13% (End of Day)
21. Close the loop – 13%
22. We need to leverage this – 13%
23. Circle back – 13%
24. What’s the ask? – 13%
25. Let’s workshop this – 13%
26. Just flagging – 13%
27. Where are we landing? – 13%
28. Let’s sense check that – 12%
29. Let’s align offline – 12%
30. Key takeaway – 12%