Generation Z is entering the corporate world and fundamentally changing how colleagues speak to one another, with a new survey showing young workers are abandoning formal emails in favour of instant messaging.
As the demographic cohort born between 1997 and 2012 joins the workforce, their presence is already altering the daily rhythm of office exchanges. A 2024 survey conducted by Babbel, the language learning platform, found that these new colleagues prefer not to endure the pressure of traditional corporate emails, often leaving unread messages to accumulate in their inboxes.
According to the research, 36 percent of young people aged between 18 and 24 admitted to having more than 1,000 unread emails. This compares to just 18 percent for office workers across all age brackets, highlighting a generational divide in how digital correspondence is managed.
Generation Z, often referred to as digital natives because they grew up with constant internet access and smartphones, are clashing with the established workplace etiquette originally set by older generations like the Baby Boomers.
Instant messaging and emojis
Instead of relying on email, the younger generation prefers to use instant messaging applications to communicate with their colleagues. These platforms, which include workplace software tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, are generally less formal.
They allow younger staff to break away from the strict codes and formalism usually imposed by professional corporate relationships.
Esteban Touma, a linguistic and cultural expert at Babbel, noted in the study that the communication preferences of Generation Z were heavily influenced by the prevalence of instant messaging platforms and social media networks in their personal lives.
Because of this background, Touma said young workers rejected the structured and formal nature of email communication. He added that the format could seem unfamiliar and more complicated for a large number of them.
When Generation Z employees do find themselves in situations where they cannot avoid sending traditional emails, they tend to adapt the medium to fit their less conformist world.
As a result, emojis have become common in their professional messages. They also introduce touches of humour, such as puns, and use more pronounced punctuation, including a proliferation of exclamation marks to convey a conversational tone.
The end of formal sign-offs
This shift in tone extends to the way emails are concluded, with Generation Z adopting their own forms of politeness and discarding rigid sign-offs.
Traditional email closings such as sincerely, respectfully, or best regards could disappear entirely from professional correspondence over the coming years. A 2023 study by Barclays LifeSkills, an educational programme run by the British bank Barclays, concluded that these standard phrases were likely to become obsolete within the next decade.
Kate Walker, a human resources consultant, told the American business magazine Fast Company that the loss of traditional sign-offs was not necessarily a negative development. She said the most critical part of any professional message was the message itself, and that senders simply needed to ensure the recipient could understand what was being conveyed.
Dismissing older conventions, the human resources expert added that she understood the younger generation's increasing desire for a more relaxed approach to workplace communication.
Creative out-of-office replies
Generation Z is also innovating when it comes to the automatic messages they leave when they are away from work.
Traditionally, these automated replies were strictly functional, designed to inform senders of a worker's absence and state their date of return. However, when taking annual leave, the new generation of employees has shown a tendency to be original, often surprising older colleagues with blunt or humorous replies.
In an article published in 2024, the British newspaper The Guardian highlighted several examples of automated messages sent by young staff members to colleagues who were trying to reach them.
In one example, a worker stated they were resting and advised colleagues to keep any questions to themselves. Another message apologised that the sender was travelling and directed co-workers to an Instagram account to watch their daily video blogs.
A third employee framed their absence as a popular game of two truths and a lie, writing that they were out of the office, would not reply to any messages, and would never come back. Another worker simply stated they were on holiday and would return only when they ran out of money.
Some young professionals have taken the concept even further, turning the automated text reply into a video broadcast.
In July 2024, Joshua Kessel, a content creator on the video platform TikTok, posted a video to the social network that he had sent to all his colleagues to announce his departure for a holiday.
Kessel filmed himself sitting at a table to make a formal declaration. In the video, he told his co-workers that if they were watching the clip, he was probably already on an aeroplane to Europe at that moment.
