DTI warns businesses against "David Brent" humour

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Businesses are being warned to be more careful with the content of work-related messaging as a survey conducted by the DTI reveals a quarter of London employees misinterpret the ‘humour' of emails.

A poll of full and part-time employees for the Department of Trade and Industry earlier this month reveals almost 25% of Londoners have “suffered crossed wires with colleagues or clients because their use of humour in an email has been misinterpreted”. Moreover, at least two out of ten people have made these faux pas because it was the worst possible time to make such comments. According to the findings, men are believed to be less adept at surviving in the ‘communications jungle’ than women, as almost one in three men (28%) have seen their jokes back-fire compared with 19% of women, ...

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