Woon-Mo Sung

March 15, 2024, 3:36 pm | Read time: 4 minutes

The working world has changed significantly in recent years. New technologies dominate daily communication in many places–there’s a lot of chatting, and people prefer email or even AI (artificial intelligence). At the same time, several different generations can work in an office, each with its own needs and challenges. A new study now shows how Gen Z, Millennials, and others differ in their use of modern tools and what this can mean for employers.

Up to 4 Generations in an Office

The new study comes from the international The Adaptivist Group, a consortium of more than ten individual brands focused on digital transformation in professions and companies. The researchers surveyed 4,000 so-called “knowledge workers” from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and Germany.

This refers to employees whose main asset is knowledge, such as editors, lawyers, software developers, architects, scientists, and more. Their job is to “think,” and it can be concluded that they spend a lot of time in offices.

According to the Adaptivist Group, up to four generations can now share a workplace, partly because the workforce is generally aging. This is the case in 51 percent of companies. In 90 percent of teams, there have already been conflicts over digital work tools, and 60 percent of respondents said this affects productivity and collaboration.

Also interesting: What is Artificial Intelligence and How Is It Used?

How Different the Generations Are

Not surprisingly, there are clear differences between generations in their use of technology. While Gen Z (born 1997 to 2012 according to Beresford Research) is considered particularly tech-savvy, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) are described as technophobic. Besides the specific use of apps and programs, there also seems to be a general communication understanding problem.

For example, 34 percent of respondents find video meetings the most challenging medium for collaboration. Additionally, 33 percent are confused by the use of emojis or internet slang. Among them, 38 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds reported having difficulties–possibly because they encounter the most misunderstanding in this regard.

Also interesting: What Do the Emojis on WhatsApp Mean?

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Gen Z and Boomers Are the Most Complicated

Across generations, there are other issues in modern work life: 33 percent have a problem with the apparently different expectations of how quickly someone should respond to emails or messages. And 50 percent of those over 50 are annoyed when younger people don’t own a pen. Meanwhile, 53 percent of Gen Z are envious of how confidently older people make phone calls.

However, Gen Z and Millennials (1981 to 1996) are best suited for hybrid work in the office and home office–the problem with video meetings likely lies with the older generations.

When asked which generation is the most difficult to work with, 28 percent of the votes went to Gen Z and 27 percent to the Baby Boomers. Unsurprisingly, the majority believe they each have the most diverse communication styles. This puts them well ahead of Millennials and Gen X (1965 to 1980).

Email Endures, AI on the Rise

AI has been rapidly on the rise in numerous industries for some time and is received differently by the generations. Twenty-nine percent of Gen Z use it more than anything else, while only 10 percent of older workers do.

In general, younger people are much quicker to adopt new tools: 57 percent of Generation Z use more tools than the year before, while among 55- to 64-year-olds, it’s still 40 percent. However, a full 76 percent of those aged 45 to 54 still swear by email as the most used application.

According to the Adaptivist Group, this shows that a very good tool like email can coexist with trends like AI. AI is also still met with considerable skepticism–67 percent believe it will deepen the gaps between generations and that it can give Gen Z an advantage due to their stronger digital affinity.

It will also be interesting when, in about four years, Generation Alpha (born 2010 to 2025 according to Britannica) enters the job market.