Inc. Magazine
Gen-Z workers are reshaping office dynamics by teaching older colleagues how to use AI tools, a survey by IWG shows. Nearly 60% of professionals say this coaching bridges generational divides, boosts productivity, and sparks new business ideas. AI saves employees nearly a workday weekly through automation.
Author: Bruce Crumley
The growing rate of AI adoption is easing Gen-Z employees‘ path in the workplace, and their productivity and value to employers. It’s also giving many of them another unofficial job function that’s helping the cohort transform its vexing workplace reputation: serving as tutors to older colleagues as they incorporate the new technology. That eagerness to teach veteran coworkers to use new apps is changing perceptions of that younger generation of purportedly aloof and independent-minded workers — and helping them connect better in the office, according to a recent study.
That dynamic was among the most significant findings of a recent survey conducted by hybrid workplace provider International Workplace Group (IWG). Nearly 60 percent of the 2,016 professionals from the U.S. and U.K. who participated in the study said Gen-Zers take active roles in coaching older colleagues to choose and use AI apps. That assistance by the younger cohort — usually defined as having been born between 1995 and 2009 — led about half of respondents to say it had begun bridging the generational workplace divides that have formed since Gen-Zers began entering the workforce in large numbers.
“This support often takes different forms, from hands-on guidance to sharing practical tips to integrate AI into daily workflows,” International Workplace Group CEO Mark Dixon told CNBC, which first reported on the survey. “Our research shows that older colleagues are showing real openness to AI and, just as importantly, to learning from younger generations.”
But the growing mutual appreciation between veteran employees and relative workplace newcomers is far from the only benefit of Gen-Z’s AI tutoring. Fully 82 percent of respondents in management roles said training efforts by younger employees had generated inventive use case suggestions that wound up creating new business opportunities for their companies.
Meanwhile, the more the older employees have gotten up to speed using AI apps under Gen-Z colleagues‘ direction, the more productive the entire company becomes, the survey said.
For starters, 86 percent of respondents said using apps had made them more efficient. One result of that is that participants said they saved an average of 55 minutes daily by using AI to automate various job tasks. Tallied up across the week, that time comes to nearly a full workday.
Consequently, 80 percent of people polled said they were able to dedicate that extra time to doing “higher-value tasks” than the grunt work AI had taken over. That likely explained why 76 percent of respondents believed the technology had already benefitted their careers.
As has been noted in similar studies, participants in the IWG survey said they tended to use AI most for automating repetitive, often boring lower-impact tasks. Those included drafting email, transcribing meeting notes, organizing files, data entry, filling in forms, and composing texts for marketing and other materials.
Meanwhile, as Gen-Zers taught older coworkers to use apps for basic tasks, their extended interactions often generated new use cases their managers identified as previously unexplored business opportunities.
“What makes this dynamic so impactful is its reciprocity,” Dixon said. “Younger employees are using their digital fluency to guide colleagues and introduce new ways of working, while senior colleagues contribute their experience, industry knowledge, and more strategic perspectives… This two-way exchange not only bridges generational divides but also flattens traditional hierarchies.”
It also made collaborating with remote and hybrid workers more productive.
Nearly 70 percent of hybrid employees said AI made working with team members in different locations easier. A leading example of that was 46 percent of survey participants said apps helped them prepare for meetings more effectively. Another 36 percent of respondents credited the tech with increasing their ability review insights shared during online exchanges, as well as follow up on those promising ideas later on.
But arguably the biggest immediate consequence of the workforce’s first fully digitally native generation assisting older colleagues with AI is how that mutually productive interaction has already begun erasing some of the divisions that had opened between employees of differing ages.
“In today’s digital–first era, AI is emerging as a powerful unifier across generations,” Dixon told CNBC. “This active exchange of knowledge and skills is bringing generations closer, fostering open collaboration, ultimately helping to build a stronger, more resilient team.”
Credits: TCA, LLC.