Diversity Council says ‘hey guys’ video copped ‘highly offensive, expletive-laden abuse’

THE Diversity Council says it was forced to lock down its “hey guys” video due to a torrent of “highly offensive, expletive-laden abuse”.

THE Diversity Council of Australia says it is “ironic” that a campaign encouraging the use of respectful language has resulted in a torrent of abuse directed towards the not-for-profit group.

In a video for the council’s “Words At Work” campaign earlier this week, Australian of the Year David Morrison said “non-inclusive” language such as the phrase “hey guys” should no longer be used in the workplace.

“Research has told us for years how language cuts people out or cuts them down, and yet it still happens,” he says in the video, which has been viewed more than 15,000 times. “When it comes to words at work, we’ve all got to walk the talk.”

The suggestion was widely panned online and in the wider community.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the concern over the use of “guys” had gone too far, and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said he would continue using the word.

Language experts, including editors of the Australian Oxford English Dictionary and the Macquarie Dictionary, told the Australian Financial Reviewthe word “guys” was gender-neutral.

Meanwhile, prominent business diversity advocate Carol Schwartz, founding chairwoman of the Women’s Leadership Institute of Australia, told The Australian she uses the term at work.

While not quite approaching Ghostbusters remake levels of internet ire, the two-minute “Words At Work” video attracted a large number of “dislikes” and negative comments.

The council said it was forced to disable feedback on the video “because we were getting a lot of highly offensive abuse”.

“We are happy for feedback, both positive and negative, but we were not getting a constructive or respectful conversation,” a spokeswoman said.

The council’s chief executive Lisa Annese told news.com.au said she was “surprised it received such an intense reaction and the tone of a lot of that”.

“The sort of expletive-laden language that’s been directed towards people in our organisation and the chair of our board, I’m just confused by it,” she said. “It seemed a bit ironic to us [given we were] making a call for people to start having respectful workplaces.

“I’m surprised actually that Facebook and YouTube allow that.”

Ms Annese disagreed that the campaign was political correctness gone mad.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” she said. “If you were to look at the whole campaign, read what the campaign was about and then form an opinion, it’s not about being prescriptive about language.

“It’s about thinking how workplaces vary. You get some where there are male-dominated groups, and some where if you’re in a minority speaking out might be intimidating.

“Organisations are really committed at the moment to try and improve their workplace culture, and it’s impossible to do that unless you look at every interaction with your staff.”

She said for Mr Morrison, “hey guys” was a meaningful example.

“I accept that ‘guys’ is used and perceived to be gender-neutral by many, but most people don’t open the Macquarie Dictionary to look at a definition before they understand how a word makes them feel,” she said.

“There are historical meanings. Especially for mature-age women, ‘guys’ is a gendered term.”

Ms Annese said the response from the council’s members had been “really encouraging”.

“We had a private launch with our members and they were overwhelmingly appreciative of the project,” she said. “Within the business community, people who are trying to make modern, agile workplaces, they really appreciated this sort of thoughtful advice about how to approach language.”

Ian Narev, chief executive of Commonwealth Bank, a council member, wouldn’t say whether he supported the call to scrap the phrase “hey guys”.

“I don’t have a particular view on the comment,” he told news.com.au.

“All I can say is that in this realm of technology you are going to stand and fall on your ability to get people from all sorts of different genders and cultures together and have them feel that they are encouraged and empowered to give their best.

“Everyone’s got different ideas on how to do it. Inevitably in these things someone raises an idea and a whole lot of other people criticise them, saying no I’ve got a better idea and other people criticise them for that.

“We’ve developed a bit of a sense of every idea somebody puts up others just enjoy raining on. Our view is you’ve just got to try a bunch of stuff internally and make it clear to all your leaders that part of their job is to create inclusive environments.

“At least for us historically as a bank, we haven’t been the most inclusive place we could have been, and we’ll do whatever we can to improve that.”

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Originally published as Diversity Council says ‘hey guys’ video copped ‘highly offensive, expletive-laden abuse’