I’m in a small office in Hatton Garden. It’s the middle of summer, and tinny music is playing on a radio near the window. “Who is this?” someone asks quietly as ‘Running up That Hill’ reverberates around the room. “It’s Kate Bush,” I reply, “You know THE ICONIC SINGER.”
“The one who was on the last series of Stranger Things,’’ a young colleague explains.
At this moment I feel 1,000 years old.
I am Gen X. I feel like my generation is forgotten about, while much is written about Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z. This may be because we are a strange transitional generation. We aren’t digital natives but we did have some technology in university (emails mainly). We grew up without social media but we might have started to go onto platforms like MySpace to network. We had mobiles when we started our careers but they tended to be fairly basic (but we did check email on them).
The thing is, when you age you don’t necessarily feel old. Except, I’ve found, at work. Work is often where I feel like a dinosaur. Communication styles change. The platforms people use evolve. If you come out of the workplace for a few years and go back in, it can feel like you’re trying to knit an entire outfit with two pieces of cooked spaghetti.
When I talk to people my age, it’s easy to lapse into simple and lazy stereotypes of younger generations. I realised some of these assumptions were perhaps incorrect, and so decided to take a short course on ‘How to Communicate with Gen Z’.
You may laugh, but it was actually useful. So what did I learn?
Gen Z actually like face to face communication
Challenging my assumption, I was told that 83 per cent of Gen Z prefer face to face communication to virtual.
This is important if we think about things like working from home. Face to face communication isn’t necessary all of the time, but in my experience conflicts/misunderstandings can be resolved far more easily in person. We can see body language and get eye contact. People are easier to read in person. It’s heartening to learn that younger generations like it too and aren’t all addicted to messaging all the time.
What it means if a Gen Z doesn’t reply to your message
Gen Z are often engaging in lots of different ‘micro’ conversations at the same time – using different platforms and having several topics running at the same time.
This was useful to me because while using Teams in particular I’d found the style of comms is short and direct. Understanding that someone is navigating multiple messages at the same time, all the time helped me become less paranoid.
I personally find it stressful when I’m being bombarded by messages on different channels at the same time. I get overwhelmed. I forget which channel I’m on and who I’ve replied to. This is logical if you think about the time in which I grew up. I grew up with emails in the noughties.
As a midlife woman I am navigating not only work messages but also about 1,000 WhatsApp messages that are purely around child admin (from school/activity clubs/other parents) so I’m not as adept at managing the overwhelm. So in the future I will look at Gen Z in awe – but also ask them to go easy when messaging me as I can’t deal with two word answers sent in rapid succession on WhatsApp, Teams and email. I will also be more patient and not expect responses right away.
Avoid the ‘aggressive’ thumbs-up emoji
95 per cent of Gen Z teens use emojis. Giphs too. And memes. This is obviously a massive difference as Gen X definitely use less giphs and memes especially at work. This is a minefield when we think about intergenerational workplaces and how things can be misconstrued.
“I find it super aggressive when someone puts a thumbs up after every message,” one Gen Z colleague announced in the office one day.
“Oh god, is that bad? I always do that. And the smiley emoji after my name!” I said.
They smiled back at me through gritted teeth. I felt a stab of anxiety. In my overthinking and slightly controlling work style, the thumbs up signalled that I had seen the Teams message and was ‘in the loop’. I had noticed that I was the only one using it. I realised with horror that I’d unintentionally been coming across as aggressive. If you look it up, it says some people can find that emoji rude and direct, or maybe even sarcastic.
For a Gen X person like myself the use of emojis becomes difficult because you either overuse them (trying to be liked, trying to fit in with Gen Z colleagues, but coming across as needy and sad) or you underuse them (coming across as uptight, or too serious or just not a team player).
If you are going to indulge in visual communication and use gifs, emojis, memes then you better make sure that they’re used in the right way (I am currently looking for a course on ‘Correct use of emojis so as not to come across as aggressive’).
It’s now normal to video call in public
Gen Z find it socially acceptable to video chat in public. Or to message whilst with someone else (this is according to the course by the way, I am sure there are many who think it’s not).
The first few months I worked in my last role I was taken aback by Gen Z colleagues having quite personal work chats in public spaces on video calls.
As a Gen X weirdo I was used to going into a private room if I needed to do a formal briefing with a client.
Gen Z are comfortable doing this in public so it is ME that must change. I still feel however that if you’re going to slag off one of your colleagues it’s best to go into a private room so you can’t be overheard by the rest of the team. Also crying – always cry in a private room if you can (toilets are good).
Phone calls are a last resort
You need to check whether email is relevant in your office or whether everything has gone onto messaging platforms. Also phone calls – Gen Z tend to find them too direct.
This led me on to think about a male colleague of mine who was Gen X and was belligerent in his use of phone calls. Nobody on the team liked him as he would suddenly try and FaceTime with no warning. It felt aggressive. And rude.
And this is the main thing I’ve learnt about Gen Z and intergenerational workplaces. There will always be those who care about the ways in which they communicate and will genuinely try and learn the best ways to collaborate with their colleagues. At the same time there will always be others who don’t care and carry on pissing everyone off.
Part of the pleasure of work is learning from others and retaining that growth mindset. For now my thumbs up emoji has been put out to pasture. I’m now hunting for an emoji replacement that feels a bit more neutral.
