人們對新科技的接納程度真的取決于年齡？

認為千禧一代比歲數大的同事對新科技的接受速度快得多，這種想法司空見慣，已經成為一種難以破除的刻板印象。

我們看看大型IT貿易協會美國計算機行業協會（CompTIA）對1000名員工進行的一項新研究，這些研究對象的年齡跨度超過40歲。千禧一代中，略高于一半（51%）的受訪者稱自己會使用基于云端的工具，嬰兒潮一代的比率僅為33%。研究還表明，千禧一代使用協同軟件的比率更高，而且他們更看重能夠將新技術迅速用于工作，年紀更大的受訪者卻“更在乎提升現有技術的用戶體驗?！?

但是，你是否愿意接受新技術真的取決于你的年齡么？還是說，更重要的其實是你受到了什么樣的培訓教你使用這種新技術？

安永會計師事務所（EY）過去兩三年一直在探索這個問題，他們每年花5億美元用于提升公司世界各地26萬稅務、審計、咨詢人員的技能。根據安永9月中旬報告，公司2018財年利潤達到歷史新高，而該公司不斷在運營中大規模加入新技術，其中包括用700個機器人取代部分人力，每年完成210萬小時的人工操作。僅2018年一年，安永進行的收購中有21起都是為了拓展公司在人工智能和數據分析等領域的專業知識。

對于馬丁·菲奧雷而言，最大的挑戰在于如何設計好培訓，教會所有人如何將大量不斷變化的新技術用于實際工作。菲奧雷是安永美國稅務實務部門的一名業務主管，他設計了一系列的培訓項目，他注意到，人們對于新技術的接受程度和使用意愿或許在部分程度上與年齡有關，但更重要的是他們的學習方式是否最適合自己。

因此安永的培訓形式豐富多樣，從視頻到電子書到課堂學習到MP3，只要你能想到的應有盡有。

“現在安永員工有五個年齡層，他們的學習方式確實各不相同?！狈茒W雷說。比如說千禧一代更適應互動式課堂教學，而菲奧雷所說的“終身職位”（年紀更大，通常級別更高）員工一對一培訓的學習效果更好。

但是，哪怕年紀相仿、級別相似，不同人的喜好可能大相徑庭。已在安永工作30多年的稅務部門合伙人莎達·奇爾伍（Sharda Cherwoo）說：“每個人的學習方式不同，所以我們想讓他們有不同選擇?！逼鏍栁楸硎?，就她自己而言，在線看視頻能讓她更好地吸收技術。比起在教室里一坐好幾天，“我喜歡分段式的學習，也就是每次針對能夠立刻實際應用的主題密集學習一兩個小時?！?

對于安永這種公司而言，靈活性至關重要，因為許多員工把大量時間花在旅途中，他們在一個地方停留的時間甚至不夠參加傳統課程。安永的稅務合伙人兼國際轉移業務主管馬修·山姆布魯克說自己主要在飛機上和酒店里利用網絡和音頻課程參加培訓，但他同樣偏愛“對新技術的實操演示，因為你看得見摸得著，而且能試著操作?！?

山姆布魯克今年43歲，屬于X世代，他在工作中和各類年齡群都有接觸，下到所謂的“數字原住民”Z世代，上到嬰兒潮時期出生的資深管理層?！昂茈y通過年齡看出不同年齡層使用或學習技術時的明顯區別?！彼f。但是，哪怕這種區別確實存在，“對于任何一個年齡層而言，有機會用自己學習效果最好的方式參加[科技培訓]能讓每一個人受益?！?

每次看到刻板印象被打破，都讓人耳目一新。（財富中文網）

譯者：龐洋

The idea that millennials are far quicker to welcome new technology than their older colleagues is so familiar by now that it’s become one of those stereotypes that just won’t go away.

Consider, for instance, a new study of 1,000 employees, whose ages span more than 40 years, by giant IT trade Association CompTIA. A little over half (51%) of millennials report using cloud-based tools, versus 33% of baby boomers. millennials are more likely to use collaboration software, the survey says; and, while millennials say they want faster implementation of new technologies at work, their older colleagues “want more of a focus on making existing technologies more user-friendly.”

But does your willingness to welcome new technology really depend on when you were born—or is it more a matter of how you’re trained to use it?

EY has been exploring that question for the past couple of years, spending some $500 million annually to “upskill” its 260,000 tax, audit, and advisory people around the world. The firm, which mid-September reported record profits for fiscal 2018, has been steadily adding big chunks of new tech to its own operations, including replacing 2.1 million yearly people-hours of in-house manual operations with an army of 700 bots. In 2018 alone, EY also made 21 acquisitions aimed at expanding its know-how in areas like artificial intelligence and data analytics.

For Martin Fiore, the big challenge has been coming up with training to show everyone how to put so much constantly changing new tech wizardry to practical everyday use. A managing principal in EY’s U.S. tax practice, Fiore has designed a series of training programs. One thing he’s noticed so far: How ready people are to welcome and apply new technology may be partly related to their age. But it’s much more connected to how they learn best.

So EY delivers training in just about any form you can think of, from videos to e-books to classroom sessions to MP3 files.

“We have five generations at EY now, and they do learn differently,” says Fiore. Millennials, for example, tend to thrive in interactive classroom settings, while what Fiore called “tenured” (read: older, and usually more senior) employees often learn better in one-on-one coaching sessions.

But even within the same generation and similar rank, individual preferences can differ widely. Notes Sharda Cherwoo, a partner in the tax division who has been at EY for more than 30 years, “People learn in different ways, so we want to give them options.” Cherwoo absorbs new technology best, she says, by watching EY’s videos online. Rather than spending days in a classroom, “I like bite-sized chunks—an hour or two of very focused information that I can apply immediately.”

Flexibility is essential in a firm like EY, since many employees spend so much time on the road that they’re never in one place long enough to take traditional classes, anyway. Matthew Sambrook, a tax partner who is also a principal in EY’s international transfer business, relies on web-based and audio training on airplanes and in hotels, but he’s also partial, he says, to “hands-on demos of new tech, where you can see it, play with it, and try out what it can do.”

At age 43, Sambrook is a GenXer who rubs elbows with every age group at work, from so-called “digital native” Gen Z recruits, right on up to boomer senior executives. “It’s hard to see distinct differences in how the generations use technology, or learn it,” he says. But, even if such differences are real, “giving people the chance to do [tech training] in the way they retain it best benefits everybody, whatever generation they’re in.”

It’s always refreshing to see a stereotype made irrelevant.