LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25, 2026 — With more than one in three U.S. employees now doing some or all of their work from home on days they work—about 46% higher than before the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—experts warn that younger workers are bringing casual digital habits into professional calls that make them look less competent without realizing it.
According to Jason O’Brien, Chief Operating Officer at international telecommunications provider TollFreeForwarding.com, the biggest Gen Z communication mistakes are not always obvious breaches of etiquette. Instead, they are often subtle habits that can quietly undermine how professional someone comes across on a call.
“Remote and hybrid work have created a whole new set of expectations around professional communication,” O’Brien said. “For a generation that grew up communicating through screens, adapting those everyday digital habits to a professional environment isn’t always as intuitive as you might expect. You can be incredibly digitally fluent and still have habits on a work call that make you appear unprofessional without realizing it.”
Below, O’Brien reveals six everyday call habits that may seem harmless but can quietly make younger professionals appear less confident, prepared, or polished at work:
6 Subtle Call Habits That Can Make You Look Less Professional
1. Automatically ignoring a call you weren’t expecting
For many younger workers, an unexpected phone or video call can feel almost intrusive. The instinct may be to let it ring, then immediately message, “What’s up?” or “Can you text me?”
But repeatedly screening unscheduled work calls can create the impression that you are difficult to reach, especially to managers, clients, or colleagues who see a quick call as the fastest way to solve something.
“There’s nothing wrong with missing a call because you’re busy,” O’Brien said. “The problem is when avoiding unexpected calls becomes the default.”
2. Starting your point with “sorry”
“Sorry, just one thing.” “Sorry, can I add something?” “Sorry, I was going to say…”
Using “sorry” as a conversational entry point can feel polite, particularly when interrupting the natural flow of a virtual meeting. But when it becomes a habit, it can subtly undermine the speaker’s authority.
“You shouldn’t have to apologize every time you contribute,” O’Brien said. “If you have something relevant to say, saying it clearly and directly sounds much more confident.”
3. Narrating every tiny technical problem
“Sorry, you froze for a second.” “My Wi-Fi is being weird.” “I think there was a slight delay.” “Can you still hear me?”
New remote workers may feel the need to comment on every glitch. But constantly stopping a conversation to acknowledge minor audio delays, frozen frames, or brief connection issues can make you appear more flustered than the problem itself warrants.
“If the problem isn’t stopping the conversation, you often don’t need to announce it,” O’Brien said. “Part of appearing composed on a virtual call is knowing when to troubleshoot and when to simply keep going.”
4. Positioning your camera where you look distracted
A laptop positioned well below eye level, for example, can make someone appear to be constantly looking down or away from the conversation, while sitting too close can exaggerate every glance toward another monitor.
“Poor camera etiquette is not always as obvious as sitting in bed or leaving a messy room in view,” O’Brien said. “People naturally interpret where you’re looking as a sign of where your attention is. You may be completely focused on the meeting, but if your setup makes it look like you’re staring down at your desk or constantly looking elsewhere, that isn’t necessarily how it will come across.”
Placing the camera closer to eye level and keeping distracting movement out of the background can make a surprisingly large difference.
5. Saying “yeah” or “right” throughout someone else’s answer
Constant verbal acknowledgments can feel like good listening. But repeatedly saying “yeah,” “right,” “totally,” or “exactly” over a microphone can sound impatient or interruptive.
O’Brien says one of the harder virtual communication skills is learning that listening does not always require filling the silence.
“On a call, you sometimes need to give people more space to finish their thought than you would face-to-face,” he said. “You don’t have to verbally prove that you’re listening every few seconds.”
6. Talking yourself out of your own answer
Silence can feel unusually awkward on a virtual call, leading some workers to weaken their own point before anyone has even responded. If a few seconds pass without an answer, younger workers may instinctively add disclaimers such as: “That’s just one thought.” “We obviously don’t have to do that.” “I don’t know, maybe that doesn’t make sense.”
“Silence feels much longer on a call than it actually is, but don’t undermine your own point before anyone has responded,” O’Brien said. “If you immediately start qualifying or retracting what you just said, you can make a confident point sound uncertain before anyone has even had a chance to respond.”
The Best Communicators Know When to Change Gears
O’Brien stresses that none of these behaviors are uniquely Gen Z problems. The skill is knowing when the situation calls for something different.
Messaging a close colleague is not the same as speaking with a new client. An informal team catch-up is not the same as a job interview. A five-minute internal call does not require the same preparation as a sales meeting with a prospective customer.
“Professional communication isn’t about sounding corporate,” O’Brien said. “It’s about making the person on the other end feel like they have your attention, you know why you’re speaking with them, and you can be trusted to handle what comes next.”
For more workplace insights and business communication advice, please visit www.tollfreeforwarding.com/blog.
