Millennial Workers, accomplishing old tasks by new means

Millennials — whatever your thoughts on them — are changing the landscape of the corporate world.

The first generation to come of age in a digitally complex environment, they have long been viewed by their predecessors as innately tech-savvy.
But, in the age of social media and non-stop text messaging, are Millennials really up to par when it comes to office technology?

According to Jason Dorsey, co-founder of the Center for Generational Kinetics and expert on Millennials, “What we discovered a few years ago is that Millennials aren't actually tech-savvy, but what they are is tech-dependent.

They don't know how technology works, they just know they can't live without it”

Along with (erroneously) being viewed as tech-savvy, Millennials are often portrayed as “new dogs that can’t learn old tricks.”
Jokes abound about interns and recent college graduates who have difficulty understanding basic phone etiquette or how to retrieve simple voice mails, but nothing beats the stereotype that Millennials are clueless when it comes to the elusive fax machine.

Popular Google Fax, the ability to send and receive faxes via email, and a burgeoning desire for secure, paperless transmission of office documents have all helped to squelch the notion that faxing is dead.

But how can you help your Millennial employees and co-workers decode something as common as the typical office fax?

Education and integration are the keys to incorporating the longtime staple in office communication into the lives of Millennial workers.

With the advent of easy and secure online faxing, fax services from familiar names like Google and the promise of fewer stacks of paper crowding their desks.

Millennials are quick to utilize technology that they see as environmentally green and efficient once they have adequate training and understand how it benefits their work.

One of the biggest setbacks for Millennial workers when it comes to learning new (old) technology is their fear of disclosing that they don’t fit the tech-savvy stereotype.

According to a 2016 NBC News report, equipment manufacturer Brother surveyed small businesses and found that almost two-thirds of Millennials admitted they pretended to know more about office electronics than they actually did, even though they were more likely than their Baby Boomer counterparts to have equipment (like fax machines) on or near their desks.

One way of creating an open learning environment is to make email fax part of your onboarding for new employees.

Give Millennials the proper resources, frame the use of email faxing as a relevant, updated form of document distribution, and the most technologically immersed generation will soon be utilizing office fax.

Matt Gerchow

Matt Gerchow is an author, marketer, inventor, husband, father and yoga enthusiast. He enjoys travel to distant lands , fine wine, time with his family and dinner with friends.