If you’ve ever worked in an office, chances are you’ve encountered at least one person who wasn’t called by their real name. Nicknames in the workplace are a pretty common phenomenon, and they run the gamut from describing a personality trait to a worker’s favorite outfit.
Now new research is digging into the impact of using nicknames in the workplace—and when it’s better to abstain.
The study, conducted by researchers Zhe Zhang and Shuili Du and published last Friday in the Harvard Business Review, is called The Rules of Using Playful Nicknames at Work. Zhang and Du polled more than 1,100 U.S.-based adults to better understand the role and impact of nicknames in the office. For their purposes, a nickname is categorized as “giving the named a new identity,” like Space Cowboy for Elon Musk, as opposed to simply shortening a name from Elizabeth to Liz.
Zhang and Du found that nine out of 10 respondents had either been called a nickname at work or heard one used for someone else, meaning that getting playfully renamed in the office is a fairly ubiquitous occurrence. But they also found that workplace conditions—and who is using the nickname—makes a major difference in how it might be received.
Here’s what you need to know about the rules to office nicknames:
Using nicknames for your boss could boost morale
Zhang and Du started by asking participants to imagine that they were beginning a new job. Participants were then split into four groups:
- Group 1 was told that employees called their boss by the nickname, Panda, because they always wore a black and white suit.
- Group 2 was told that their boss called an employee by the nickname Panda for the same reason.
- Group 3 was told that employees called their boss by their formal name.
- Group 4 was told that their boss called an employee by their formal name.
Then, the participants were asked a series of questions to evaluate “how psychologically safe, powerful, and respected” they would feel in the imaginary workplace. When participants were told that employees called their boss by a nickname instead of their formal name, they reported that they would generally feel more safe and powerful in that work environment. That’s because employers who would be open to adopting a nickname were viewed as more communally oriented.