'Digital nomads' and 'green collar jobs' confirm business jargon did not go away in 2025

AI has unleashed a fresh slew of new buzzwords we are forced to add to our lexicon, writes John Daly

‘augmented workforce’ is another new buzzword – the hoped-for resulting synergy between AI and humans to boost productivity. 

In the commercial world of 2025, some slang words refused all encouragement to exile themselves permanently to yesterday’s news, so hopefully that will change this year.

Traditional buzzwords like ‘synergy,’ ‘bandwidth’ and ‘circle back’ stuck like barnacles to the office lexicon – joining those other linguistic dinosaurs like ‘leverage’, ‘optimise’, ‘actionable’, ‘revolutionary’ and ‘paradigm’. 

Given space and time, we can only hope they will take the hint and expire quietly out of earshot in the early days of 2026. But no matter how many redundant slang phrases disappear, rest assured, there will be many newbies muscling to take their place. 

“Jargon is popular because it offers a shortcut by which communication can occur with speed and precision,” explains Dr Dana Loewy, a best-selling author and business communication expert. “Jargon can connect and create a sense of community. Once mastered, jargon unites.” 

Against that, study results published earlier this year found that jargon can make employees feel confused, demoralised and less likely to collaborate with their coworkers. The research, published in the International Journal of Business Communication, shows that the overuse of jargon disrupts how employees process information, lowers their confidence and reduces their willingness to seek or share information in the workplace. “

‘Bookcase credibility’ is now a requirement given the volume of video calls we partake in.

You need people to be willing to collaborate, share ideas and look for more information if they don’t understand something at work,” said the paper author, Professor Olivia Bullock of the University of Florida.

With AI on a billion lips across the world throughout 2025, it’s no wonder it has spawned a number of emerging terms, led by ‘augmented workforce’ – the hoped-for resulting synergy between AI and humans to boost productivity. 

A close second was ‘re-senteeism’ – a concise description of remaining in a job despite being unhappy. Trying to stem the wave of workplace disenchantment, bosses try to make the office environment more attractive with ping-pong tables and free lunch on Fridays – such inducements now considered ‘anti-perks’. 

Indeed, if you finally quit that dreary 9 to 5 trap, chances you might become a ‘digital nomad’ – one of the growing number of workers who drift around the globe, anchored by good wi-fi, favourable tax status and a penchant for surfing in temps of 30C. 

Up there with AI during the year was sustainability and a new breed of graduate who’s looking for a ‘green-collar job’ – the kind of gig where environmental responsibility takes precedence over profit. Every bright-faced youngster with a degree will want to drive a stake, Dracula-style, through the heart of anybody associated with ‘greenwashing’ – when companies falsely promote their products or policies as environmentally friendly.

Regardless of where you stand on technological progress, there’s no avoiding the digital age. Like it or not, you’d better bone up on your ‘agile transformation’ – all about adapting to the process and structures of the digital-first world. 

Still, nestled within such change are the old-fashioned virtues of innovation, collaboration and efficiency. The truth facing all of us worker drones is the necessity to ‘re-skill’ - the process of training in new skills to keep up with changing job requirements. Amongst those skills in the office of the future will be ‘data democratisation’ - making data accessible to everyone to empower informed decisions, regardless of their technical expertise. Sooner or later, you may find yourself within the opposed groupings of ‘black hat / white hat’ – a phrase coined from old Western films where good guys and baddies were differentiated by their hat colour. The term often describes a right and wrong way of doing things.

Given how Zoom changed all our lives during the pandemic, the idea that complete strangers may now gaze upon our home office has induced a desire to appear more learned than we really are. ‘Bookcase credibility’ became a must-have of 2025, showcasing such worthy tomes as Thomas Piketty’s Capital, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad or Donald Trump’s Think Big. 

A close relative of that one is ‘Aura farming’ – basically employing clothes and attitude to look cool. If you manage to impress with your sartorial togetherness, you gain ‘aura points’, and possibly admiring glances at the mid-morning coffee break. 

Be careful, though, that you don’t hasten your ‘unc status’ – a favoured linguistic slap by Gen Z for older people who are clearly out of touch. In fact, in our youth-obsessed culture, some of us may resort to turning back the clock, surgery-wise. ‘Looksmaxing’ has been coined to describe the growing list of cosmetic procedures designed to pump up the volume on our appearance. 

After all, who can blame anyone for adopting a fresh ‘go to market strategy’ with the joys and challenges of 2026 ahead of us.

Happy New Year.