Messages from the Millennials Results from Accenture s High Performance IT Research in the Netherlands
Contents Executive summary...2 Key findings...3 Implications for CIOs...9 About this study...10 1
Executive summary Thumbs flying across the keypad of her mobile ipod ear buds in while watching a YouTube video on her laptop today s multitasking youngster is coming to your workplace soon, and she will not do things the way you ve always done them. In fact, the Millennials generation those now between their mid teens and late twenties is already starting to shake up the workplace. Their impact has far-reaching consequences for business leaders everywhere. New research by Accenture reveals the extent to which senior managers must rethink their approaches on everything from information security to how people communicate and collaborate. Nowhere are the differences between the Millennials and older workers more apparent than in their use of technology. The Millennials have grown up multitasking, enabled by advances in consumer electronics and social networking applications that allow them to stay plugged in literally all the time. Schoolchildren, university students and young workers all assume they should be able to connect with others regardless of time or location, and increasingly via their mobiles. As they start to bring those expectations into the workplace, they are beginning to turn IT policies upside-down. 2
Key findings Accenture found an increasing demand among these respondents for high-tech devices to connect with colleagues, peers, friends and family both inside and outside of the office or the classroom. And the research discovered a big disconnect between the enterprise technology that organizations provide to their employees and how young workers actually want to use technology and collaborate in the workplace. Far-sighted IT leaders will pay attention to this study s findings. As Millennials begin to exert more influence in the workplace, CIOs and their top managers will have to find a way to adapt their policies and procedures to accommodate the new technology that these young workers are demanding. And they must do so without putting the enterprise at risk. This report provides some of the most interesting excerpts from the research and describes the probable impact on corporate IT organizations. Thanks, boss, but I ll use my own tools Most of the young Dutch people surveyed say they expect plenty of freedom to use their own technology and mobile devices for work rather than those supplied by their current or future employer. Although just five percent of the mid-millennials (ages 18-22) now employed can use the computer of their choice at work, 15 percent say they should be able to do so. (See Exhibit 1.) And many expect they should be able to access their preferred technology applications at work. In the US, those feelings are even stronger: Fully 35 percent of working Millennials in the States think they personally should be able to get the technology they need to do the job. 3
Exhibit 1 - Young Dutch employees want more choice of tech tools at work Expected, Current and Ideal Work environments Mid-Millennials (18-22) Company devices (computer) Expected Current Ideal 12% 19% 28% 26% 15% 19% 37% 11% 47% 5% 14% 43% 10% 14% Expected=18-22 in school Current and ideal = 18-22 working My devices (computer) Mobile from my employer Expected Current Ideal 12% 18% 30% 17% 23% 7% 21% 36% 7% 29% 7% 20% 33% 40% My own mobile Corporate technology applications Expected Current Ideal 12% 19% 37% 21% 11% 41% 18% 29% 6% 6% 22% 11% 39% 6% 22% Technology applications of my choice Corporate social network applications Expected Current Ideal 17% 22% 35% 21% 25% 25% 50% 17% 18% 47% 6% 12% 5% My personal online social network Corporate choice Personal choice Base (Total Respondents age 18-22) = 203 Exhibit 2 - Employer-provided tools don t meet Millennials expectations Looking at the following list, which technologies do you currently use or access for work related activities that are not supported by your organization s IT department, or not meeting your expectations? Social networking sites Virtual Communities Open source technologies Online applications Mobile phone/blackberry Blogs, vlogs, twitter 47% 24% 29% 46% 27% 27% 42% 8% 50% 41% 18% 41% 39% 18% 43% 36% 28% 36% Instant messaging 26% 17% 57% Online collaboration tools RSS feeds Email VOIP Internet Enterprise wikis 23% 31% 46% 22% 17% 61% 20% 12% 68% 20% 33% 47% 19% 12% 69% 17% 41% 42% Currently use, supported by IT department and meeting expectations Currently use and supported by IT department, but not meeting expectations Currently use but not supported by IT department Base (Working Respondents) = 82 4
Exhibit 3 - Dutch Millennials don t wait for the CIO to provide the technology they want For those technologies that are not made available to you at work or that are not meeting your expectations do you then: Online applications Open source technologies Social networking sites Instant messaging Internet Email 7% 85% 8% 8% 77% 15% 18% 55% 27% 10% 50% 40% 18% 41% 41% 10% 37% 53% Use your existing personal technology Access/download the technology from free public websites Purchase the technology yourself for work only Source: Accenture Millennials Survey, 2009 These attitudes may be caused in part by the Millennials disappointment with the technology that corporate IT departments currently provide. In nearly every category of workplace technology, many young employees on both sides of the Atlantic say the employer-provided technologies do not meet their expectations. In particular, Dutch Millennials are dissatisfied with the enterprise wikis available (41 percent), the voice-over- IP services offered (33 percent) and the online collaboration tools (31 percent). (See Exhibit 2.) No worries, I ll just download the tool Most parents of teenagers already know how freely their children download whatever programs and applications they want. Those behaviors are clearly carrying over into the workplace: The study found that working Millennials in the Netherlands say they regularly get the technology they want from open source communities as well as from providers of mashups and widgets. For example, 85 percent report that they have accessed or download online applications from free public Web sites when those technologies were not available at work or not meeting their expectations. (See Exhibit 3) The figures for young Americans unsanctioned access and downloads at work differ somewhat, but the overall theme is the same: Millennials are not waiting for their employers to provide them with the technology they want at work. 5
Exhibit 4 - Millennials don t know and don t care much about IT security policies Has your organization implemented a policy restricting the posting of work or client information on public sites outside of the organization s firewall? My organization has published detailed and easy to understand regulations restricting the posting of work or client information on public sites My organization has published a policy, but it is too complex, I do not understand it My organization has published a policy, but I post work or client information on public sites anyway when I communicate with colleagues only 6% 9% 34% My organization has not published a policy 11% Don t know/not applicable 40% Base (Working Respondents) = 82 Exhibit 5 - One out of five Dutch Millennials write openly about themselves (and their work) Usage of blogs or social sites Mean Young Millennials 21% 33% 32% 5% 9% 2.47 Mid-Millennials (in school) 18% 30% 27% 20% 5% 2.64 Older Millennials (in school) 35% 19% 28% 7% 11% 2.41 Millennials (working) 19% 21% 38% 13% 9% 2.71 1 2 3 4 5 I never post any information about myself or friends online I love writing about myself and my friends in blogs or my social sites Base (Total Respondents) = 370 6
Exhibit 6 - Millennials are making a clear shift away from e-mail How many school or work hours during the week do you ACTUALLY spend on Mean hours 10 9 8 7 6.8 6 5 4.7 4.9 4 3.6 3 2 1 0 1.51.2 1.2 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.5 Emails Text messaging On the internet On social network sites 1.9 2.6 1.8 0.0 1.4 0.9 0.8 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.4 0.2 Listening to portable device 1.0 1.2 0.5 Instant Messaging 0.1 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 In a virtual community 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.1 Blogging or on twitter 0.0 0.1 Young Millennials Mid-Millennials (in school) Older Millennials (in school) Mid-Millennials (working) Older Millennials (working) Base (Total Respondents) = 370 Policies? What security policies? These behaviors tie closely to an even more worrying research finding for Dutch employers: More than half of working Millennials in the Netherlands either don t know about or don t adhere to their organizations policies for posting sensitive information on the public Web. This finding is especially troubling in terms of data security. Only 34 percent of young Dutch respondents say their employers have published detailed policies related to posting work or client information on public Web sites. Nine percent say that whatever policy their company has published is too complex to understand; and 6 percent say they will post work or client information on public sites regardless of any policy, at least when communicating with colleagues. (See Exhibit 4.) The indications are that Dutch young people know even less and care less about corporate data security policies than their peers in the US. It should not matter to Dutch employers whether the Millennials tendency to bypass corporate IT policy is caused by ignorance or independence. The effects are the same and they deserve careful attention. Sure, my friends know all my details Another troubling research finding concerns the flow of information at work. Fully 22 percent of working Millennials in the Netherlands say they write openly about themselves and friends online. They are slightly more private than their American counterparts: 26 percent of US working Millennials readily declare that they love writing about themselves and their friends in blogs and on social networking sites. (See Exhibit 5.) There is every reason to expect that Millennials will share sensitive details of their work lives not only about the work activities themselves but about their relationships with their managers, their peers and with customers and suppliers. 7
Exhibit 7 - Many Millennials say the latest tech is important when choosing an employer State-of-the-art equipment and technology will be vital in my employer selection Total 8% 19% 36% 23% 37% 14% Young Millennials 12% 26% 35% 21% 6% Mid-Millennials (in school) 7% 18% 35% 25% 15% Mid-Millennials (working) 8% 11% 38% 8% 35% Older Millennials (in school) 2% 24% 35% 20% 19% Older Millennials (working) 13% 14% 37% 25% 11% 1 5 Totally Disagree Totally Agree 1 = totally disagree 2 3 4 5 = totally agree Base (Total Respondents) = 370 My mother uses e-mail, not me The Accenture survey also reveals a definite shift away from longestablished workplace communication tools such as e-mail. (See Exhibit 6.) While older Millennials in Dutch workplaces still spend an average of 4.7 hours a week writing or receiving work-related e-mails, mid-millennials already in the workforce say they spend just 1.2 hours a week on e-mail. Interestingly enough, young Dutch workers are even less fond of e-mail than their American peers. The preference is clearly shifting toward communications methods such as online chat, instant messaging, texting, and social networking sites. In both the Netherlands and the US, young employees say they wish employers offered social networking applications at work. And here s how my little sister uses new technology Dutch employers who think that the technology behaviors of today s working Millennials are just a passing phase will need to think again. Accenture s survey clearly shows that the young people who are about to join the workforce or will do so in a few years will be even more independent-minded as their older brothers and sisters. Just a few glimpses of tomorrow s new recruits: More than a quarter (26 percent) of Dutch 18-22-year-olds now in school expect their future employers to provide them with social networking tools. (See Exhibit 1.) Fourteen percent of high school respondents in the Netherlands report that they expect to be able to communicate at work using online chat and instant messaging. And the youngest Millennials in both the Netherlands and US those now aged 14-17 say they spend less than an hour a week using conventional e-mail, which is even less than the older Millennials now in the workforce. (See Exhibit 6.) Importantly for managers in charge of hiring, Dutch youngsters will review the technology that employers provide when considering their choices of work. (See Exhibit 7.) Nearly 40 percent of those aged 18-22 who are still in school say that state-ofthe-art technology is an important consideration in selecting an employer. While this may be a less critical issue now, it will become significant as the war for talent heats up again in the coming economic recovery. 8
Implications for CIOs The messages from Millennials are crystal-clear: Employers, and particularly chief information officers, will need to explain rather than compel their youngest hires to conform to long-established ways of doing things at work. More so than with previous generations of recruits, business leaders must find ways to make work practices interesting for today s young people and explain to them why they should care about following those practices. At the same time, they should adapt their security strategies to today s realities the fact that young people are openly accessing public Web sites, downloading free software and using social networks during working hours. In short, they will have to start adapting to the young peoples approaches and behaviors just as much as the kids will have to adapt to the working world. In smaller countries, physical proximity may certainly encourage more face-to-face interaction, but it does not remove business leaders obligations to find out what Millennials want at work and how best they can be engaged in work processes and procedures. As an example, Accenture is providing new tools and platforms worldwide to improve its ways of working and to introduce some of the tools that Millennials are asking for. As part of Accenture s Collaboration 2.0 initiative, these communication tools and platforms allow employees to connect, network, share, team, and collaborate more effectively while adapting to the needs and preferences of the company s younger professionals. The initiative utilizes technologies such as an internal social network, unified communications including instant messaging inside the company s firewall, knowledge management and sharing, wikis, electronic discussion boards, Web conferences, and TelePresence. 9
About this study To understand how the technologydriven culture of today s Millennials the incoming workforce may affect IT organizations decisions in future, Accenture recently surveyed 370 Dutch students and employees across three age groups: 14-17 ( younger Millennials ), 18-22 ( mid-millennials ) and 23-27 ( older Millennials ). All respondents included in the analysis were in school, were employed or had recently graduated. All respondents aged 14-17 have completed at least middle school, and all respondents 18-27 years of age have completed at least high school. Respondents represent a random sample of this subgroup, not of the general pool of consumers in the Netherlands. The April 2009 online survey a followon to a June 2008 survey of 400 young people in the US was part of Accenture s long-term program of research designed to identify and understand the drivers of and challenges to achieving high performance within IT. (See Exhibit 8.) For more information, contact Gwen Harrigan at gwen.m.harrigan@ accenture.com Exhibit 8 - Research methodology and structure Age group Education 23-27 23% 30% 15% 7% 55% 18-22 21% 49% 14-17 Number of respondents: 57 110 203 Full time student in high school Part-time or Full time student at college or university Graduated and working part-time or full time Recently graduated and unemployed Number of respondents: N=370 76 8625 183 25 Forward-thinking organizations are already finding out as much as they can about the traits of the new generation. They start from the assumption that Millennials are eager to contribute, but they acknowledge that the young people are unlikely to come forward with solutions. Those organizations keep testing a range of offerings, from wikis to blogs to online chat forums. Those companies view the new generation of employees not just as an unwelcome disruption to old working routines but as an opportunity for competitive differentiation. And that s a very healthy way to approach the inevitable. The most forward-thinking organizations are already finding out as much as they can about the traits of the new generation. Some are actively soliciting their input. Some companies even bring in mid-millennial students to explain social networking to their professional staff. 10
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