BANTER! THE MAKING…


OR THE BREAKING OF BARRIERS!


Cruel banter…that may be moving down through incivility towards bullying.


In August of last year, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (the ‘CISI’), a global professional body for those in the financial and investment professions, published a CISI Survey on the effects of ‘…banter…’ in the workplace. It’s perhaps best to identify what is meant by the term ‘…banter…’ so that we can then accurately judge its effects. A common definition of banter is…good-natured, usually witty and animated joking. A


modifier in front of banter would be ‘witty’, ‘friendly’ or ‘lighthearted’…but it seems that the banter found in CISI’s survey was more accurately modified as usually ‘cruel’ banter, that may be moving down through incivility towards bullying.


There were some interesting replies to the survey. So, let’s start with those who answered. There were 750 responses, 43% identified as female and 55% male.


CISI Survey on the effects of ‘…banter…’ in the workplace from 750 responses: 97%


were made uncomfortable by banter at some time


69%


contributed less in meetings because of banter


60%


said banter resulted in them putting forward fewer ideas, indicating a stifling of creativity in financial services professionals


40%


said banter aimed at them affects how they feel about themselves often or all of the time


33%


said banter affected them… but they could put it out of their minds


25%


said banter made them feel uncomfortable at least some of the time


• 40% said banter aimed at them affects how they feel about themselves often or all of the time.


• 33% said banter affected them…but they could put it out of their minds.


• 25% said banter made them feel uncomfortable at least some of the time.


Of the 750 responses, 132 felt they had been made to feel uncomfortable by banter, resulting in impacting their ability to speak to their line managers about their mental health.


The survey indicated how some respondents have confidence issues in ‘… calling banter out.’. Less than a third said they would feel uncomfortable most or all of the time in asking people to stop, with only 1 in 10 able to do so’…all of the time…’. Of those that find banter uncomfortable, 11% felt that way ‘…at least once a day or all of the time…’ with 25% feeling that way ‘…at least once a week…’.


16 | ADMISI - The Ghost In The Machine | Q2 Edition 2023


Of these 750, some 97% said they were made uncomfortable by banter at some time. There were some further interesting statistics…


• 69% said they contributed less in meetings because of banter.


• 60% said banter resulted in them putting forward fewer ideas, indicating a stifling of creativity in financial services professionals.


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