BUSINESS
Where's my emoji?
Intergenerational communication in the workplace by Erin Saunders, ON Services When I first entered the workforce, I
would not have been caught dead sending an email with an exclamation mark. Nor would I have considered adding an emoji to anything professionally related. Ever. Now I frequently sprinkle both in professional emails, and texts (texting—also a way I wouldn’t have communicated with coworkers). We now have five generations of workers in the workplace, all with different experiences and communication styles. Language is a living thing. It changes and evolves over time, as do the rules for how we use it. This impacts how our messages are intended and how they are received.
UAC MAGAZINE | WINTER 2020
Take this example from marketplace.org:
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Stuart Hogan is a millennial at a tech startup in Boston. He said this about communicating with his older colleagues: “They use periods a lot,” he said. “I didn’t even realize this, but they sound very stern, like very final.” Or even worse, he said, they’ll sign off their messages with an ellipsis, “which for a millennial is just like the height of passive aggression.” He vividly remembers one instance on a Friday afternoon when he sent off a bit presentation to a 56 -year-old-manager. “And he just responds, ‘Thanks … enjoy the weekend …’” he said. “I definitely looked at the presentation for probably like six hours that weekend trying to figure out what was wrong with it. (McCarty Carino, 2019) This example shows how messages sent and received by different generations can be interpreted in vastly different ways. To understand how to more effectively communicate, we must first understand a little more about each generation and their communication preferences. Keep in mind that while these are generalizations, they do point to trends that cross each generation.
Traditionalists The first generation is the traditionalists. These are workers born before 1945 and they comprise 9% of the US workforce. They are leaving the workforce later and later in life. Traditionalists are most comfortable with formal, business-focused traditional means of communication. They come from the workplace of written memos and desk phones. As such, they generally prefer written communication and are believers in face-to-face meetings. They tend to be distrustful of remote working, and often need additional help as companies move to instant video and messaging services. They hardly ever communicate via text message.
Baby Boomers Next are the baby boomers. Once the largest makeup of the US workforce, they have been surpassed by Generation Z. Baby boomers are big believers in the importance of body language and tone and as such, face-to-face or telephone communications are preferred. They understand the need for email communication, but many believe valuable time is wasted via emails. If more than one or two go back and forth, they tend to pick up the phone and give a call. They are generally not trustful of texting as an appropriate communication method at work, and you won’t find them using exclamation marks or emojis in business correspondence.
Generation X Generation X tends to be the most fluid of the generations. They are comfortable with more formal written communications, but also understand that their younger counterparts are going to be more accessible via text and instant messaging. Generation Xers are most comfortable with email. They tend to be heavy
