• Business

This Is Millennials’ Most Embarrassing Secret

3 minute read

Today’s young adults are establishing their careers, but their lack of technological prowess is costing their employers big-time. Yes, you read that right. In spite of growing up having the Internet in the palms of their hands, these so-called “digital natives” have a yawning knowledge gap that’s not apparent until they get into the office.

“Most Gen Ys grew up accustomed to using social media and texting for communicating and collaborating and haven’t had to use email or spreadsheets extensively,” explains Chris Pope, senior director of strategy at technology services company ServiceNow.

And unfortunately for them, programs like Outlook and Excel are the technologies most companies in America still rely on to get stuff done. Being able to summon a car, book a table or send a birthday gift with the tap of a finger is great, but this kind of streamlined experience isn’t the norm in most workplaces, and young workers just can’t deal. “Many are only introduced to those tools when they enter the workforce and have to change their natural way of engaging to better match the way everyone else in the enterprise is working,” Pope says. “In many ways, Gen Y have to go backwards to use less efficient technology in the office than they use in their personal lives.”

And millennials’ technology problem isn’t limited to functions like emailing and creating spreadsheets. Researchers have found that a lot of young adults can’t even use Google correctly. One study of college students found that only seven out of 30 knew how to conduct a “well-executed” Google search.

“When it comes to finding and evaluating sources in the Internet age, students are downright lousy,” an article in Inside Higher Ed says about the study. “They were basically clueless about the logic underlying how the search engine organizes and displays its results. Consequently, the students did not know how to build a search that would return good sources.”

Not knowing how to use the most common tools for basic business and administrative tasks is staggeringly expensive for companies. A survey from ServiceNow of more than 900 managers finds that ServiceNow finds that American companies spend a collective $575 billion a year on administrative overhead.

“Busywork is pervasive,” Pope says.

Managers spend an average of 15 hours a week on administrative busywork — everything from making and following up on requests for technical support to submitting purchase orders. Completing these mundane tasks is often a drawn-out affair, requiring five to nine different contacts in 40% of cases. What’s more, less-adept younger workers are likelier to have more of these tasks assigned to them just by virtue of the fact that they’re the “low man on the totem pole,” Pope says. Millennials spend 43% of their time on administrative work, far more than baby boomers. “They may have to pay their dues with a greater number of administrative tasks than more senior managers have,” Pope says.

Pope says the best way for young workers to handle this is to look for tasks they can automate, since manual data-entry, follow-up and the like is both time-consuming and prone to errors. “The more you can bypass the manual aspects of work, the more productive you can be,” he says.

Read next: Are Millennials Really Lazy at Work?

5 Horrible Habits You Need to Stop Right Now

171101767
Do Not Email First Thing in the Morning or Last Thing at Night “The former scrambles your priorities and all your plans for the day and the latter just gives you insomnia,” says Ferriss, who insists “email can wait until 10am” or after you check off at least one substantive to-do list item.Chris Pecoraro—Getty Images
457982853
Do Not Agree to Meetings or Calls With No Clear Agenda or End Time “If the desired outcome is defined clearly… and there’s an agenda listing topics–questions to cover–no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes,” claims Ferriss, so “request them in advance so you can ‘best prepare and make good use of our time together.'”Sam Edwards—Getty Images/Caiaimage
83585061
Do Not Check Email Constantly Batch it and check it only periodically at set times (Ferriss goes for twice a day). Your inbox is analogous to a cocaine pellet dispenser, says Ferriss. Don’t be an addict. Tools like strategic use of the auto responder and Boomerang can help.Jetta Productions—Getty Images
184060520
Do Not Carry a Digital Leash 24/7 At least one day a week leave you smartphone somewhere where you can’t get easy access to it. If you’re gasping, you’re probably the type of person that most needs to do kick this particular habit.by nacoki ( MEDIA ARC )—Getty Images/Flickr RF
144869265
Do Not Let People Ramble Sounds harsh, but it’s necessary, Ferriss believes. “Small talk takes up big time,” he says, so when people start to tell you about their weekends, cut them off politely with something like “I’m in the middle of something, but what’s up?” But be aware, not everyone agrees with this one (and certainly not in every situation), and you may want to pay particularly close attention to norms around chit chat when traveling internationally.Reza Estakhrian—Getty Images

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com