Anyone else seeing fewer pronouns in the workplace?

[Pedestrian0]

I work in a large Stonewalled organisation. A couple of years ago everyone was fully 'she/her/hers' on Teams and in emails but I've noticed a real drop off recently and I'm so pleased. I think/hope people are getting a bit tired of the silly business. Now the pronoun-staters are very definitely in a minority.

I can also confidently say that pronouns on Teams or email have NEVER enhanced any interaction I've had at the company over the past five years. I've seen one they/them and frankly everyone referred to the obvious male as 'he' if we have reason to refer to him when he isn't around. It's not malicious, it's just the obvious pronoun to use for an obvious male. Everyone else just has sex-based pronouns. But - if you can't tell by the beard and obviously male features you can tell by the name 'John'. No need for the he/hims. It's really just virtue signalling and makes me eyeroll a lot.

I like that it's dropping away because the fewer people who do it, the more it'll drop out of fashion. But is it just my work or is anyone else seeing this?

That's really good to hear. Our DE&I group is very monopolised by two trans (male) characters and a non binary woman. They leverage our Stonewall alliance to shout about trans issues almost exclusively. As a disabled employee, it's quite discouraging. In five years I don't think there's been one initiative for disabled people or one day of support or one awareness activity. I know people have made similar comments about race inclusion or women in leadership (which is very bad in our organisation).

Our HR system has the option of adding pronouns, about 5% have added them. We're not a huge organisation. Literally no one has them added to their email signature or their Teams.
Recently we did some recruitment of (mostly) school leavers and not a single CV had pronouns on.

Burn 🔥😂

The young ones still do it.

Ours is the same (well it's mainly "non-binary" individuals) and especially the groups for neurodivergences - spend so much time worrying about if they're they/them or she/her that I just can't be fucked with it now and chug along unsupported and autistic.

"That's really good to hear. Our DE&I group is very monopolised by two trans (male) characters and a non binary woman. They leverage our Stonewall alliance to shout about trans issues almost exclusively. As a disabled employee, it's quite discouraging. In five years I don't think there's been one initiative for disabled people or one day of support or one awareness activity. I know people have made similar comments about race inclusion or women in leadership (which is very bad in our organisation)."

I suspect there might be some cause and effect between the first half of your paragraph and the latter half.

That’s brilliant. The cringe. It’s like something from The Office or Peepshow.

For those who can't see twitter/X

It honestly was like The Office, I loved every second of it, you could almost hear everyone's arse clenching with cringe 😂

my daughter found the same at
her Uni. Doing a Stem degree at a top uni and autistic, as were many other students. She was so pissed off that the "inclusivity" person at the Uni was only focused on Trans.
In the time she was there, autism, disability, wasn't even
mentioned.

I work in a creative field and was heartened on the latest annual survey that under identity you can now choose to tick an option for I'd prefer not to entertain this bollocks (or words to that effect) 😂

cvs with pronouns never got past my desk.

@Pedestrian0

"I can also confidently say that pronouns on Teams or email have NEVER enhanced any interaction I've had at the company over the past five years. I've seen one they/them and frankly everyone referred to the obvious male as 'he' if we have reason to refer to him when he isn't around. It's not malicious, it's just the obvious pronoun to use for an obvious male. Everyone else just has sex-based pronouns. But - if you can't tell by the beard and obviously male features you can tell by the name 'John'. No need for the he/hims. It's really just virtue signalling and makes me eyeroll a lot."

Actually, our Chinese and Japanese colleagues are the biggest adopter precisely because they are frequently misgendered:

"Hi Melissa - I've added Xiang to this email conversation, he's going to be running the same program in the Shanghai office so it makes sense for you guys to co-ordinate."

Xiang is, quite rightly, pissed off with the constant assumption that she is a man and adds pronouns to her entry in the staff roster so they get automatically added to her email sig and slack bio.

In a big company it's perfectly possible, and indeed highly likely, that you will have never seen a colleague that you are interacting with and have no clue to their sex other than their name. And unfortunately far too many people assume that the default human being is a man.

Ditto

In a big company it's perfectly possible, and indeed highly likely, that you will have never seen a colleague that you are interacting with and have no clue to their sex other than their name.

I think this is a really fair point, and one that's in danger of being lost in the clamour.

Good to know this.

I can just imagine the silence at your meeting, @Megifer 😂

This is a good thing I think! Why do you need to know someone's sex, unless for medical reasons etc. Or unless arranging travel/events where accommodation and personal needs are relevant.

This has really cheered me up. I gave up a job I liked due to the enforced gender woo. Thinking it might be safe to dip a toe back in.

Work with lots of orgs in a pretty captured field, and yes, pronoun bollocks is fading fast.

@Soigneur that's a really good point re names which are likely to be unfamiliar to many colleagues. The very first she/her I saw, in 2019, was a Jamie. If I had that issue, I think I'd go for (female) after my name.

Because it gets really boring constantly being assumed to be male when being referred to in the 3rd person. This is why most of our Chinese and Japanese staff have put pronouns into our staff roster - nothing to do with gender identity, everything to do with saving themselves and others from embarrassment. See my example above.

@Soigneur that's precisely why I won't have them.

I have a name often assumed to be a man's. I don't care if people sometimes assume me to be male. I quite enjoy seeing the differences in the way people respond to me.

In the context of the work I am doing it really doesn't matter and I'm not offended if I get misgendered on a bloody email, it is usually below the fact they don't spell my name correctly in irritations.

It has definitley dropped off in my firm, and I never subscribed to it.

However, I am currently working with the MoJ and their pronouns now come in their email addresses, all SHOUTY capitals after their addresses in the 'from' line. It makes no difference to me whether they are male / female / cat / dog whatever and it comes across as very aggressive.

I understand your point but I think there are several things wrong with this.

Why are your Chinese and Japanese colleagues feeling compelled to add English pronouns to avoid being misgendered? Shouldn't your company be pushing the message that if a name is not familiar to you, instead of assuming a gender you should give it a swift Google? I've done that before. It's a bit... xenophobic for want of a better word to say that everyone should have to add an English gender tag. Secondly, this does seem like a time when if you really can't work it out, they/them is acceptable. Or just using a name. I don't agree with they/them when you can clearly see the person's gender as it creates cognitive dissonance but when you truly don't know, surely it's the right time? (By the way, we are discouraged from using the male-centric 'guys' at my work as well.)
So:

"Hi Melissa - I've added Xiang to this email conversation. Xiang is going to be running the same program in the Shanghai office so it makes sense for you two to co-ordinate."

or

"Hi Melissa - I've added Xiang to this email conversation. They're going to be running the same program in the Shanghai office so it makes sense for you to co-ordinate."

I've noticed. Last week i filled in a passport application, and the options were man/woman. Good!

@Thepartnersdesk That's great for you. But put yourself in the position of a 22 year old Japanese woman who is being constantly misgendered by a very senior (both in terms of age and role) man on the other side of the Pacific in an email conversation with multiple recipients. It's culturally incredibly hard for her to correct him, yet the longer it goes on, the greater the potential for future offence grows. Having pronouns in the email is an easy win, which is why they do it.