A NEW SURVEY has ranked the phrase ‘current economic climate’ as the most irritating workplace phrase in Ireland.

The poll, carried out by recruitment website IrishJobs.ie, found that three out of ten employees were irked more by the recession euphemism than any other buzzword, ahead of ‘going forward’ (which annoyed 22% of respondents) and ‘thinking outside the box’ (which irritated 15%).

The survey found that the scourge of unproductive workplace meetings, however, was more annoying to most than recession-era buzzwords – with employees from companies with fewer than 50 employees most plagued by fruitless workplace conferences.

40% of workers said that “making no decision” was the biggest meeting crime, while 23% of respondents were most annoyed when meetings were dominated by one person.

Going off agenda (20%) and rambling (17%) also ranked highly in terms of annoying outcomes at meetings.

Employees of small firms were likely to spend the most time in meetings, with meetings become more infrequent as firms became bigger. 62% of people said, however, that they felt meetings were a necessary evil and that they were beneficial on balance.

Valerie Sorohan of IrishJobs.ie said the survey showed that the key to a good meeting was the person who chaired it.

Which of these recession buzzwords do you hate the most? Vote here and let us know your thoughts in the comments.