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While prime minister Andy Burnham has been thinking about young people and job interviews, Personnel Today has been focusing on why young people today may be put off by traditional notions of “the office”, once they’ve actually got the job. A scintillating survey sent to us has pointed the finger at this column’s old friend: corporate jargon.
New research by Careerminds UK reveals that Gen Z understands the least amount corporate jargon of any generation (Personnel Today was not aware that all previous generations were tested for this!). Gen Z can get to grips with barely one in five of the phrases tested, despite being the most “digitally native”. And as it turns out, boomers aren’t doing a whole lot better.
Only three respondents (0.5%) understood all 24 phrases, with an average of seven out of 24 terms correctly described.
So what were these essential phrases so misunderstood by young people?
Well, first of all, let’s deal with the corporate jargon that they did understand. “In the loop”, despite sounding distinctly old hat, is the most widely understood phrase (57.3%). A little bit of online investigation by Personnel Today found that although the phrase was knocking around in military circles in the 1960s it only exploded into general use in 1988, during the investigations into the Iran-Contra affair, when public officials frequently testified about who was or wasn’t “in the loop”. Who knew? (Apart from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.)
Ideate away
Careerminds UK tells us that “ideate” was the jargon word most misunderstood by Gen Z, being understood by just 1 in 23. The word drew a blank among all ages of Personnel Today staff, with no one claiming to have ever heard it – or admitting to hearing it. We agreed that not understanding the word “ideate” should be no barrier to a glittering career, whatever one’s age.
However, Amanda Augustine, resident careers expert at Careerminds UK and a certified professional career coach, has a handle on the situation. She says: “Many of these phrases pre-date Gen Z’s entry into the workplace, and they’re rarely taught in any formal way. Instead, people tend to pick them up over time through meetings, interactions with their senior team members, and day-to-day experiences at work. As this latest wave of uni graduates start their careers, plenty will be hearing these phrases for the first time, and few will want to admit they’re lost.”
The Careerminds UK survey finds that just 28% of Gen Z understand “in the pipeline”, compared with 56% of Gen X, and only 35% know “touch base”, against 61%. “Put it on the back burner” was known by 29% of Gen Z versus 55.5% of Gen X. “Hit the ground running” did a bit better among Gen Z. And these were the most widely recognised phrases.
Get your ducks in a row
On average, the poll finds, Gen Z understands just 22% of the phrases tested, fewer than millennials (29%), Gen X (32%) or even the over-60s (27%) – oh dear, boomers! Oh yes, and that perennial favourite “ducks in a row” got the most recognition, presumably as rather pictorial.
Among the most obscure jargon is “boil the ocean”, “eat the frog”, and “whiteboarding”. “Low-hanging fruit” didn’t do too well either.
“Workplace jargon can be useful as a form of shorthand, but the findings show how easily it can exclude people who haven’t yet learned the language,” said Augustine. “Nearly one in five entry-level employees admitted they were guessing, and that’s especially concerning because this kind of language is most common in situations that matter most early in someone’s career, such as meetings, performance conversations and negotiations.”
She adds: “If you want people to ask questions, contribute ideas and build confidence, plain English will always be more effective than a wall of buzzwords.”
How old is the phrase ‘mountains out of molehills’?
It all brings to mind the superb TV series Succession in which characters splattered their own corporate nonsense liberally, leaving us all to guess the meaning. Our favourite line was uttered by the intern Greg, who proclaimed, “We are death wrestling with ogres,” as he attempted to describe performing standard data analysis and basic office admin while trying to protect his position in the company.
Perhaps Andy Burnham needs to broaden his critique of how companies approach young candidates to include their use of language. It seems the issue is a “storm in a teacup” (first used 1838); and we’re risking making “mountains out of molehills” (1548), to use metaphorical idioms from an age before boomers were a thing.
(From the Cambridge Dictionary: “To ideate means to form an idea, to think creatively, or to imagine a concept. It is a verb used when people brainstorm or plan new solutions.” It’s a verb!)
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