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Are These Workplace Abbreviations NSFW?

Do you know what WFH, KPI and EOD mean? A new study reveals which workplace acronyms are confusing Americans the most.

September 13, 2024

NSFW ranks as the most confusing workplace abbreviation, according to a new study by QR code generation site, QR Code Generator. In just one month, there were 233,439 Google searches for its meaning, more than any other popular workplace acronym.

(If you don’t know what it means, we’ll save you some time and prevent you from having to undertake your own risky Google search with potentially shocking results: NSFW is an abbreviation of Not Safe For Work and is used to highlight content that is not suitable for a workplace environment.)

To find out which workplace acronyms have Americans the most puzzled, QR Code Generator used Google Keyword Planner to analyze the number of monthly searches for more than 60 workplace abbreviations. Researchers looked at the total number of monthly searches on average for search variations such as “(abbreviation) meaning”, “(abbreviation) definition” and “what does (abbreviation) stand for”.

workplace abbreviations — *^{(Image: Adobe Stock / deepstock)}*

DEI came in second after NSFW, with 209,075 average monthly searches. DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is used to promote the representation of different groups of people regardless of race, age, gender, disabilities.

OTP ranked third, with 160,280 average monthly searches. OTP stands for On the Phone, which is used to indicate when someone is already occupied on the phone and may be unable to respond to other messages.

ETA came in fourth, with 133,794 average monthly searches. ETA stands for Estimated Time of Arrival, which is used to represent the expected completion or receipt of a particular task or project.

KPI ranked fifth, with 98,618 average monthly searches. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator, which is used to provide a quantifiable measure of performance and track the progress towards a specific business objective.

Take a look at the table below to find out which confusing workplace acronyms rounded out the top 10:

RANK	ABBREVIATION	WHAT IT STANDS FOR	AVG MONTHLY SEARCHES
1	NSFW	Not Safe For Work	233,439
2	DEI	Diversity, Equality, Inclusion	209,075
3	OTP	On The Phone	160,280
4	ETA	Estimated Time of Arrival	133,794
5	KPI	Key Performance Indicator	98,618
6	CRM	Customer Relationship Management	89,819
7	AWOL	Absent Without Leave	74,518
8	AFK	Away From Keyboard	74,228
9	DM	Direct Message	73,597
10	VPN	Virtual Private Network	70,643

^{(Source: QR Code Generator)}

“This study highlights which workplace abbreviations receive the most searches to clarify their meaning,” commented Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator. “This can be due to having never encountered them before, especially for employees who might be less experienced.

“The size of the list also shows the extent of how many different workplace acronyms are used by companies, especially in an office environment. This allows for time saving and the ability to learn these terms much easier through their abbreviations,” Porcar continued. “It will be interesting to see whether these acronyms receive fewer searches overtime as what they stand for becomes more common knowledge.”

^{Sources: Google Keyword Planner, The Muse, Indeed, TechTarget}