Gen Z communication styles

[grumpygenx]

You can tell from my username where I am going with this.

I absolutely despair with some of Gen Z correspondence styles in formal settings.

starting formal email correspondence with ‘Hi there , my name is ….

or signing off formal letters with ‘best wishes’ …

one reason why we need to be in office more supporting the younger generation. What did they learn in school about letter writing !!!

I have a dd who is 23 and I completely see where you’re coming from but they would argue we are past it and that’s how everyone communicates now. Apparently “kind regards” is considered cold and rude 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm also Gen X. I made my DC write formal emails to their Millennial teachers. They got responses like this: thx

It's not Gen Z that is the issue, the change predates them.

You need to chill out and adapt to the new ways!!

I am also Gen X but language and styles change. When I started working all correspondence ended with yours sincerely (or faithfully if Dear Sir/Madam)

They are sadly mostly moronic

You are quite right! Its appalling that young 'uns today think its perfectly acceptable to introduce themselves in an email and wish you all the best at the end! Absolute uneducated, rude, entitled and ignorant. What on earth are they teaching them in school these days???

I’m currently dealing with HR NHS for quite a serious matter and the HR pwrson keeps emailing me
‘Hiya ‘ - gives me the rage

that is not formal enough when jobs are at stake lobe

Maybe I'm part of the problem, I'm not sure what the issue is...90% of my work emails start with 'Hi Name' and end with 'Best wishes' or 'Kind regards' sometimes I even just end with 'Thanks.' What's the issue? I'm not writing to the King, it's an email.

My style it's actually slightly more formal than many in my workplace, some older, some younger.

I work in a similar field so much of our correspondence borders on regulatory matters. Hence why I despair 😩

I am not Gen Z but I am struggling to see what is wrong with introducing oneself if that is what's required and signing off 'best wishes'?

I learned to start with Dear Sir or Madam and sign off yours faithfully when addressing an unknown person but I think following this protocol would mark you out as a dinosaur in all but the most formal contexts these days... There's nothing wrong with, or indeed informal about Hello Name and best wishes.

Uhm, I'm 48 and use similar if introducing myself. I will be a bit more formal if the context requires it, but I don't think the etiquette of letter writing (which I was taught, ad infinitum in Y5, then 3rd year Juniors) applies to email. Nor is there any particular reason anyone under my age should have been taught letter-writing - it barely came in handy for me, let alone anyone younger. No, I can't remember when one is supposed to use 'Yours sincerely' and 'Yours faithfully' and it doesn't matter because very few people care anymore.

Really? 🤔

Language and language etiquette evolves. Assuming, say, you were born in 1975 - by the time you were 20 in 1995 you weren’t writing in the style people used to in 1960 were you? You’re not ‘right’ in how you want to use language. No-one is because it’s a social construct

Everyone who emails me at work says Hi Name, and then signs off Thanks/Best/Regards or sometimes just their name.

Not sure what your expectations are?

This with bells on.

Best wishes,
Didimum

In the 18th century, they signed off letters with statements like 'I am, with sincere regard, your most humble and obedient servant...' so if we didn't roll with the changes, as suggested above, we'd all still be saying that at the end of our emails.

Same here. Not sure what is the problem?

If you read my post I said about signing letters , not email , with ‘best wishes ‘ . Writing a formal letter in my sector I don’t think is suitable for being signed off in such a manner.
just as well I’m retiring soon then.
Next it will be ‘ you’re dismissed’ via WhatsApp! 🤣

My boss signs off best wishes he's late 40s and very senior.

What's wrong with Best wishes??

Ive always put Best wishes. Am 58

Norms around language, both written and verbal, change over time. When you joined the workforce you probably didn't write in exactly the same way as some 30 years your senior 🤷‍♀️

‘Hence why’ is incorrect 😉

Ditto.

I have no idea what you’re so pissed off about, OP, and how an email should be written.

I took 'correspondence' to mean emails. Honestly did not realise anyone was still sending or receiving letters on paper in a work setting in 2026 but I stand corrected!

I think I might have had envelopes and stamps to hand in my first job, which was the early 2000s, but not in any since. And even then, it was email for almost everything.

I use best wishes in emails, I probably wouldn't for an actual letter.

I don't think I have ever written such a formal email that I would use Dear. I occasionally switch to "Good Morning" if I think Hi wouldn't be appropriate. I'm guilty of "Hey" at the start of a good chunk of my emails, or so I see from looking through them. Doesn't seem to have caused me problems so far in my working life.

(I'm not gen z)

I can see if e.g. I was communicating bad news, like someone losing their job, or dealing with a complaint, I'd need to up the formality levels, but otherwise I don't see what it adds.

A lawyer colleague of mine just ends emails with ‘best, Sarah’ and I’m quietly in awe.