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In business, familiarity is not innate. But it can, however, be built over time. After all, we spend more time with our colleagues than with our loved ones, which can lead to some unprofessional behavior. Giving nicknames to the people you work with is one of them.
Professional relationships imply, in theory, a certain distance. However, it is not uncommon to take some liberties with your closest collaborators, by giving them pet names. Thus, Lucille becomes “Lulu” and Alexandre “Alex” for more conviviality at work. The most creative souls do not hesitate to assign pseudonyms to their colleagues: “Mister calculator” for Mathias from accounting or “La dame” for Karine, this n+1 is feared by her subordinates.
At first glance, you might think that nicknames help create a relaxed atmosphere in the workplace. But this is not necessarily the case, the use of diminutives or pseudonyms at work being a marker of differences in power and distance between groups. Researchers Zhe Zhang and Shuili Du had proof of this after conducting several experiments involving more than 1,000 American employees.
These assets had to put themselves in the shoes of an employee who had just arrived in a new company. They were divided into four groups: the members of the first group were informed that they had to call their new leader “Panda”, in reference to his black and white clothing; those in the second have been warned that their manager has taken to calling one of his subordinates “Panda” for the same reasons. Participants in the third group were told that their new colleagues called their boss by his name, and those in the fourth that the same boss called his colleagues by their respective first names.
Afterward, the volunteers were asked a series of questions assessing how powerful, respected, and psychologically safe they would feel in the work environment the researchers described to them.
A double-edged practice
In a study published on the pre-publications site SSRN, Zhe Zhang and Shuili Du explain that employees projected themselves more into their new fictitious company when the use of nicknames was reserved for employees. They viewed positively the fact that a boss accepted being called “Panda” by his colleagues. “When an authority figure invites others to give them a nickname, they give the impression of being down to earth and listening to the people around them“, emphasize the researchers in Harvard Business Review.
Conversely, giving a subordinate a pet name seems much more reprehensible. This familiarity is seen as a lack of respect, not as something good-natured. Furthermore, Zhe Zhang and Shuili Du found that the use of nicknames is more or less well received depending on the organizational structure of the company. The little name is associated with flexible, horizontal and egalitarian relationships. It has no place in a pyramid organization where managers are distinguished from “managed”.
In general, it’s best to refrain from giving nicknames to people you work with. We prefer to call our colleagues by their usual name, or possibly by a diminutive if they don’t mind. Of course, it depends on the cultures. In Brazil, the use of the nickname, or “apelido” in Portuguese, is much more widespread than elsewhere. The country’s president is known more as Lula than as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But, if you don’t live in Corcovado country, keep the pet names for your loved ones.