BackNo LOL please, millennials; office lingo has changed for good
Time has become so much more precious that we are nothing without our digital tools and channels
PremiumWhen Anita John, a project head at an influencer marketing agency, recently received an upside-down face emoji as a WhatsApp response from a client, she was confused. Was he saying a soft no to her query? Was it a yes? The 39-year-old had two ways to find out: either turn to know-it-all Google or text her younger colleague, well-versed in the emoji language.
“When we (millennials) started chatting, LOL, ROFL, LMAO were our go-to words. Now if I reply to my younger colleague with an LOL, I’m told it’s uncool," laughs Pune-based John. “And don’t even get me started on the emojis. We have this joke within our team that all the Gen Zers in the office should do an Emoji 101 workshop for us millennials and Gen Xers."
Each generation has its own way of communicating, depending on the world they grew up in. If Gen Xers, those born before the 1980s but after the Baby Boomers, like to pick up the phone or walk over to a colleague to get a job done or discuss politics, Gen Yers, the millennial generation that saw the world go online, appreciate channels that facilitate team collaboration and teamwork like emails and texts. Post-millennials, or Gen Zers, who will make up close to 30% of the global workforce within the next four years, on the other hand, like everything instant—instant messaging, instant results, instant feedback. The pandemic, however, has blurred the lines of communication between different generations, with the global office adopting the digital language and tools post-millennials were born into.
“The past two years have changed workplace communication for good," says Amit Nandkeolyar, an associate professor of organisational behaviour who teaches courses on negotiation analysis, leadership and teams, at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
“Time has become so much more precious that we are nothing without our digital tools and channels. Informality has a newfound respect now; you have WhatsApp groups for every project and you can’t mute them (like you did in the pre-pandemic era) because work is happening real time. Since Gen Zers are the most comfortable with the online space, everyone is trying to learn from them, take their help, speak their language. You can have an entire conversation through emojis and people can understand, or try to understand."
Of course, formal emails and messages are still circulating in offices, especially in multinationals and legacy companies where employee numbers run into thousands. But when it comes to communicating with immediate managers and in smaller workspaces, casual is steadily becoming the new formal.
“Covid has ensured that people who were averse to moving to the digital world also moved," says Nandkeolyar. “At the end of the day, you have to learn the tricks of today and the future to stay relevant. Gen Zers are dictating how office communication should be."
Retired banker Balraj Arora explains how the office of today is completely different the time he started working. “You would think twice before knocking the door of your manager, nervously say ‘Good morning’ and thank your stars for not catching them in a bad mood. Now I see these young kids walk straight into the boss’ office and say ‘hi, what’s up?’, share a laugh, coffee," says the 60-year-old Amritsar resident who often reaches out to his 21-year-old colleague at their online-only workplace, a chartered accountant’s office, to understand how a file can be sent, whether via WeTransfer or Telegram. “I don’t know where this confidence comes from but I can see it rubbing off on everyone, no matter the age, including me. I see the change in our office groups. I have also picked up a lot of Gen Z slang...oh like cheugy!"
This confidence comes from the world post-millennials were born into. Research shows Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2009 and representing 30% of the global population, are more risk-averse, financially conscious and want a worklife that allows them to keep work and life separate.
Nikita Singhania, a 23-year-old intern at a Mumbai fashion house, says: “I don’t want to be married to my work like my older colleagues are. I keep hearing them crib about how they were awake the whole night finishing some assignment and then complain they don’t have a life outside work. I want to do work that’s good for my pocket, my mind and my soul. I’m not going to compromise."
Bengaluru’s Omer Basith, founder of Virtual Forest, an electronic systems design and manufacturing company, has been noticing this change in the new employee before the pandemic. “I would say five years. When I started interacting with new joinees, they looked at joining a company more as a choice, whether it aligned with their values, their way of thinking. When I had joined work in 2001, I remember just being thankful that I had a job; it was just such a privilege to have landed one offer," says Basith, 41.
His office has close to 40 employees in the 21-45 age group. “Today’s youngsters, want to try new places, gain new experiences and with the digital dependence increasing, they can do all of that. Complete opposite of the 90s and before when people used to retire from their first job."
Talking specifically about his interactions with colleagues from different age groups, he shares an example: “If I have to say no to a colleague who’s a senior, I will be more aware of the fact that they come with a lot of experience, so I will give more thought. In case of a younger colleague, I will say a straight no simply because of their lack of experience."
Having said that, Basith realises that soon more Gen Zers will be entering the workspace, which will accelerate the changes that are already taking place. “They rightfully give importance to their mental health. We never did that when we started work. This is changing the way companies look at the workplace. We have much to learn from them as much they do from us."
Ragini Das, 30, is still amazed how her 25-year-old co-worker finds tech solutions within minutes. She’s the founder of leap.club, a community-led members-only network for women. It has 2,500 members in different parts of the world, across age groups. “The post-millennials are so exposed to the digital world that they have a hack for everything," she laughs.
When it comes to communicating with her colleagues and members, she sticks to one thing: transparency. “I mean the lingo, the style of talking might change but I ensure I’m honest and clear in what I say. They make fun of me when I ask them about an emoji, or some Gen Z pop-culture reference and I do the same when they ask millennial stuff. It’s all fun banter. I think what we all can learn from Gen Zers is to work smart, not very hard and live life."
As for Anita John, that emoji, it turned out, was sent by mistake.
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