A memo sent to staff at the Northern New South Wales Local Health District has decreed the terms 'mate', 'darling', 'sweetheart' and 'honey' are not to be used in the workplace as they are unprofessional.

"The utilisation of this language within the workplace at any time is not appropriate and may be perceived as disrespectful, disempowering and non-professional," the December 6 memo states.
"This type of language should not be used across any level of the organisation such as employee to employee or employee to client."

Health district chief executive Chris Crawford told the ABC it was sent in response to complaints by customers and clients.

"There were some complaints from some of our customers, our clients, that some of the language used didn't treat them with the proper degree of respect," he said.

"I think we are professional, we're a major service provider and I think our clients expect to be treated with respect and some of them don't think that language is respectful."