Young workers bring new technology to the office
As the U.S. workforce ages with the impending retirement of many baby boomers, employers are finding that young workers have different expectations of office technology. Not satisfied with email and sticky notes, the newest members of the workforce are bringing their Web 2.0 communication tools with them. Perhaps “tools” is too strong a word; instant messaging, social networking, widgets, and text messaging are habits for this segment of population. So how are businesses adapting to these new workers and their toys?
The smart employers are using Web 2.0 addicts to their best advantage. If there’s one thing this next-generation knows how to do, it is multi-task. It seems that my college-age acquaintances and family members are almost constantly in contact, whether it’s monitoring their Facebook profiles or answering their email on web-enabled phones. When I attended college, students took notes during lectures with a trusty pen and paper. Now, students are bringing laptops to class, and in between taking notes they are organizing their iTunes libraries or updating their blogs. This ability to absorb and distribute information simultaneously, while not very comforting to professors, could actually be beneficial to employers who know how to take advantage of these skills.
Many businesses have embraced instant messaging as a means by which workers can stay updated on projects and connected with each other. They are also looking at online document suites, such as the SaaS offerings of Google Apps and Adobe Buzzword, for teams to collaborate and share information. Blogs and Twitter accounts are already keeping young devotees apprised of their friends’ every moves, and employers are encouraging this “oversharing”. Though it has the potential to create a saturated information pool, and will likely lead to non-disclosure agreement violations, businesses are focusing on the potential upsides of increased productivity and communication.
Another Web 2.0 technology trend is getting mixed reactions from the business community. Social networking, best exemplified by Facebook and MySpace, allows users to create personalized profiles and connect with friends and colleagues online. While some businesses have built proprietary social networks for internal use, others are allowing employees to connect with each other on their already existing profiles. This has its downsides, however, as a recent study in the UK found that the average worker spent 30 minutes a day of office time on Facebook. This has led some employers to block access to the site. While many workers rely on contacts and relationships formed online for their job duties, others are using the social networking sites as a time waster.
And what a waste of time it can be. As Rob Maille, founder of Makibie pointed out, “Today I am actually getting ready to delete MySpace account because all I get out of it is sex offers or someone asking for me to smuggle gold bricks out of Africa.” Many professionals who jumped into Facebook and MySpace are now finding that the sites, while great platforms for connecting with business contacts, are potentially inappropriate for enterprises. LinkedIn has stepped up to fill that gap, offering many of the networking opportunities of popular sites without all the “superpoking” and drunken fraternity photos. The site is built specifically for professional use, and it allows users to connect with past and current colleagues, business contacts, and like-minded workers.
While some may relish in the casual atmosphere of Web 2.0 technology, it is clearly seeing a shift towards enterprise functionality as the Facebook generation enters the workplace. Employers are making nods to the skills that young workers have honed on Wikipedia and Flickr, and they are finding that many of these technologies can add a much-needed collaborative element to the office. As baby boomers continue to leave the workplace, a super-connected, tech-savvy generation is filling their shoes, and they’re bringing their laptops, smart phones, and Facebook friends with them.
By Haley January Eckels