Attracting the Next Generation Worker

WWith the massive Baby Boom generation (born 1946-1964) approaching or
already at retirement age, and the Millennials (born 1985-2004) entering or
nearing their working years, everyone from human resource experts to behavioral
scientists is postulating on how the “handoff” between generations will affect the
workplace. Most agree the effect may be profound, especially given the difference in
attitudes towards technology between the two groups.
Various studies predict that many companies will face
challenges attracting “rising star” Millennials, who studies
show are radically different in many ways from their Baby
Boomer parents. However, companies need not be caught
unprepared for this new generation. Careful planning and
execution of tailored strategies, especially those relating
to technology, can substantially increase a firm’s odds of
hiring―and retaining―the best Millennial candidates.
The Current Picture
Is your company confident about the future of its hiring
prospects? Do you assume there is no labor shortage? If
so, think again. Even at the current unemployment rates,
high-quality workers are in great demand. Furthermore,
Baby Boomers currently make up approximately 40% of
the workforce.
Yet, 10,000 Baby Boomers reach retirement age every day
(per the Pew Research Center), and Generation X (Gen X)
cannot replace them. This small generation, born between
1965 and 1984, accounts for about 16% of working adults.
As a result, by 2025—long before the oldest Gen X worker
will retire—Millennials are expected to comprise 75% of
the working population.
Although 2025 is more than a decade away, experts
caution companies not to take a “wait and see” attitude.
Some studies, such as the Metlife Study Of Baby
Boomers at 65, suggest that an increasing number of
Baby Boomers, reasonably confident the economy is
not going to derail completely, are opting to retire after
all—in some cases, early. These workers are taking with
them a half-century’s worth of knowledge. With Gen
Xers being in short supply, firms will need to begin hiring
Attracting the Next Generation Worker
Prepare Now, Benefit Later

Attracting the Next Generation Worker - 3
and training increasing numbers of Millennials within the
next few years if they hope to maintain a high level of
talent in their organizations.
Complicating matters, employment among Millennials
dropped by 13.7% during the recession. More of these
individuals are looking for work than the older generations,
but they also have less experience, due to their higher
rates of unemployment and relative youth. Consequently, it
will likely become even more imperative for companies to
identify and attract the real stars of the group.
Three Radically Different Generations
So, what do Millennials—especially the future stars
of the generation—want in an employer? The answer
is simple: technology, instant, advanced and in
generous proportions.
Of course, there is no “official” list of the characteristics of
these three groups. However, the Talent Management Team
of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund commissioned
a comparative study on the three generations that resulted in
some interesting and insightful observations.
The report noted that Baby Boomers are optimistic,
big-picture team players that “bring fresh perspectives.”
Among many other attributes the report listed, one was
conspicuously absent: passion for technology. For Gen
Xers, the report cited positive attitude, goal orientation
and multi-tasking, but also noted a strong preference for
flexibility and freedom. With this generation, technology
enters the list of descriptors. Regarding Millennials, the
report commends them for their heroic spirit and tenacity,
but also notes they share GenXer’s love of multitasking,
flexibility and freedom—and technology.
These differences in approach to technology really
show up in the report’s chart on communication and
computing. Whereas Baby Boomers prefer the phone
for office communications and Gen Xers like email,
Millennials prefer email and text. Baby Boomers use
email to communicate from their office workstations,
and many restrict web use to research (the report
cited Google). Gen Xers and Millennials use mobile
devices and laptops to communicate, use the web for

research and task/document review, and in the case of
Millennials, for just about everything else. Gen Xers and
Millennials also consider email and mobile devices to be
24/7 workplace communications vehicles. (Millennials
also appreciate IM—instant messaging—and text as
forms of 24/7 office-connection methods.)
Of course, these characteristics are far from absolute,
especially for later-stage Baby Boomers who grew up with
computers. Nevertheless, the point is clear: Millennials, and
to a slightly lesser degree Gen Xers, expect technology to
be ever present and available, and they rely on it continually
to perform their work. They also expect to have the flexibility
and freedom of movement to perform that work whenever
and wherever it best suits them.
Replacing the Baby Boomer Workforce:
Technology Holds the Key
The observations in the U.N. report aren’t merely
conjectural. According to the results of a survey
commissioned by networking giant Cisco Systems, young
professionals under 30 and college students (Millennials)
place a high value on unrestricted technology access―
specifically freedom in choosing their mobile devices and
using the Internet and social media. Rather than keeping
their work and personal lives separate, or focusing on
work-life balance (a term that is now nearly three decades
old), they yearn for a blended approach.
This generation also wants working flexibility, with 69%
(workers) and 70% (college students) in the Cisco survey
reporting it should not be necessary to be physically
in the office regularly with the exception of important
meetings. Access to corporate information is another
top perk―approximately 64% of respondents want
access to corporate data on their home computers; 51%
want it on their personal mobile devices. Additionally,
this technology-centric group wants to be trusted to use
social media in the workplace. They view social media
as a cornerstone of communication and collaboration,
not a toy.
More than 40% of these college students and young employees
said they would accept a lower-paying job that had more
flexibility of device choice, social media access and mobility
over a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

As a bonus for companies struggling with labor expenses,
more than 40% of these college students and young
employees said they would accept a lower-paying job that
had more flexibility of device choice, social media access
and mobility over a higher-paying job with less flexibility.
This is good news for companies, because they will need
those extra dollars—not only to establish mentoring
programs for knowledge transfer between Baby Boomers
and Millennials—but also for the technology upgrades it
will take to keep the latter group happy.
Transitioning Your Firm to a Model
for Tomorrow
Now that you know what to expect from the “Next Gen”
worker, what can you do to prepare for them? Rosy plans
and promises of future upgrades might get Millennials in the
door, but it won’t keep them there. At least one report found
that Millennials are twice as likely to quit a job they do not
find satisfying as are their Baby Boomer co-workers. (Some
experts estimate the figure is closer to five times as likely.)
The reality for companies—especially small and medium
sized businesses (SMBs) without high-end technology
and intra-company job mobility—is that Millennials have
high expectations they may not be able to meet. Not only
does turnover erase the benefit of hiring younger workers,
but it can make your hiring expenses go through the roof.
Companies that don’t evolve to retain Millennial workers will
see their brightest and best workers in this group leave for a
position with someone else.
Fortunately, companies can attack this situation proactively
and in a way that benefits their firms now—and ensures the
stability of the future workforce. To accomplish this, they
need to develop and implement a well-crafted, sufficiently
robust plan that shifts their firms into an advanced,
competitive IT stance. This may sound like an expensive,
arduous proposition. However, if companies create a viable

plan for the effort, then break it down into its individual
pieces and execute each in a controlled, targeted fashion,
they can accomplish the necessary improvements in a
surprisingly short time span.
Assess Your IT Systems
Creating a baseline for where you stand today,
technologically, is the first step in devising a realistic plan for
meeting the Millennial challenge. Qualified IT providers can
help you evaluate your infrastructure (hardware and network),
software and current state of mobility. With an assessment of
this type, you should receive reports that clearly benchmark
your IT systems against industry standards and trends.
With an assessment such as this you do more than start the
process of deciding what you need to improve. You’ll also
gain valuable inventories of servers, applications and network
devices (including mobile devices operating on your network),
discover key points of security vulnerability and potential
equipment failure, and receive a permanent, in-depth record
of your existing network setup that will reduce the cost and
complexity of resolving network issues.
Plan for Upgrades
Assuming you work with a knowledgeable, full-service IT
provider, the firm should also be able to help you determine
what upgrades and improvements will position you to capture
a workforce that expects 24/7/365 access to company
systems via high-speed connections, wants to be equipped
with the latest mobile gadgetry, and views communication
and collaboration via “social” solutions as a given.
Armed with the list of upgrades you will need, you and your
consultant can begin to develop a cost-effective road map
to achieving those improvements. Not only will you be able
to budget for Millennial-grade technology, but you will also
achieve lasting system productivity and stability benefits
along the way.
Embrace Mobile Computing
Mobility is a key attractant for Millennials—and for Gen X
workers, as well. By mobility, we don’t mean simply handing
them mobile devices. They want to be mobile—they see a
real benefit in conducting business wherever they happen
to be and whenever it is convenient. That might be in the
office, at home, or even at a coffee shop or while standing in
line at the supermarket.
This approach requires companies to adopt secure, cloud-
based solutions for enabling access to corporate data
without making the company’s network and intellectual
assets vulnerable. There are several approaches to achieve
this stance. One of these is to implement a secure, cloud-
based “portal” to shared company assets. Another is to
build a secure, accessible cloud, either behind the corporate
firewall or hosted with a trusted IT provider.

Let Them “Bring” It
BYOD—Bring Your Own Device—is also an important
component of mobile computing. These young workers
want to use their own devices at work, and they will be even
happier if their employer reimburses them for a portion of
the cost. BYOD brings with it security challenges, as well,
which companies must address.
If you haven’t already adopted—or at least planned for—
BYOD, you are doing your firm a disservice. Already, the
majority of enterprises (76%, per a 2012 Good Technology
study) formally support BYOD in the workplace. Firms cite
productivity leaps and worker satisfaction as just two of the
benefits that accompany this approach. Companies not
comfortable with full-blown BYOD can explore the newest
iteration of mobility—CYOD (Choose Your Own Device).
With CYOD, the employer offers a palette of secure devices
from which employees can choose, but does not allow
workers to bring their own onto the network. However, the
verdict is still out on whether or not Millennials will embrace
or reject this more restrictive approach.
Explore Social Media
Social Media is perhaps the most challenging new
technology for business owners to embrace, and it
is something that many Millennials do not consider
negotiable. In the Cisco survey we cited earlier, 56% of
young workers and college students indicated they would
either not accept a job offer from a company that banned
access to social media―or they would find a way to
circumvent the rule.
Furthermore, they don’t want social media available only as
a tool to collaborate with co-workers. They want permission
to log into their accounts and connect with friends and family
during the day. Whether it’s because they grew up in an age of
uncertainty (think 911), or need feedback from peers (another
Millennial trait cited in the U.N. study), this generation craves
near-constant connection with those they like and trust.
It’s a given that success with Millennials will likely
require companies to accept social media and make
allowances for it in their firms. However, truly savvy
companies will do more—they will implement social
enterprise and collaboration platforms (e.g. Yammer;
Chatter) for their real-time connectivity benefits. Social
enterprise platforms foster collaboration and connectivity
in a company-controlled that everyone can embrace.
Savvy companies are already using such platforms to
create “corporate brains” that connect younger workers
with seasoned, highly skilled employees, encouraging
mentoring and knowledge transfer. (Some experts
estimate that as much as 70% of corporate workforce
knowledge resides in the heads of its “elder” workers and
is not written down.)

The Payback is Real Now
Adopting the technologies we’ve detailed here provides
enumerable advantages to SMBs now—not only the
specific benefits we mentioned earlier, but others, as
well. Functional, up-to-date IT systems, including mobile
and social solutions, will drive workforce productivity for
all three generations. They can also help close the gap
between Baby Boomers and Millennials and facilitate the
knowledge transfer that is crucial to helping companies
thrive over the next few decades.
Furthermore, moving to a more advanced technological
environment will help firms move from Information
Technology to Business Technology. With business
technology, companies make their IT systems and
operations fundamental components of the business
equation, benchmarked in terms of business key
performance indicators (KPIs) rather than network uptime.
This approach enables firms to calculate the value technology
should deliver and then evaluate the outcome against
those projections. It enables them to move technology and
business goals forward in tandem for the benefit of the
bottom line. However, such a forward-thinking methodology
requires companies to refine their planning processes and
update their thinking—exactly the activities they’ll conduct as
they move to greet the Millennial generation.
An Eye on the Future
The upcoming hand-off of corporate America from Baby
Boomers to Millennials (and to a lesser degree, Gen Xers),
is going to have profound impact on many firm’s business
continuity. Once the “silver tsunami” hits, companies that
have not learned how to hire and retain Millennials—and even
promote them into leadership positions—might literally be
washed away. Taking steps now to accelerate technology
development in your firm will fight this wave on two fronts.
First, it will put cutting-edge tools into the hands of
your most “tech savvy” Baby Boomers (and hopefully,
encourage them to connect with Millennials for knowledge
transfer). Second, it will help you land and keep the new
generation of workers upon which your company’s future
might literally depend.
DynaSis is a managed IT service provider for small and medium-sized businesses in Atlanta, Georgia. DynaSis
specializes in offering on-premise and on-demand managed IT service plans, managed hosting and professional equipment
installation. For more information about DynaSis’ services visit www.dynasis.com.

Attracting the Next Generation Worker

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