What your email sign-off says about you

Woe betide those of us whose emails sign-off using old-fashioned phrases like ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Yours faithfully’. Showing your age, grandpa. Here’s what you should be saying instead.

The language that one generation has grown up with which may well freak out the next.

It’s all change, in terms of work missives in all their formality, and how we sign off. Out with the old, in with the new. “Hasta la pasta” anyone? Or how about the rather too brutally direct “Lukewarm regards”? Gen Z is changing how we communicate in a business sense, and woe betide those of us who use boring or old-fashioned phrases like “Yours sincerely” or “Yours faithfully”. Showing your age, grandpa.

“Dear…” at the other end of the letter is another on the way out. Guilty as charged, especially if you send me a really lovely email on the address below in the aftermath of a more contentious column. You’ll be getting a “Dear” in reply for not abusing me; you’ll be getting a reply. Dear, lovely you. Old hat? On its way out? Who knew.

The UK’s Barclays Bank surveyed several thousand people on our changing business habits when it comes to correspondence. “Kind regards” and “Many thanks” are winning out over more stuffy iterations. Younger workers are going with phrases such as “Ta”, “Speak soon” or “TY” – the abbreviation of thank you. Or perhaps my personal favourite, “Cheers”. Casual, warm, friendly. As for the over-enthusiasm of the exclamation mark – “Thanks!” – that, in my book, is the slobbery dog of sign-offs. The coolness of the non-sign-off? The aloofness of a narrow-eyed cat.

Woe betide those of us whose emails sign-off using old-fashioned phrases like ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Yours faithfully’.

And don’t get me started on the passive aggressiveness of “Best”. Cold. Curt. A signal that the sender doesn’t really think much of you. In America, most people favour a simple “Thank you” or “Thanks” as a sign-off, according to the US language learning app Preply, which also carried out a survey on this issue. It noted that 47 per cent of respondents just go with their name, forgoing an expected sign-off altogether.

Then there’s the language that one generation has grown up with which may well freak out the next. Like, er, OK. It’s been noted that getting a text from a boss that merely states “OK” makes young people worry they might have done something wrong. And don’t get me started on the perceived aggression of the full stop in texts. I have teenagers. I’ve taken note.

Gen Z hasn’t necessarily gone through the letter-writing drills that older generations did at school; they’ve come of age in the era of instant messaging, texting and social media. All of that lends itself to a more casual mode of communication. But the jury’s out on “Hiya” – friendly, yes, but shading into over-familiarity.

New ways of messaging, from social media platforms, also give Gen Z the chance to communicate less formally with emojis and GIFs. It’s a brave new world, and we have to get used to it; 40 per cent of Gen Zs surveyed said they’d struggle to demonstrate their personalities through emails alone. Which means they may need guidance as to how to effectively communicate with the oldies around them. They’re also more likely to participate in the back and forth of text-based “conversation” – where greetings and sign-offs have less of a place.

So what’s seen as the best sign-off? The golden one which bridges the gap between generations, causing the least offence to all. “Kind regards”. Friendly. Warm. Connecting. And if you don’t like the new ways, your world is on the way out, because younger generations are changing the formality of business communication. Breaking it down, shaking it up. Headed imminently for the scrapheap are “Yours truly”, “Yours sincerely” and “To whom it may concern”. “With compliments” and “With respect” aren’t far behind them.

Why? Well, Barclays also found that 97 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds really, actually, want to show their personality through their office interactions. And you’re not going to get that with a clipped “Best”. Or actually, maybe you will, a little too much. As for “Regards” – ew.