The latest buzzword at my company is “attrition.” The dictionary defines this word as “the action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure.”
My company keeps incorrectly using it in the context of
someone leaving the company, either voluntarily or involuntarily termination. We actually had a presentation today, where
one of the managers said that his team had 11 people leave through “voluntary
attrition.” Voluntary attrition? Who would voluntarily choose to become less
effective or weaker from sustained attack or pressure?
The worst part is that people are so ignorant of the English
language and too lazy to actually look up a word that they don’t know, that
this misuse of the word will get perpetuated throughout other meetings,
conversations, and presentations. So,
voluntary attritions will continue at our company. This reminds me of a t-shirt I have that
reads, “Beatings will continue until morale improves.”
