Posted on 12/26/2022 6:11:54 PM PST by libh8er
It turns out Gen Zers have a common secret. They’re not as comfortable with new technology as older generations would typically presume.
Sure, they may have grown up with instant access to information and an affinity for digital devices that older generations had to learn. But that has led to a widespread presumption that Gen Zers are therefore innately good with tech. Now, new research is showing that may not be the case at all when it comes to workplace tech. In fact, this presumption from older generations is leading a larger number of young professionals to experience “tech shame,” according to HP’s “Hybrid Work: Are We There Yet?” report, published in late November.
One in 5 of the 18-to-29-year-olds polled in the report, which surveyed 10,000 office workers in 10 markets including the U.S. and U.K., said they felt judged when experiencing technical issues, compared to only one in 25 for those aged 40 years and over. Further, 25% of the former age group would actively avoid participating in a meeting if they thought their tech tools might cause disruption, whereas it was just 6% for the latter cohort.
“We were surprised to find out that young workers are feeling more ‘tech shame’ than their older colleagues, and this could be due to a number of issues,” said Debbie Irish, head of human resources in the U.K. and Ireland at HP. First, in a hybrid work scenario, more seasoned colleagues would likely have higher disposable incomes with which to buy better equipment for their homes, she suggested.
Additionally, those who had started their careers during or since the pandemic were probably low on confidence at work. “Some young professionals are entering the workforce for the first time in fully virtual settings,” said Irish. “They have less face-to-face time in the office than any other generation and have limited access to senior employees, mentors and even their bosses.”
‘Adequate training is needed’ Irish urged organizations to ramp up their technical training programs for their youngest workers. “While young professionals may be more accustomed to digital environments, and certainly social media platforms, this doesn’t always carry over to professional tools,” she said.
Before entering the workforce, young workers might not have experienced virtual meeting platforms or communication channels, such as Slack. “Adequate training is needed for our early talent so they can learn how to utilize collaboration tools effectively,” added Irish.
Ludmila Milla, co-founder and CEO of e-learning provider UJJI, agreed. “The assumption is that because Gen Z and even millennials spend a considerable amount of time on technology that they are technology savvy,” she said. “This is a huge misconception. Sadly, neither watching TikTok videos nor playing Minecraft fulfills the technology brief.”
And when it comes to asking for help, younger generations are perhaps more shy. “As a behavioral scientist, I would expect older employees to hold up their hands and say they don’t know,” added Milla. “But it is much harder for younger employees, as there is a perception — albeit often incorrect — that they are naturally tech adept.”
Related to this insight, Salesforce’s “Future of Work Survey,” released in late November, indicated that U.K. workers rank digital skills as the most crucial for the current and future workplace — but 27% do not feel confident in their digital capabilities. A third complained about a lack of training in this area.
More worrying, so-called “future workers” – 13-to-18-year-old school children — lacked awareness of the importance of digital skills, according to the research. Those surveyed in this group rated these skills as the seventh-most vital capability required for the 2030 workplace.
‘Failing the next generation‘ “The U.K. is facing a digital skills crisis, compromising its status as one of the world’s most important science and technology hubs,” said Zahra Bahrololoumi, Salesforce’s U.K. and Ireland CEO. “We are failing the next generation and must educate parents and children on the importance of digital skills.”
Bahrololoumi said that the public and private sectors must join forces “to democratize access” to all learning and development opportunities. Salesforce is trying to do its part. “For example, 40 million badges have been acquired via Trailhead, our online learning platform, and it opens up access to tech skills to people of all backgrounds and education levels for free,” Bahrololoumi added.
While Trailhead, launched in 2014, offers courses focused on Salesforce technologies, the concept of completing hands-on challenges and earning points and badges to learn should be embraced by others, UJJI’s Milla said.
“Learning and development programs need to recognize that younger employees use technology for pleasure,” she added. “This is one of the main reasons we think gamification is a critical [learning and development] facilitator.”
Tik-Tok is not a business platform? Who knew?!
Zoomers are the dumbest generation so not surprised they didn’t even pick up the tech skills their GenX and Millennial superiors acquired.
I’ve seen Zoomers, 9 or 10 years old, playing video games who couldn’t understand the in-game instructions because they still couldn’t read. There is just something wrong with this generation. Even their cartoons, compared to what I remember as a kid, are inferior and dumber.
I grew up on video games and was reading on my own, according to my mother, by the time I was 3 years old. She told me I taught myself how to use our old Apple Works computer. I remember treating the floppy disks like they were mystical in some way, playing games, and making word documents and saving them to empty floppies. Probably by the time I was 12 years old, I had already been typing, with lighting speed, with both hands, a skill that still impresses Zoomer co-workers and Boomer bosses at the law firm (the Zoomers can’t even type).
Soon after that was the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and then PC gaming all the way to adulthood, playing games like Starfleet Command, Star Trek: Klingon Academy, the Thief series, etc.
I credit gaming with the reason why I’m so good at solving problems on my own, whether its a technical problem or just a general life problem.
They are deliberately deprived of relevant history lessons in school which would educate them that socialism always fails.
This subject tickles my funny bone. My work history involves being an IBM mainframe operator since the 1980’s. I remember laughing at the little ‘folders’ when Windows came on the scene. Before Word, was using ETC (Extended Text Composition) for documentation and was using DOS commands daily. You can say I grew up on the technology. Yes, I am a boomer and it cracks me up when the younger generation talks down to me on tech, their responses when I can reply with ‘why’ something isn’t working, ‘how did you know that?’...I’m old, not dead (and I’m still working as an undocumented DBA). They know what’s on the face of the current thing, they have no clue what goes on behind the scenes to make that thing work. A bulk of the current generation want to just push a button to be a tech, they have no idea that there was someone else doing the job to make that button work.
We have a winner. It’s like people who know how to drive, but not how to tune the car or change the oil. I’ve got young relatives like this. They are on devices all day long, but if you ask them a technical question you get a blank stare.
I’m 71 and started upgrading and building computers as a hobby 20 years ago. I’ve forgotten more about the workings of the technology they use than they know.
Tends to be an issue when everything is handed to you and colleges are no longer teaching critical thinking skills. There are two groups of people I will never hire for a position on my team. Ivy League grads and Gen Z/Millennials. They bring nothing to the table which add value to a job and cannot think their way out of a paper bag.
I would rather take someone in their 50’s who have a few years left before retirement and have them coach those junior employees on how to think on their feet and make decisions. When those of us in our later years of work were discriminated against, the entire workforce was destroyed. That loss of experience cost companies billions.
Mentoring is gone. Korporate Human Resources killed it. No one is going to risk their career trying to help someone who knows they can cry wolf and get promotions or payouts.
The most foolish are those who delude themselves, "My company is different. My boss wouldn't play that game. My coworkers wouldn't do that." ...only to find they're fired because a mentored coworker complained to HR that they were offended about something stupid.
The greybeards have learned their lesson well. If the korporation wants employees to know something, they better hire ones who know it or hire actual trainers because mentoring is all risk and no reward for the mentor.
Yeah, but they can quote liberally from Mao’s little red book.
That’s a great analogy between cars and computers. Of course, cars are becoming computers on wheels.
For example, back then, you had to acquire some real skills to run even just an Excel spreadsheet. You had to learn how the formulas work and how to format your worksheet to have it print out or even display correctly. Nowadays, most of that is done for you behind the scenes. You know longer have to know the formula for subtotaling columns. You just select, drag and right-click and the options come up for you.
Just about everything else computer related, you had to learn the software and all the pertinent commands. Old time Freepers will remember the day you had to learn basic HTML just to use this site (and knowing HTML still comes in handy when using this site). People using Twitter or Facebook don't have to have any skills like that.
Your mobile phone loads apps that are so user intuitive you don't even need to look at a manual.
Nobody needs to open up their computer these days to install extra RAM, replace or reformat a hard drive and do a clean install of the OS, or install an updated sound card these days. These were all common tasks in the 1990s. Nowadays, it is usually cheaper to replace your computer than to try and repair it.
I can definitely see the younger generation not being nearly as tech-savvy as early generations (all the way back to Baby Boomers) had to be in the workplace.
Being able to operater a car doesn’t make one a mechanic.
Living in a house does not make one an architect.
and
Using electronic or other tech equipment doesn’t make one an engineer or “tech guru”.
From Compute! magazine?
“Meanwhile most people under 30 have no idea how to use a hammer or a screwdriver.”
I’ve actually experienced that. How about can’t read an analog clock?
“Prior to attending university we also built our own stereos radios and ham gear with HealthKit products. “
My first shortwave receiver was a Heathkit. You can’t get any good kits now. Built a Heathkit fish finder too and boy was it crude. This was around 64-65.
“My work history involves being an IBM mainframe operator since the 1980’s. “
I started on a model 50 back in 78’. Boy have things changed.
Yup. Every job I ever had in tech we had to build our own computers. We didn’t have an IT department just us
Ohh no. Copy 15 pages of code I couldn't do. Other than an assembler. Had no choice there. Other than that, all my programming was my own.
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