In 1999, while I was on contract to a former tech giant, corporate policy stated that the Internet was never to be used for personal use, and any and all use was logged and subject to checking. I found this policy so stupid, I decided, in retaliation, that I would never use the Internet on company premises.
Not using the Internet was easy. My work – writing about proprietary telecommunications equipment – was not impacted in any way.
In 2011, Cisco surveyed almost 3,000 college students and young professionals about workplace behaviour and their expectations about how, when, and where they access information. They found that one in three believes that Internet access is a basic need, and that two in five would take a lower-paying job with more flexibility with regard to device choice, social media access, and mobility over a higher-paying job with less flexibility.
It’s Not Just the Millennials
Are these choices a peculiarity of millennials, the children of the Sesame Street children? I think not.
A developer friend over 50 joins RIM and uses an I-Phone so as not to be subject to the policies governing company phones (including being always on call). An SaS developer of the same age spends personal funds to buy proxy access to bypass the corporate Internet filters – and accomplish his assigned deliverables. An 75 year-old investment counsellor travels to clients’ homes with a laptop and a pocket-sized rocket stick, allowing access to the Internet anywhere his mobile phone works. A migrant worker, asked by 60 Minutes where he was going next, pulls out his smart phone to check commodity prices before answering.
All of Us Want a Favourable Environment
Millennials, who have grown up with constant access to entertainment, information and communications, have put their collective foot down. Employers must listen to them, because employers will have no effective alternative sources of labour.
Meanwhile, the rest of us have taken a good deep bit of the apple (we *grew* the apple, as Steve Jobs might say). My generation is no more content than millennials are to stay nailed to a chair, virtually blind and deaf, delivering 37.5 hours a week of bulk and texture to reassure our employers and collect a paycheque.
Boomers and their successors have fought – and partially won – many workplace battles – flex hours, equal pay, health and wellness benefits, parental leave – to name just a few. Just like the millennials, we want exactly the same freedom at work, to work.
An Alternative: Outcome-Based Success
How have we coped? We gravitate to young companies where the focus is on getting the job done, not on where you sit when you do it. We educate and negotiate with our employers. We compromise. Sometimes we subvert (the 2011 Cisco study showed seven of ten employees admitted to knowingly breaking IT policies on a regular basis).
To get the working environment we want, many boomers have become independents. I left the regular workplace voluntarily 20 years ago and conduct business from my home office and in boardrooms and coffee shops. I set my own company policies and work rules. Using the Internet and social media is part of my job. What I need for my job, I buy or set up. My success is outcome-based, and directly measurable.
Forward-thinking employers will understand that this shift in workforce expectations and preferences is not so much generational as it is a sign of changing times, across all sectors and demographics. We’ll negotiate deliverables and outcomes with you; you give us the flexibility to do our best work for you. Information wants to be free. And so do information workers.
Jennifer
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