Author(s): Hendri Pramadya, Dadang Suganda
This research aims to identify the politeness of Gen Z Secretaries (born 1996-1999) uttered in a formal, oral communication in their office surroundings (employers/ company executives, work partners, and clients). The participants are secretaries who work in certain companies in Bandung City, West Java, Indonesia. This research uses descriptive method by counting the number of language usages, communication forms, participants’ cultural background, and speech acts factors related to the participants’ ways of communication. The results of this study show that in general all participants use an informal communication form with work partners and a formal communication forms with their employers and clients. The research also reveals that their politeness is very much influenced by their social, cultural, and geographical background – regardless their Gen Z characteristics. This research has successfully discovered that Gen Z secretaries still keep their local value in making conversational communication with their executives at the office despite of 20-40 age gaps. The languages they use in the office are Indonesian (100%), Sundanese (20%), and English (10%). Based on the research finding we recommend that secretarial educational institution must give a high concern of giving intensive practices to use formal conversational communication for Gen Z secretaries due to the need of verbal communication in formal situation.