Millennials and baby boomers share attitudes to IT

Millennials are not so different after all…

Millennials are just as happy to work with IT departments as their baby-boomer counterpartsPhoto: Shutterstock

Attitudes to technology in the workplace differ little between generations, according to a report from Forrester Research.

The analyst firm found that those born between 1980 and 2000 who are currently in the workforce - also known as Generation Y or millennials - have similar attitudes towards corporate IT as baby boomers - those born in the post-war baby boom.

Over half of the millennials surveyed, 55 per cent, said they were satisfied with the technologies they use to do their jobs, which mirrored responses given by their baby-boomer counterparts.

The report also found that while nearly a third, 31 per cent, of millennials felt the technology they had at home was better, they were no more likely to bring it into the office than baby boomers.

The findings conflict with the views of some commentators that millennials would disrupt existing IT structures. Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and The Digital Economy, forecast a "big conflict" in the office between millennials and workers from the baby-boomer generation stemming from differing attitudes to technology and hierarchies.

According to the report, only two per cent of millennials surveyed felt their IT department "significantly hindered" their ability to work, with only eight per cent telling Forrester they felt their IT department was "clueless".