Workplace abbreviations lead to colleagues disliking you.

Remember that scene in 13 Going On 30 when Jenna's editor, Richard, threw out some jargon about taking apart the FOB and overhauling the BOB of Poise magazine? Jenna's face said it all - she was completely bewildered. But it turns out, you don't have to be the star of a body-swap rom-com to feel lost in a sea of industry-specific terms and abbreviations. Recent research has revealed just how confusing these terms can be for many people.

The experts at Wix dug through a variety of business articles from sources like The Guardian and Indeed, and compiled a list of 45 commonly used office acronyms. But they didn't stop there - they also looked into which terms people are most likely to search for with phrases like "meaning" or "definition". The results were eye-opening. Topping the list was KPI, with a whopping 662,400 annual searches in the UK alone. To put that into perspective, that's more searches than the population of Belfast! But what exactly is a KPI?

In case you were wondering, KPI stands for "key performance indicator" and is a quantifiable measure used in many workplaces to evaluate performance. It could be anything from sales numbers to customer satisfaction. And what makes it even more confusing is that the specific metric varies from place to place. So while one company may measure their KPI as the number of t-shirts sold, another may use happy customers as their KPI. No wonder Jenna looked so bewildered!

But KPI isn't the only term leaving people scratching their heads. CRM, which stands for "customer relationship management", comes in at second place with 543,400 yearly searches. And it's not just these two terms - VPN, SEO, FTE, and AWOL round out the top five, each receiving over 300,000 annual searches. It seems these supposed "time-saving" abbreviations are actually causing more confusion than anything else.

But why are these abbreviations and jargon so prevalent in the workplace? According to Wix, they may make communication faster, but they also open the door for misunderstandings. This is especially true for new employees who may already be struggling to adjust to their new role. That's why it's important for companies to ensure their staff is trained on these terms and to encourage open dialogue so that everyone feels comfortable asking questions and seeking clarification.

In fact, a previous study by LinkedIn and Duolingo found that 69% of people believe their colleagues use too much jargon at work. And it's not just annoying - it can also be a barrier for millennial and gen Z workers, with 54% admitting to secretly looking up a term during a meeting, compared to only 27% of baby boomers. And to make matters worse, 80% of those surveyed have used a term they didn't understand in a professional setting, just to keep up appearances. It's a never-ending cycle of unintelligible business-speak.

Dr. Hope Wilson, learning and curriculum manager at Duolingo, reminds us that there's no need to feel ashamed if we use jargon at work, but it's important to be aware that it can make others feel confused or left out. She suggests considering alternative terms that have a higher chance of being understood by everyone. After all, isn't that the whole point of communication?

So the next time someone throws out a confusing abbreviation or jargon in a meeting, don't be afraid to speak up and ask for clarification. Who knows, you may just save someone else from feeling as bewildered as Jenna did. And isn't that a better personal KPI than just nodding along and pretending to understand? If you have a similar experience to share, we'd love to hear it! Just shoot us an email at [insert email address].

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