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survey of over 2,000 British managers has revealed which habits irritate them most while at work. One of most annoying things for today's managers is current crop of jargon, or "management speak". Others high on list include people who sit opposite you sending you emails, when they could simply tell you their message; people arriving late for work and for meetings; and people who take regular cigarette breaks. Report author Charles Elvin explained why it is important for us to know what annoys people. He said: "When office-based teams work in close proximity for long periods of time, we see that seemingly trivial issues can grow disproportionately. If left unchecked, they can begin to cause upset and resentment."

Management jargon proved to be emotive issue for those participating in research. Many managers described it as "pointless irritation" which few people understand. They wondered why people used it when there are "normal" ways to express same thing. Cited examples included 'thinking outside box', 'going forward' and 'let’s touch base'. "real-world equivalents" of these are 'looking at things differently', 'in future' and 'contact me'. The Plain English Campaign stated overused jargon damages economy. The group said: "Management speak…gets in way of business….It isolates newcomers who feel they have to learn lingo….It acts as barrier to procuring new business."