Regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings as well as develop social relationships, according to a study by researchers.

Yehuda Baruch, a professor of management at the University of East Anglia, and graduate Stuart Jenkins studied the use of profanity in the workplace and assessed its implications for managers.

They assessed that swearing would become more common as traditional taboos are broken down, but the key appeared to be knowing when such language was appropriate and when to turn to blind eye.

The pair said swearing in front of senior staff or customers should be seriously discouraged or banned, but in other circumstances it helped foster solidarity among employees and express frustration, stress or other feelings.

"Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner," said Baruch, who works in the university's business school in Norwich.

Disorganization is the greatest frustration for workers attending business meetings, according to Opinion Research USA's first "Ouch Point" survey, a new monthly study examining tolerance thresholds in a variety of common scenarios facing Americans in both their professional and personal lives. Surprisingly, tardiness is far better tolerated by the business community than disorganization, with only four percent frustrated by meetings starting late and five percent annoyed by attendees arriving late, the survey found.

"Structured business meetings with a closely followed agenda are often the most productive, particularly when attention spans can be short," said Jeff Resnick, President of Opinion Research USA. "Our first 'Ouch Point' survey indicates that a disorganized meeting is a disengaged meeting that will rarely result in the desired outcomes."

1. Disorganized, rambling meetings - 27%
2. People who interrupt peers and try to dominate the meeting - 17%
3. Cell phone interruptions - 16%
4. People who fall asleep in meetings - 9%
5. Meetings with no bathroom breaks - 8%
6. Long meetings without refreshments - 6%
7. People leaving early or arriving late - 5%
8. People who check their Blackberries during meetings - 5%
9. Meetings starting late - 4%
10. No written recap of the meeting outcomes - 4%

Nor should they. Those skills are big assets when it comes to multi-tasking and productivity. But they're also a nightmare for many of their bosses, those over 35 who understand that while technology is a useful tool, it doesn't replace relationship building as a primary means for doing business. Today's bosses can't understand why their young recruits, for all their brains and technical acumen, hardly ever come over and actually talk to them.

"I hear from clients that [young professionals'] first instinct is to IM rather than walk over to their boss's office. That can be OK for a quick question, but when you're planning something, you need to talk face-to-face," says Steven Rothberg, founder of Collegerecruiter.com, who places recent graduates into corporate jobs.

The tech disparity between 20-somethings and 40-somethings is far greater today than it was 20 years ago, when today's 40-somethings were the young turks. Over 17 percent of today's workforce is between the ages of 25 and 34, while another 28 percent is made up of employees 55 and over, Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show.

That breakdown is not much different than in many past years. But what is different is the speed of technological progress since the mid-1990s, from the Internet and e-mail to cell phones and instant messaging. A recent survey by outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison shows that 60 percent of U.S. corporations acknowledge having workplace tensions among generations.

Ruth Sherman, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based communications consultant whose client roster includes Deloitte, Pfizer and Bank of America, says common complaints about younger workers range from lame handshakes and poor conversational skills to super-casual attire and personal use of company e-mail. Some show up at job interviews in tee shirts. What the Gen Yers don't see, she says, is the meaning and value of gestures and other non-verbal skills that don't come through in a text message.

"My clients are frustrated; a lot of them are throwing up their hands because they can't persuade young people to get it," Sherman says.

Carl Tyler, a veteran of Lotus and IBM who now runs Instant Technologies, an enterprise IM software group, thinks one of the biggest etiquette breaches by Gen Y recruits involves newbies typing paragraph upon paragraph of chat.

"It's a new medium, don't treat it like e-mail," Tyler says.”

Know the rules
Before even entertaining the thought of wooing a co-worker, check your company's employee handbook. If the rules say no inter-office dating and you want to keep your job, keep your thoughts -- and your hands -- to yourself.

Survey says: 35% of U.S. adults have fantasized about a co-worker.

Know your co-worker
Get to know your co-worker before pursuing a romantic relationship. Make sure s/he's single, not one to kiss and tell, and most importantly, not related to your boss.

Survey says: 6% of U.S. adults have dated a relative of a co-worker.

No means no.
She Loves You Not? If you ask a co-worker out and she/he says no, that's it. Game over, do not pass go. Do not ask again, do not sulk, do not make further references to the encounter, jokes or innuendos, Clarence.

Survey says: 16% of U.S. men and 5% of U.S. women say they've been rejected by a co-worker.

Create a workplace prenup
Before moving forward in a relationship, have a candid conversation about what might happen if things go south. Be aware of any potential consequences to your career before starting a relationship and agree on boundaries and expectations.

Survey says: 5% of U.S. adults said they've had romantic relations with a co-worker that made work uncomfortable.

Don't fish in your boss's pond
If your new "love bunny" works in the same department as you do, be prepared to change departments or tell your boss.

Date up, not down
If you have a choice, it's always safer dating someone above you. You may get fired, but at least you won't get slapped with a sexual harassment suit. And on that note...tempting as it may be, stay clear of temps. Contractors, consultants, and interns can all spell trouble, Mr. President. Just because they don't work for your company full-time doesn't mean that the rules of the game are any different when it comes to dating these folks (at least while they're under your roof).

Survey says: 7% of U.S. men and 11% of U.S. women have dated a boss or superior.

Keep your privates private
Don't gab about your new romance. Love in the workplace becomes dangerous when it's out in the open for others to scrutinize. No flirting, furtive glances in the elevator or taps on the derriere. People catch on to these cues.

Survey says: 9% of U.S. adults said they've had romantic relations with a co-worker that resulted in office gossip

Use Hotmail for hot mail
This may seem obvious, but plenty of people disregard it. Never use company email to exchange love notes or anything remotely suggestive. Companies can and do monitor email exchanges. If you must profess your undying affection while at work, use a private web-based email service like Yahoo or Hotmail.

Don't drink and date
Be wary of office parties and more than 2 drinks. Too many careers have been killed when people have dropped their guard at an office party.

Your Office or Mine? Neither.
C'mon people, get a room. Don't have sex or "sexual relations" in the office. Period.

Survey says: 16% of U.S. men and 7% of U.S. women reported having sex in the office.

Photocopier manufacturers are anticipating a 25% rise in call outs over the festive period because of workers abusing the machines.

Manufacturer Canon said a third of its technicians called out over the Christmas period have to deal with the consequences of staff sitting on photocopiers to make pictures of their bottoms.

In response, the company has increased the thickness of the glass on the machines from 3mm to 4mm to take the strain.

David Smith, marketing director at Canon UK, said: "People obviously let their hair down at Christmas time and the photocopier tends to get a bit of extra-curricular activity."

Office holiday parties are like blind dates: Wear the wrong shirt, tell the wrong joke or drink one too many martinis and your potentially happy future is over before it began. Each year amid the jovial flow of cocktail franks, gin-and-tonics and choruses of Fill Me Up, Buttercup, someone becomes a footnote in their company's holiday folklore, forever labeled as the guy who thought it would be funny to teach the boss's wife to dance the Macarena.

The delicate task of navigating this half-social, half-professional occasion leaves many employees wishing they could simply stay home.

But according to executive coach Marjorie Brody, the office holiday party is an ideal opportunity to raise your profile at work in a positive way and make connections that can help your career.

"Most people think it's a party, and either they don't want to go or they'll go and just eat and drink with their friends. Both of those are mistakes," Brody says. "It's a chance to be talking to people you don't normally speak to and a good opportunity to create an impression."

Conflict can also flare up over management style. Unlike previous generations who've in large part grown accustomed to the annual review, Gen Yers have grown up getting constant feedback and recognition from teachers, parents and coaches and can resent it or feel lost if communication from bosses isn't more regular.

"The millennium generation has been brought up in the most child-centered generation ever. They've been programmed and nurtured," says Cathy O'Neill, senior vice president at career management firm Lee Hecht Harrison in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. "Their expectations are different. The millennial expects to be told how they're doing."

Matt Berkley, 24, a writer at St. Louis Small Business Monthly, says many of his generation have traveled and had enriching experiences, so they may clash with older generations they see as competition or not as skilled. "We're surprised we have to work for our money. We want the corner office right away," Berkley says. "It seems like our parents just groomed us. Anything is possible. We had karate class, soccer practice, everything. But they deprived us of social skills. They don't treat older employees as well as they should."

60% of workers rate time and flexibility as a very important factor in retention, but only 35% of employers feel the same.

Only 49% of employers rate financial compensation as a very important driver of retention, but 69% of workers believe it is.

On average, employers only expect 14% of their workforce to leave in the next year, but Spherion data shows that nearly 40% of U.S. workers intend to find a new job in the next 12 months.

Less than half (44%) of U.S. workers believe their companies are taking steps to retain them and nearly a third (31%) believe there is a turnover problem at their company already.

Only 34% of HR managers mention turnover/retention as a key HR concern.

One of the biggest disconnects between employers and employees is the importance workers place on their ability to maintain a balance between their professional and private lives. In its previous Study, conducted in 2003, Spherion found that 86% of U.S. workers agreed that work/life balance and fulfillment was a top career priority and 96% agreed that an employer was more attractive when it helped them meet family obligations through options like flextime, telecommuting or job sharing. However, it appears that U.S. employers have not significantly responded to that need.

According to the 2005 Study, one-third of workers between the ages of 25 and 39 feel burned out by their job and 28% of all workers say their employers expect them to stay connected to the office outside normal office hours. At the same time, only 24% of employers offer a formal flex-time program, only 12% offer telecommuting and 11% offer job sharing.

Even more concerning, many companies don't plan to implement work/life balance programs at all. In fact, 61% of all companies stated they don’t plan to offer job sharing, 56% don’t plan to offer telecommuting and 33% don’t plan to offer flextime.

1. Don't hold meetings in your cube

2. Don't talk loudly on the phone in your cube.
Do talk loudly on your phone in your private office, if and when you get one.

4. Don't IM gossip. The cube mate behind you is reading your comments, even though you don't think they are.
Do IM important work questions, like "are you at your desk? Can I stop by?"

10. Don't have a boring cube.
Do make your cube suitable for all to enjoy.

You're not being appreciated:
- If your boss is gradually giving you fewer and fewer responsibilities
- You're kept out of the loop - i.e. not invited to meetings, not told what's going on until the last minute (or not at all)

You've simply outgrown your position:
- Maybe you started at a low level position and have been passed over for promotions even though you’re qualified
- You're not being challenged enough

Job stress is affecting your everyday life
- You have chronic headaches or backaches
- You have developed an anxiety, sleep or other disorder as a result of your job stress

5. You have plastered your cubicle with photos of yourself taken with famous people.

6. It is your trademark to recite rhyming or other cutesy messages as your voice mail greeting.

18. You often give others assignments as they're walking out the door for lunch or to catch the train home.

19. You borrow staplers, scissors and tape from others' desks and forget to return them.