Gen Z workers are struggling to interpret the language and communication habits of older colleagues, according to a new US survey that has prompted the launch of an online workplace “translator”.
Four in five Gen Z respondents said differences in workplace language and communication style had created challenges, compared with 30 per cent of baby boomers, in research commissioned by Sunny Workplace and conducted by Censuswide. The survey questioned 2,004 workers on 25 and 26 May, split evenly between the two generations. ([gosunny.org](https://gosunny.org/press/list-in-translation/))
Sunny Workplace, a non-profit employee engagement platform, has launched WorkGen Translate, a light-hearted tool designed to decode slang, idioms and corporate jargon between generations. Users can paste in an email, Slack or Teams message and translate it into language intended for another age group. ([gosunny.org](https://gosunny.org/workplace/translate/))
The findings suggest the problem extends well beyond younger workers using expressions such as “delulu”, “rizz” and “no cap”. Older office language can be just as opaque, with phrases including “blue-sky thinking”, “move the needle” and “boil the ocean” leaving many Gen Z employees unsure of what is expected.
Only 22 per cent of Gen Z respondents said they knew exactly what “boil the ocean” meant, while 25 per cent said the same of “blue-sky thinking”. Among baby boomers, 76 per cent said they had no idea what “delulu” meant, 66 per cent were unfamiliar with “rizz” and 61 per cent did not understand “no cap”. ([gosunny.org](https://gosunny.org/press/list-in-translation/))
Why workplace communication is being lost in translation
Researchers say the divide is not simply about vocabulary. Workers also learn unwritten rules about when to use email rather than instant messaging, how formally to address a colleague and how much familiarity is appropriate with someone they have only just met.
Betsy Sneller, an assistant professor of sociolinguistics at Michigan State University, said younger workers may not have developed the same understanding of email as an older generation that encountered it as a relatively formal and lasting form of communication.
That can lead to apparently minor differences becoming loaded with meaning. A brief message without a greeting or punctuation may be intended as efficient and informal, but can be interpreted by an older colleague as rude or dismissive.
Renée Blake, an associate professor of linguistics and social and cultural analysis at New York University, described the issue as a clash between different “registers” – the way people adapt their language to the setting and the person they are addressing.
She said students sometimes wrote to her with “Hey, Renée” rather than a more formal greeting, illustrating how expectations about professional boundaries can differ even when the words themselves are perfectly clear.
Iain Smith, Sunny Workplace’s head of behavioural science, said unfamiliar workplace language could affect how a person’s professionalism was judged.
“A language gap can look just like an attitude problem, even when it isn’t one,” Dr Smith said in the company’s survey release. “A colleague who sounds blunt to one generation may sound clear and efficient to another.” ([gosunny.org](https://gosunny.org/press/list-in-translation/))
The problem has also been shaped by the way Gen Z entered employment. Many began their working lives during the pandemic, when remote and hybrid working replaced the informal learning that once happened by sitting alongside more experienced colleagues.
“They’re not necessarily now sitting next to someone who’s been doing the job for 20 years and learning the shortcuts and the hacks and the little ways of coping with a stressful day,” Smith told Fortune. “They’re turning up to Zoom.” ([fortune.com](https://fortune.com/2026/09/02/gen-z-millennial-gen-x-bosses-workplace-communication/))
Blake cautioned that the disruption affected every age group. Workers who had spent long periods communicating through screens had to renegotiate professional boundaries and tone, while some younger people were turning to digital tools to learn how to write formal correspondence.
Sunny Workplace says its translator is intended for entertainment and general understanding rather than important or sensitive business communications. It warns users not to rely on the tool where precision, legal accuracy or serious consequences are involved. ([gosunny.org](https://gosunny.org/workplace/translate/))
There is also evidence against treating generations as fundamentally different types of employee. A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior found few systematic and meaningful differences between generations across a range of workplace outcomes. ([onlinelibrary.wiley.com](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/job.2827))
And the process of translation is unlikely to stop with Gen Z. In the same Sunny Workplace survey, 41 per cent of Gen Z respondents said they did not know what “Ohio” meant in Gen Alpha slang, while 75 per cent did not fully understand – or said they would not use – “skibidi”. ([gosunny.org](https://gosunny.org/press/list-in-translation/))
