No generation changes the world of work alone. It only changes when all learn how to work together.
Opinion article by Rodrigo Maia Prinzo, Head of People at InnoTech
Read here the original version in Portuguese published at Human Resources Portugal
There is a small digital choreography that is becoming increasingly familiar in many companies when some members of Generation Z need to copy a paragraph from one document to another.
The cursor moves toward the text. The sentence is carefully selected. Right mouse button. Click “Copy”.
Then comes the second part of the journey.
The mouse crosses the screen toward the taskbar. A click opens the other document. Back to the text. Right mouse button again. Click “Paste”.
Everything works and the task gets done.
Still, for those who grew up working with computers, there is always that inevitable thought: Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. Three seconds instead of ten. Or even less, with Alt+Tab.
For years, this kind of digital dexterity seemed almost automatic. A mix of keyboard shortcuts, Word skills and Excel survival instincts. It felt like the bare minimum.
So when young professionals, born into a world already surrounded by technology, perform this process using the mouse, the first reaction is often surprise.
Not because they do not know how to copy and paste. They do. They just do it differently.
Many professionals entering companies today grew up using smartphones, intuitive apps and interfaces where almost everything is solved with one or two taps. They did not spend hours exploring software menus or discovering keyboard shortcuts.
And perhaps it is worth asking: what are we really teaching about digital tools throughout the educational journey?
Students interact with technology daily throughout secondary school and university, but that does not necessarily mean they are learning the tools that still support the daily operations of organizations.
Financial literacy has rightly become a growing topic of discussion. But perhaps we should also be talking more about digital literacy applied to the workplace.
This is where the paradox emerges: a generation extremely comfortable with technology, yet less familiar with the tools that remain central to how companies operate.
And there is another difference becoming increasingly visible.
Many of these professionals may not use keyboard shortcuts or advanced Excel formulas, but they interact with technology differently: they talk to it. They ask questions, test ideas and request answers.
Where some people search for formulas in a spreadsheet, others go directly to artificial intelligence and get answers in seconds. Which raises the question: who was actually faster?
This is not necessarily a lack of competence. It is simply a different way of reaching the result. What some define as “knowing how to do”, others define as “knowing what to ask”.
The easiest conclusion, of course, is to blame the younger generation. But there are two simplistic interpretations here — and both are probably incomplete.
The first is to look at this generation and conclude that they are entering the job market less prepared than expected. In that sense, the education system also carries responsibility. Entering the professional world inevitably requires adapting to existing rules and tools.
But there is a second interpretation, one that may feel less comfortable, especially for Generations X and Y.
Organizations still operate with work models, tools and processes designed by previous generations. Those generations naturally hold most leadership positions. As a result, it becomes easier to assume that newcomers are the ones who are “unprepared”. The truth is that periods of transformation are rarely the responsibility of only one side.
New professionals need to quickly learn how organizations function. Those already inside organizations need to accept that ways of working are changing.
At its core, none of this is truly new. Every time a new generation enters the workforce, the same small clash of expectations happens. Some believe newcomers are not sufficiently prepared. Others believe organizations are too rigid or outdated.
And somewhere within that initial friction, balance almost always emerges. Some learn the shortcuts that still keep companies running. Others begin to recognize that new ways of working are arriving. Little by little, the model adapts.
Because in the end, no generation changes the world of work alone. It only changes when both learn how to work together.
