Businesses have always had to face generational challenges when it comes to attracting and retaining skilled employees.  Many of these challenges revolve around issues of training, recruitment, performance, and human relations, and there is plenty of information and several management systems available to help companies respond to these changes in a positive and pro-active manner.  Today’s business managers, however, face a whole new set of variables when it comes to managing generational differences – variables driven by the Internet and wireless technology.

Coming generations of workers have grown up managing their lives online and embrace any new technology that can help them do it faster and easier.  They are using the office computer to surf the ‘Net and visit sites like Facebook and MySpace, and using their company cell phones or their own cell phones during working hours to manage their lives and connect with friends, family, co-workers, and maybe even the odd customer. In most cases they don’t do it to”stick it to the man” and they probably don’t see it as an issue for the company, but many businesses owners and managers see it very differently. In most cases the age gap between managers and workers is directly proportional to the size of the problem these competing views create within the company.  Therein lies the challenge.

Confronted with the task of managing this new generation, managers and business owners now perceive technology as both a benefit and threat to the future of their businesses.  They don’t exactly understand what Facebook and MySpace are and why they are so popular, they don’t text message, and they still view email and Internet as business tools, not ways of life. They simply cannot see any clear and tangible business value proposition to many of the technology services exploding in the marketplace, and therefore are quick categorize them under the heading W.O.T. (waste of time).  Unfortunately this often results in casting the people using these services in an unflattering and unfair light, and when they are members of your workforce it can cause huge problems.
Regardless of your perception of the these services it is important to look at the facts and realities of the change they are driving, at work and at home, for existing and new employees.  There are currently over 90 million active Facebook users, there are more than 55,000 regional, collegiate, high school, and work-related Facebook networks, and the fast growing age group is 25 years and older.  This  all happened in only three years. MySpace has similar numbers with 80 million users, 80 percent of whom are between 18 and 40 years old. Given these numbers, it would seem folly to speculate on how many social text messages and emails are sent every hour.

These services and others like them aren’t going anywhere. It is estimated that  technical information is doubling every two years and by 2010 it will double every 72 hours.  The first text message was sent in 1992 today the number of text messages sent daily exceeds the number of people on the planet. Keeping up to the speed of change can be mind-boggling, especially if you’re not a member of the generation driving this change.  
At first it seemed manageable for businesses. Ten years ago only some companies had Internet access, and cell phones were used only by managers and owners, and only for actual phone calls. The explosion of Internet and wireless access drove down the cost of entry and drove up the services offered.  Today, you seemingly can’t by a phone or computer  that can’t text message, Facebook, surf the web, take pictures and is connected 24/7 to the Internet, and it seems everyone has one or both.

While in the past these obvious differences posed some minor difficulty for managers, the Internet and wireless are accelerating social change between generations to a level never seen before.  This accelerating pace is widening the gap of understanding and communication between different generations of workers and managers and if not managed correctly can have devastating consequences for any business.

The older we get the more casually we view new trends. If we see the value and decide to adopt these new trends it generally takes longer as we get older.  The problem is the trends now happen in months not years, driven by a generation hungry for change and quick to jump on the next greatest thing. Children who have grown up with computers and cell phones are beginning to enter the workforce and they view the world in a very different way than than their managers and leaders.  Technology is enabling them to change the way they communicate and function socially and now they are bringing those views and perceptions into the workplace.

Every company is either dealing with this today or will have to very soon.  More powerful technology tools with even more services will enter the market in the coming years and managers have to set policy to deal with the changes and opportunities they bring. Banning their use at work is simply not a viable option for most companies  and would result in loss of valuable staff and difficulty in hiring replacements. Setting clear and simple business policies for social networking on company time is the best option. Backing these policies with a stringent set of employee performance requirements that are regularly reviewed will help to keep staff focused.  Managers can simply not spend their time endlessly chasing employees who may be social networking on the job, is counterproductive for the mangers and their employees.  Setting well thought out performance requirements and measuring them regularly will weed out those staff members who are unable to manage their social networking  habits.

Understanding and managing the generational changes facing the modern workforce is  critical to the success of every business. Companies need to take a pro-active approach to training both managers and staff on how to handle the new found personal power endowed to them in the information age.

CPT