The New Standard: How Brands Can Understand Professionalism Post-Gen Z

Professionalism is under new management. Guess who?

Last year, 17.1 million Gen Zers entered the labor force. By the end of this year, they will likely outnumber baby boomers in the office. But clocking in looks a bit different for this generation; they have a new take on professionalism in the workplace, and it has tattoos and a whole lot of opinions. 

The New News

Gen Z has infiltrated your local news station, and the weatherman is finally interesting; you're welcome. His secret? Well, Gen Z likes their news with a dash - a dump, really - of rawness. This is distinct from honesty (because, um, the news should always be honest 👀); rawness is more along the lines of what would, in previous years, end up on the cutting room floor. Overly polished feels robotic to Gen Z, practiced and filtered - it feels fake. Which is a terrible impression for a news report to give.

Gen Z is a generation obsessed with authenticity (and it’s low-key a trauma response to the early days of journalism on social media). They love what feels real, and come back to what’s entertaining.

Unprofessional Who?

Now, has a little nose ring ever hurt anybody? You know, other than the person whose face it's in?

Well, regardless, best believe that when Gen Z shows up in the workplace, it’s not coming out for anybody. Diversity and inclusivity are core values of this generation, and they bring those values into the office. Natural hair is celebrated and specially styled for the conference room; their self-expression is curated for corporate rather than filtered. Tattoos, piercings, colored hair - that’s just a power suit, baby. Gen Z believes that authenticity and professionalism can coexist. Conformity need not be the uniform of the American workplace. 

“In general, [I’m scared of] just becoming a robot as an adult... Just waking up, going to work, and coming back home. I hate thinking of that cycle; I watched my family go through it, and they weren’t happy.”

Black female college graduate, 23, New York

Their standard-disrupting takes don’t stop there. From ‘quiet quitting’, ‘working your wage’, and that one new grad who’d rather die than download Slack on their phone, Gen Z is not playing around with our work-life balance. In the face of economic instability, rising rents, and a post-COVID workplace, Gen Z chooses peace; there is nothing that comes before their mental health. 

Do Not Disturb

Look, we all get 100 million notifications a day. Is it annoying when your coworker neglects to answer an email you sent 4 hours ago? Of course. But if they happen to be a Gen Zer, maybe try texting them first. 

Here’s the thing about the texting - yes, it feels a bit weird. Some people like it, and some don’t; some will direct you to message them on Teams or Slack instead. This is fine because, really, what we are doing is utilizing direct messaging as a way to move your ask up on the priorities list. That little ping tells them: this is urgent - bump it to the top of the queue. 

Punctuation Politics

A poorly placed period says a thousand words - most of them being ‘I hate you’ typed out over and over again. At least, that’s how your Gen Z employee took the ‘Thanks.’ in your last email. 

For Gen Z, punctuation has its own secret, passive-aggressive language. They grew up texting before they could even spell properly; many a middle school fight taught us to be hyper-aware of implied tone. Every exclamation point, ellipsis, and emoji is a subtle cue that conveys intent, allowing them to navigate DM interactions with precision. So forgive them if we use too many exclamation marks - it’s how we say I love you.