Most people censor themselves when emailing friends and co-workers on the company system. And for good reason, as many companies use software that allows management to view incoming and outgoing messages by unsuspecting staff, a growing trend that has resulted in the ubiquitous warning on questionable links NSFW (not safe for work).
For the most part, the measure is meant to discourage the distribution of offensive content and ensure a professional working environment. Employees are expected to refrain from using abusive or profane language in email, just as they would avoid dropping F-bombs while discussing last night’s episode of Glee at the water cooler.
So the news that Goldman Sachs had recently banned swearing in employee emails wouldn’t be newsworthy per se, were it not for the context in which the decision was made.
In April of this year several officers from Goldman’s securities business were hauled before Congress to explain to the American people why they had failed to disclose to their investors that they were betting against a certain mortgage-backed security that they had created and sold.
After going through reams of internal emails, documents, and letters to investors, Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Senator Carl Levin honed in on one email that he believed exposed the duplicitous game Goldman was allegedly playing.
“Boy, that timberwolf was one sh#tty deal,” said Levin, reading a June 2007 email from Thomas Montag, who helped run Goldman’s securities business.
The “email heard ‘round the world” fiasco has apparently pushed Goldman to make some changes.
Under the new email rules—delivered to staff orally, of course—swearing is verboten and will be monitored by a software system. No word yet as to a new policy on disparaging the products you just sold to clients.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Montag-Levin exchange, here it is in all its cringe-inducing glory (scroll down to the bottom of the story).
Make sure you wear your earphones, though. NSFW!
