Older employees find bad language offensive

HEARING bad language at work makes older employees feel uncomfortable, MPS have been told.

Julie Dennis, from the arbitration service Acas, told a women and equalities select committee that employees were increasingly affected by the poor behaviour of their younger colleagues.

She said: “Because of youth culture, they’re coming out with certain statements or words that many of us in the workplace are quite taken aback with.” Hugh Robertson, of the Trades Union Congress, said: “Language evolves. That change is a part of life. However, what does not change is that offensive terminology has no place at work.

“This is not about generational understanding, it is about respect for your colleagues, young or old.”

At the same meeting Christopher Brooks, a senior policy manager for the charity Age UK, told MPS that older people avoided applying for jobs because they worried about taking them away from the young.