If you’re old enough to remember the days of beer and banter in the workplace, you may be wondering what happened to all the fun. Two words: political correctness!

Smoking at your desk, long lunch breaks, flirting with co-workers and beers before knock-off on Fridays. Ah, the good old days, before political correctness took over the world!

Topless calendars, questionable jokes and coming to work late with a banging hangover. Not quite so good.

Sexual harassment, racist comments, bullying the new kid. Not good at all.

There are some things that shouldn’t be tolerated under any circumstances, but in the modern workplace, do we really need all these rules, regulations and political correctness? Whatever happened to good old common sense?

“In a nutshell, the purpose of having rules that govern workplace behaviour is to create a sense of fairness and belonging,” says workplace mental health expert Mark Butler.

“For most people, feeling that their contribution matters is more important than status. And a laugh is always good for morale. But it’s crucial to understand where to draw the line.”

Treading that line between ensuring fairness at work without creating an atmosphere where no one dares crack a joke can be a headache for the modern employer.

For example, it’s a time-honoured tradition in the trades to have a bit of fun with the junior, the apprentice or the new guy. On the one hand, that might make them feel that they’re a proper part of the team. On the other hand

“It’s worth noting that a lot of millennials and Gen Z haven’t grown up with the teasing and the tall poppy syndrome that earlier generations have experienced, making them even more vulnerable,” says Mark.

“What I often suggest to employers is to think about how they’d feel if their child was being treated in this way. Would they tolerate it? If not, then there’s your answer.”

Will political correctness continue to change the workplace?

So will the workplace become even more politically correct in the future?

For everyone who thinks things have already gone too far, there’s someone else who thinks the regulations haven’t gone far enough. If you’re in the former camp, buckle up.

Those “good old days” could be right now.

The workplace has changed a lot over the past 40 years or so!

Here’s a few things that were considered A-ok a few years ago. Not so much now…

Topless calendars

Then: Who remembers the Pirelli calendar girls? Hands up, we even had them in our magazine Electrical Gems, back in the day! Scantily clad women once graced the walls of every office, warehouse and construction site, exploiting the power that naked women have to manipulate men into buying tyres. Among other things.

Now: Pictures of topless women became the focus of one too many compensation claims and even Pirelli stopped featuring bare breasts in 2016. These days, where they still exist, nudie calendars are more likely to feature hunky firemen or CWA ladies with strategically placed cupcakes.

Smoking at work

Then: Ashtray on your desk, asking customers if it was OK to smoke in the house (they rarely said no), camaraderie around smoko, going home stinking of smoke.

Now: Designated and unpleasant smoking areas, cigarette breaks frowned upon, doesn’t really matter because you can’t afford it anyway.

Workplace banter

Then: Once upon a time it was perfectly acceptable to call your redheaded colleague Bluey, refer to Americans as Seppos, and give someone a Chinese burn. Sledging your workmates came with the turf.

Now: The onus is on bosses to make sure banter is light-hearted and playful rather than using ‘jokes’ to cover up harassment. (Note: Generally the people who complain loudest about this are the worst offenders.)

Friday drinks

Then: A couple of schooners in the pub at lunchtime then an early dart, or back to base while the apprentice did a run to the bottle shop for a few more beers and a bag of Samboys if you were lucky.

Now: There’s a legal blood alcohol level in some jobs – including road and rail transport, maritime and mining – that prohibits workers from being affected by any drug, and that includes alcohol. Some companies have policies to test workers, where injury or death is a risk.

Cracking jokes

Then: Smokos and lunch breaks were cheered by someone telling a ripper they’d heard on the weekend. No offence, mate!

Now: Trying to work out how to repeat a rib-tickler without offending anyone — and giving it up as a bad idea. Well, at least it stops you screwing up the punchline.

Political correctness court cases

Has political correctness gone mad? It seems sometimes common sense prevails.

• An engineer from Melbourne took his former employer to the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming that a co-worker was bullying him — by farting on him. The complainant, who was chasing $1.8 million in compensation, told the court that “flatulence was a form of bullying”. He lost the case, with the judge ruling that he was motivated by revenge for his termination.
• A UK judge dismissed claims by a Japanese professor that she suffered race discrimination when a colleague at London Uni recommended a sushi restaurant to her. The tribunal found that the exchange amounted to “small talk” and that no reasonable person would take offence.
• A group of British student vets received a complaint from animal rights activists over a calendar image in which they used a sheep to cover their modesty. The British Cattle Veterinary Association came to their defence arguing that the sheep’s involvement was “widely recognised as being safe and pain-free for the animals”. The image was removed, nonetheless.

A sales exec at an Aussie drinks company was sacked for referring to a manager as “Brazilian” when her heritage was in fact Argentine and Italian. The exec was dismissed for making a racial slur. Her appeal for unfair dismissal was upheld by the Fair Work Commission, who condemned her poor grasp of geography but nothing else.