Every time there are Gen Z and millennial wars, us cusp babies feel heat from both sides. People often have different cutoffs of what constitutes as a Gen Z baby versus a millennial baby, but us ’96 and ’97 babies often get described as “the cusp,” because we’re somewhere in between. We know better than to get “wanderlust” tattoos like millennials, but we do enjoy a good Insta boomerang here and there. And of course I’m biased, but I like to think we’re the best of both worlds. So often when there are intense arguments between Gen Zers and millennials, cusp babies come in with a sort of middle ground that I think both sides can benefit from. And this gray area is usually eliminated when it comes to one of the most polarizing conversations of our time: work culture.
And this divide was made especially apparent after a Gen Z email went viral on X recently. Siddharth Shah, an investor, shared an email from one of his Gen Z employees and captioned it “How my Gen Z team gets its leaves approved.” The email’s subject is “Leave on 8th Nov,” and in the body of the email the employee wrote “Hi Siddharth, I will be on leave on 8th nov 2024. Bye.”
how my gen z team gets its leaves approved pic.twitter.com/RzmsSZs3ol
— Siddharth Shah (@siddharthshahx) November 5, 2024
Now, the internet had a lot of thoughts on the email. Millennials attacked the employee, saying that they’ve even fired people over employees “informing” their bosses of their leave rather than asking for permission. And of course, Gen Zers felt the opposite — the employee’s email was totally fine. They let their boss know they’d be off from work, and they’re entitled to their time off without having to answer personal questions about why they’re taking off.
A Cusper’s Guide To Work Email Etiquette
Millennials were conditioned to make work their lives and be at the beck and call of their employers. Gen Zers exist in a world where they don’t owe anything to anyone. Millennials let their employers know, “but if you need anything, give me a call!” before going on vacation and Gen Zers sign off from emails saying “bless up.” So, there’s a pretty deep divide when it comes to how they conduct themselves at work.
Enter: the cusp baby whose opinion no one asked for. I think that there’s merit to both sides. I am so in awe of Gen Z for drawing hard lines between their work life and their personal life — they’ve paved the path for a much healthier relationship with work. At the same time, I do think they lose the plot sometimes (have you seen the Office siren looks?). I think that in an effort to establish their individuality, they’ve steered away from professionalism. I, too, think that if you have established days off from work you shouldn’t have to get time approved from a boss. But I also think that that email needed to be a little longer. No need to let your coworkers know why you’re taking off, but a few boxes need to be checked.
If I’m going on leave, even if it’s a very short one, I always make sure to check in with a manager to see if there’s any work that needs to get done before going on leave. Of course nothing unreasonable, but if something needs to be prioritized, I’ll be sure to do that before I log off for the day. Also, I’m not sure if every job warrants this, but when I’m off I like to leave a little plan of what can be done in my absence — mostly because I expect that no one will be contacting me while I’m off. Boundaries are important, but let’s remember that we’re not emailing our friends when we’re taking time off work.
Take that vacation, put in that time off, enjoy your life — my only advice is to just send a comprehensive email before you do.
