Ask a Gen Z employee to touch base or circle back, and there's a decent chance they genuinely won't know what you mean.
A new report from CareerMinds found that the average Gen Z worker correctly identified just 5.3 out of 24 common workplace phrases, well below the overall average of seven out of 24 across all age groups. Nearly half of respondents, 48.8 percent, understood five or fewer terms total. Even 'in the loop,' the single most recognized phrase in the study, was correctly understood by only 57.3 percent of participants.
Terms like 'in the pipeline,' 'put it on the back burner,' and 'hit the ground running' proved especially confusing for younger workers. The report ties the gap to two overlapping trends: AI automating routine administrative tasks that used to force junior employees into frequent verbal coordination with colleagues, and the shift to hybrid and remote work reshaping how teams communicate day to day. A separate 2024 study cited in the report links declining social and verbal communication skills more broadly to the rise of remote work.
The stakes go beyond awkward meetings. CareerMinds argues that when younger employees feel disconnected from workplace language, both digitally and physically, it can affect their confidence, participation, and ultimately career progression, since jargon often functions as an informal signal of who belongs in a room.
Careers expert Amanda Augustine framed the finding as a leadership issue rather than a generational shortcoming, arguing that clear communication is itself a skill leaders should be judged on rather than a mark of being less sophisticated. The underlying message for managers is straightforward: shorthand that feels efficient to one generation can quietly exclude another, and the fix is simpler language, not lowered expectations.