人们对新科技的接纳程度真的取决于年龄？

认为千禧一代比岁数大的同事对新科技的接受速度快得多，这种想法司空见惯，已经成为一种难以破除的刻板印象。

我们看看大型IT贸易协会美国计算机行业协会（CompTIA）对1000名员工进行的一项新研究，这些研究对象的年龄跨度超过40岁。千禧一代中，略高于一半（51%）的受访者称自己会使用基于云端的工具，婴儿潮一代的比率仅为33%。研究还表明，千禧一代使用协同软件的比率更高，而且他们更看重能够将新技术迅速用于工作，年纪更大的受访者却“更在乎提升现有技术的用户体验。”

但是，你是否愿意接受新技术真的取决于你的年龄么？还是说，更重要的其实是你受到了什么样的培训教你使用这种新技术？

安永会计师事务所（EY）过去两三年一直在探索这个问题，他们每年花5亿美元用于提升公司世界各地26万税务、审计、咨询人员的技能。根据安永9月中旬报告，公司2018财年利润达到历史新高，而该公司不断在运营中大规模加入新技术，其中包括用700个机器人取代部分人力，每年完成210万小时的人工操作。仅2018年一年，安永进行的收购中有21起都是为了拓展公司在人工智能和数据分析等领域的专业知识。

对于马丁·菲奥雷而言，最大的挑战在于如何设计好培训，教会所有人如何将大量不断变化的新技术用于实际工作。菲奥雷是安永美国税务实务部门的一名业务主管，他设计了一系列的培训项目，他注意到，人们对于新技术的接受程度和使用意愿或许在部分程度上与年龄有关，但更重要的是他们的学习方式是否最适合自己。

因此安永的培训形式丰富多样，从视频到电子书到课堂学习到MP3，只要你能想到的应有尽有。

“现在安永员工有五个年龄层，他们的学习方式确实各不相同。”菲奥雷说。比如说千禧一代更适应互动式课堂教学，而菲奥雷所说的“终身职位”（年纪更大，通常级别更高）员工一对一培训的学习效果更好。

但是，哪怕年纪相仿、级别相似，不同人的喜好可能大相径庭。已在安永工作30多年的税务部门合伙人莎达·奇尔伍（Sharda Cherwoo）说：“每个人的学习方式不同，所以我们想让他们有不同选择。”奇尔伍表示，就她自己而言，在线看视频能让她更好地吸收技术。比起在教室里一坐好几天，“我喜欢分段式的学习，也就是每次针对能够立刻实际应用的主题密集学习一两个小时。”

对于安永这种公司而言，灵活性至关重要，因为许多员工把大量时间花在旅途中，他们在一个地方停留的时间甚至不够参加传统课程。安永的税务合伙人兼国际转移业务主管马修·山姆布鲁克说自己主要在飞机上和酒店里利用网络和音频课程参加培训，但他同样偏爱“对新技术的实操演示，因为你看得见摸得着，而且能试着操作。”

山姆布鲁克今年43岁，属于X世代，他在工作中和各类年龄群都有接触，下到所谓的“数字原住民”Z世代，上到婴儿潮时期出生的资深管理层。“很难通过年龄看出不同年龄层使用或学习技术时的明显区别。”他说。但是，哪怕这种区别确实存在，“对于任何一个年龄层而言，有机会用自己学习效果最好的方式参加[科技培训]能让每一个人受益。”

每次看到刻板印象被打破，都让人耳目一新。（财富中文网）

译者：庞洋

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.