Gen Z isn't 'playing the corporate language game' and won't be circling back to jargon

Emily Durham, a recruiter and popular TikToker, says Zoomers are rejecting corporate jargon like "ducks in a row" because may be exclusionary.

• Gen Z is reshaping the workplace by rejecting corporate jargon and other workplace habits.
• A recruiter said young employees may be shirking norms because they feel less loyal to corporations.
• She suggests it could be because they saw the damage done by layoffs and have distanced themselves.

Gen Zers are shaping the workplace in many ways. They prioritize a work-life balance, reject the corporate ladder, and coined terms like "lazy girl jobs" and "office siren."

Office jargon is another corporate relic that Gen Z is unsubscribing from, refusing to "circle back" or get their "ducks in a row."

"Gen Z isn't playing the corporate language game," Emily Durham, a recruiter and popular TikToker, told Business Insider.

"They're not using that same jargon that I think we were so forced into."

Younger employees aren't buying into confusing corporate jargon

A 2023 LinkedIn and Duolingo survey of 1,016 professionals aged 18 to 76 found that 48% of Gen Z and millennial respondents felt left out at work because of the overuse of phrases such as "blue sky thinking" and "low-hanging fruit," according to a press release seen by Business Insider.

About 60% of the Gen Z and millennials surveyed said this workplace jargon felt like another language, and two-thirds thought their colleagues overdid it.

Durham said this is just one way Gen Z rejects traditional workplace norms. They've seen firsthand that playing the part — including talking the talk —  doesn't mean getting rewarded.

"They saw the myth of the meritocracy being promised to their parents — mom and dad are going to be fine because they worked really hard," Durham said. "And they then saw their parents getting belligerently laid off over the pandemic."

"That really changes what you value," she added.

Jargon is exclusionary

The "corporate accent" is also joining jargon on the list of workplace cultures that Gen Z is resisting.

TikTokers Lisa Beasley and Nick White have created a trend mocking the accent — a particular passive-aggressive, condescending tone of voice found in corporate settings.  

Their videos feature annoying workplace characters, "Corporate Erin" and "that coworker," speaking in a "know-it-all" voice typical of a corporate environment.

Satirizing these workplace trends is a sign Gen Z is reshaping the future, according to Durham.

She believes rejecting some of these workplace habits is a "great thing" because many can be "very exclusionary" to people newer or less familiar with corporate culture.

Durham, a millennial, remembers her first formal banking job, where she adopted corporate jargon and a business-causal style to fit in.

"You're doing all of these things because that's what the people around you are doing," she said.

Durham said Gen Z takes a "more casual approach" to work. "I think that's overall a very positive thing to really flatten the workspace."

A job is just a job

Working from home may be one reason corporate language is dying out. But another may also be how educated Gen Z is on the roots of some of these things.

"They hear this language, and they're aware that this was made up by somebody's grandfather 70 years ago, and it stuck," Durham said. "They don't really feel like they need to pretend that they like it."

If Zoomers encounter something they don't like, "they actively just unsubscribe from it," she added.

Millennials, in comparison, look at Gen Z's attitude and wish they had stood up for themselves or said "no" more.

"Millennials are still deprogramming the idea that work is who we are," Durham said, while Gen Zers have mastered the act of a job being just a job.

"Gen Z sees work as a hat you put on. It's a thing that is an accessory to who they are as people," Durham said. "They're like, Oh, this is a fun aesthetic I'm going to put on. This really has nothing to do with who I am as a person."

The downside may be that the workplace hasn't caught up, and a more casual attitude may offend some older managers.

"I've heard managers say, this person's too casual, this person is saying 'dude' in a meeting," Durham said. "There's definitely a line to toe."