I feel like this is more common outside the actuarial profession. For example, in, say… software companies.
This guy on the call I’m on has both the most fantastic (Italian?) accent and has used almost every form of the f-word logically possible. He’s very knowledgeable - and is currently ripping apart some other guy’s (actuary) s—ty slide.
Favorite quote so far: It’s not dat f—ing complex, uh, you know? Hard code dat f—ing logic.
Does this contribute to a hostile work environment? I don’t know - I am personally finding this hilarious.
It isn’t normal for one meeting to have as many actuaries on the call as there were this morning, so it was a weird juxtaposition of a bunch soft spoken people, 1 good ol’ Southern boy, and a rogue Italian.
I think it depends on the group, although I think people who curse at work a lot are often taking a bit of a risk since those who are uncomfortable are probably not going to make an obvious fuss about it until they’re really annoyed about their work environment. I haven’t really experienced it with actuaries, but I’ve definitely worked with some underwriters who had colorful language, although they tended to be the super outgoing ones so people wouldn’t mind. Similar story with brokers.
Well, when giving such advice, I’d do it privately, one-on-one, not during a meting or something like that, also making it clear that I (tiff) personally don’t mind it.
So, come here to complain about it.
As I wrote, someone will, eventually, complain about it. You don’t have to, since you don’t mind. But a bunch of people will eventually have to deal with it instead of doing their job. None of which will be you, so you’ll shine, relatively.
Profanity in the workplace can be considered a contribution to a hostile work environment. It is going to depend upon the location, the type of work, and the type of employees. Typically words with that have a sexual connotation are considered worse because they could be sexual harassment. You may be to young to remember but in the nineties there was a big court case in the US where a guy was referencing a Seinfeld episode that eluded to a female body part. He was fired and the courts upheld that the employer was in the right.
I don’t think swearing in meetings has ever been common, but I did work with an FSA who was always situated in the furthest corner next to only other actuaries with thick skin. Because while he was writing code he was always calling it a mother f***er and worse.
But he never swore in a meeting that I ever heard, or even in casual conversation.
It was shocking to go from that job to a job where my boss was dropping s- and f-bombs every minute or two. Co-workers mostly did too and eventually I picked it up a little.
A terrible habit that I took with me to my NEXT job where I supervised a conservative Christian. I was like “wait, this isn’t me either… this is my last boss, who I hated. Why am I being like that awful miserable person?”
I mean, I probably only dropped one or two a week, as opposed to 10 or 20 an hour, but still…
My ex told me that investments people use colorful language on the regular - in meetings or otherwise - so I’m curious if the practice varies by industry.
I’m zero percent surprised actuaries aren’t prone to using profanity at the workplace.
f bombs seem to be occasionally acceptable at my workplace. I doubt you would be able to get away with more offensive words, though, like the kinds used in Australia.
my ex manager, basically chief actuary of our latam branch, said c-level people/senior underwriting managers cuss and jump on desks and throw shit at ppl frequently.
He was some sort of executive at Miller Brewing. His claim was that he was wrongfully terminated over this and he was too old (over 50 so protected class? I don’t remember) and nobody was going to hire him again. His lawyers argued that if you can’t share something like Seinfeld with your coworkers, then the world was just broken. IIRC, he was awarded something like $18 million by a jury. That was overturned on appeal. What he had actually done was photocopy the definition of the body part out of the dictionary, highlighted it, and then was carrying it around showing it to people. Since he never said anything offensive, how could it be harassment right? And it was just anatomy so it wasn’t sexual. It always sounded to me like the guy was an immature moron who let his whole ass hang out and got rung up for it.
