By Natasha Lomas, 9 August 2007 11:19
NEWS
The UK's business leaders are being warned they must embrace flexible working and consumer technologies if they are to attract and retain the next generation of workers.
The issue of work/life balance is on the radar of future employees - before they've even nailed down their first proper job. This web 2.0 generation also expects technologies such as instant messaging, social networking and webcams to be welcomed in the workplace - and many are prepared to up sticks and move abroad in search of a better lifestyle should the reality of the daily grind disappoint.
A survey of the attitudes of 13 to 17 year olds, commissioned by Logicalis, reveals 81 per cent have already thought about their work/life balance, while more than half (55 per cent) expect to use instant messaging in the workplace to communicate with colleagues. Many also expect to be able to continue using other web 2.0 technologies they have grown up with - such as wikis, social networks and blogs.
Ninety-one per cent of teens questioned said they use IM at least once per week, while more than 50 per cent use it every day and 87 per cent said they are members of an online community. More than one-third (35 per cent) have written their own blog and nearly half (47 per cent) have read somebody else's.
IT departments, meanwhile, must also be prepared to accommodate this new wave of technophiles, says analyst Yankee Group, by giving them control over their IT environments.
Yankee Group enterprise research programme manager Joshua Holbrook said in a statement: "Enterprises can't avoid consumerisation or implement traditional approaches to managing consumerisation in the enterprise because it's failing. It's time for a new operating model; an IT care co-op is the solution."
The analyst recommends companies make use of web 2.0 tools such as social networks and wikis to build communities of end users that can manage their own IT support function.
Last year, oil giant BP pioneered a similar end user empowerment strategy by offering selected employees the chance to buy and manage their own IT equipment.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Guy Reynolds
This is all very well but when will this people find any time to do any work?
This also goes both ways and companies who find their productivity levels to be dropping because this generation will either not employ them, preferring older staff who are committed or by upping sticks and moving to countries with a better work ethic and cheaper work force.
2. Rod Dowler
The gist of this article is that flexible working, consumer technologies and a new wave of technophiles are a bit of a threat to IT environments and UK business leaders.
In my view, the reverse is true. Old style IT was so cumbersome and expensive that it virtually paralysed innovation and managers with poor IT skills could not overcome these barriers.
New web-based technologies, open-source software and young technophiles
are empowering organisations to build and change systems quickly and responsively. This gives tremendous competitive advantage to companies prepared to take advantage of these changes
3. Karen Challinor
the fact that the web 2.0 generation expects to work at all shows a charming naivete
4. Sarah
My first reaction to this article was ' they (the web 2.0 generation) have got to be joking'. And then I realised that is probably a sign of my age. They have grown up with this and in the same way that our generations work environment has changed so much over, even the last 20 years, they will expect theirs too as well.
It does however present new challenges and I think we would need to move much more towards a goal-orientated work environment, as this will be the only way to ensure that the work that people are employed to do is being completed.
If this can be achieved, then I see no problem with this.
5. Paul Northcott
I could not agree more with Guy Reynolds. This is an increasing issue with the "younger" workforce. (I sound like my father now).
As a recruiter of highly professional interims our clients inevitably look for the more mature individual who is well used to long hours and high productivity.
6. anonymous
How sad, if predictable, to read the comments of Messrs Reynolds and Northcott! (btw - I am by no means of the Web2.0 generation - having plenty of silver hair!). No doubt their equivalents were getting all worked up when a direct dial phone on every desk became feasible and normal and the photocopier arrived!
Do they consider they were wasting time posting their comments here?
The world has moved on, whether you like it or not! Some of the world's largest (and still rather successful) companies, like IBM, facilitate and encourage judicious use of such things internally and externally. The job of management is to motivate and inspire people, not spend their time finding "5 reasons why not"!