On Wednesday, I wrote about a new report by Accenture that found that 97 percent of Millennials (ages 14 to 27) in the United States at least partly agree that state-of-the-art technology and equipment will be essential when choosing an employer. Research by Deloitte released in January also found that 88 percent of teens use social networks every day, with more than half saying they would consider their ability to access them at work when weighing a job offer from a potential employer.
While the studies did not target federal workers, it's worth noting that the research has significant implications for government agencies, particularly as they seek to recruit and retain Millennials to help fill the gaps left by large numbers of retiring Baby Boomers. My colleague Allan Holmes sounded the same alarm this week.
Andrew Krzmarzick, director of community engagement for GovLoop and writer of the Generation Shift blog, said Friday that the results of the survey should be a wake-up call for federal agencies to begin paying attention to the ways Millennials have grown accustomed to working and communicating.
"Let's say the Baby Boomers showed up to work and found there were no land-line phones," Krzmarzick said. "That's the kind of shock that the Millennial generation is experiencing when they get into an office and are not issued a workstation or a laptop, find that there's no high-speed Internet, or realize that social media is blocked."
He recommended that agencies begin using social networking tools to engage potential young workers before and during their federal employment. For example, human resources professionals and agency recruiters should be engaging with potential recruits through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and through the new open government initiative, in part to discover who is active in agency dialogues and is providing thoughtful responses to agency questions, he said.
"Agencies should take note of these folks and reach out and encourage them to consider government employment," he said. "You're seeing performance in advance. But if you're going to recruit them using those tools, you have to allow use of them when they get there."
Meanwhile, the Accenture survey also found that communication is shifting away from e-mail towards instant alternatives, particularly for younger Millennials. Older Millennials (age 23-27), for example, still spend an average of 6.8 hours per week writing or receiving work-related e-mails, while younger Millennials already in the workforce spend just 4.2 hours per week on e-mail and more time on text messaging (3 hours) or instant messaging (3.2 hours), the survey found.
Krzmarzick noted that the government is not yet adapting to this shift in communication. For example, he said, agencies recruiting on college campuses are probably collecting e-mail information but not mobile phone numbers from potential recruits. Agencies could ask for permission to send recruits text messages when a job opportunity comes available, Krzmarzick said.
What are your thoughts on the survey's implications for government, particularly when it comes to recruiting and retaining the workforce of the future? Can the federal government adapt quickly enough to the changes young people demand?
COMMENTS
IM's are never going to takeover until a way can be found to capture and save them cleanly. All correspondence (includings IM's and email) need to be saved for legal discovery. The millennials need to recognize this and adapt. Its not just the Feds, not many companies know how to make use of many of the existing technologies out there.
mike d 03/18/10 11:46 am ET
I agree with Jullianna and Mike. Until we get some better leadership in the IT dept, we will continue to be failure. And since I work with the Navy under DoD, it is usually a military person in charge of the program. Yep! Someone who is assigned for a short period to be in charge of things like email, NSPS, IT, etc. You may hear about a civilian in the Pentagon, but they all report to some brass in the Pentagon. Get the military completely out of the IT business!!!!!! and hire REAL IT pros! The decisions I see with our Navy Intranet system called NMCI is ridiculous. I feel like we are back in the 80's or 90's with these policies and rules. The BLOAT my old Dell GX620 with all kids of stupid software, but I can't delete any or add any. It has to be their administrator/tech people to change anything on MY work computer. And as Julianna stated, we are still using outdated programs like Office 2003. I get project data from contractors all the time, but I can't open it cause I don't have current versions. So I have to get the contractors to save the data in the old format. So stupid!
Ed 03/17/10 10:23 am ET
How about updating the following?
Office 2003
WindowsXP
IE6
yes, we are still using those programs?
Bring back the use of thumb drives. Solve this problem by having the installation IT guru's "purchase" them and dole them out as "recordable property".
Jabber Chat? It doesn't work. How about an IM system that works?
I hear Facebook is coming....does DoD know that?
Julianna 03/16/10 11:03 am ET
Uncle Sam is not going to let his workers have too much IM. We have Jabber. What a joke. No one can download it and make it work correctly. We have Sharepoint...totally useless. Facebook? Are you serious? Uncle Sam (at least in DoD) will not allow that. We can't get to forum sites about gov and employees without the big warning banner. I can get to govexec, but I can't get to Fed Soup...go figure. (BTW,, I am on leave today) We are still using Office 2003...and IE 6, and WindowsXP. Thumb drives are a big no-no. CD's don't hold alot and just to purchase software for stand-alone computers takes an Act of Congress.
We are encouraged to use the FSS vs. the govcc for low threshold purchases. FSS still uses appature (sp) cards..and the one thing we did order was "lost" in shipmentnt. DTS is a navigational nightmare. Why is Travelocity so easy? DoD Emall is not user friendly, yet Uncle Sam wants us to purchase items there. GSA Advantage "is" user friendly, but we are not encouraged to shop there. It is frustrating trying to do your job with all the IT failures, system lags and outdated software and websites. Come on Sam, get with the program.
Julianna 03/16/10 10:41 am ET
Agencies should create Facebook pages to be the central meeting place and "town square" for their agencies.
While this would never end all employee emails, director's messages, modified directives, etc., these all came out via different media. Why not have one central place for ALL general purpose communications and issuances? Employees would have one place to get up-to-date on everything! It would also be a good place to post my agencies unique HR policies, like those on performance appraisal and merit pay, since they are different from every other agency and nobody outside of the corporation seems to know anything about it.
Mike 03/15/10 04:00 pm ET