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GenY and the Workplace

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This morning I had the pleasure of presenting to the Southbank Institute of Tafe’s COTAH (College of Tourism and Hospitality), helping out one Nicole Jensen who I met on twitter.  As I understand it the exercise is to ensure practical experience regarding event management – i.e. run an event, rather than take in what the subject matter was.  I am probably wrong though, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about fireworks and the shoe-wearing exploits of Jenny Gaskell.

Incidentally I wonder how long it will take Jenny to find this reference given that the subject of my discussion was GenY and the Workplace, and the impact of online social networking upon business :). 

Anyway – if you’ve come here for the slides be disappointed no longer.  The slides are reproduced below on SlideShare and for download as a PDF:  GenY and the Workplace.

GenY and the Workplace

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: online social)

As always, feedback welcome.

Social networking and recruitment of GenY?

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I was asked over at the CPA Congress community:

Are you in the main, referring to Gen-Y/Z recruitment? Is it assumed that social networking sites are less relevant to the GenXers and boomers?

Also, i am of the view that it takes a multitude of factors to retain Gen-Y. Is it even possible to retain the bulk of Gen Y’s for a long stint?

If employers start allowing specific down-time for employees to surf the net etc, does this breed resentment in the workforce that do not utilise social networking websites? I.e. similar to employees that go for their hourly cigarette break.

My response?  The session on Thursday will be touching on recruitment and leveraging social networking sites.  The focus mostly tends to be on GenY, and leveraging with people you know (six degrees of Kevin Bacon if you know what you mean) to get ‘better’ staff. 

I think it is assumed that social networking sites are less relevant to GenXers and boomers.  There is a certain amount of truth to this in that they tend not to use it – but I think particularly LinkedIn does have impact amongst GenXers and some babyboomers.  I am really finding myself drawn to the Twitter community at the moment as it tends to be more active and has less ‘fluff’ and more potential for conversations.  But you can become addicted easily to it.

I understand incidentally that LinkedIn has become very active with people looking for new jobs in the current financial meltdown. 

I’m not an HR expert but those that I know would agree with you definitely that it takes a multitude of factors to retain GenY – just as it does for anyone.  I do ask myself whether you need to hoard every GenY you come across 🙂 – sometimes people moving on is constructive (i.e. functional turnover rather than dysfunctional turnover).  The way it seems to keep GenY is to offer them interesting roles, change and opportunities to learn.  As well as access to Facebook and plenty of money :).  The current economic crisis may change that. 

I might add that such humble approaches work for GenXers too :).  Regarding retaining ‘the bulk’ of GenY  – for some industries it is possible, but I’d ask whether it is actually a positive thing to do (i.e. keep the ‘bulk’ for a long stint).  I think we’ve always had this problem, but ‘churn and burn’ isn’t as effective, as there just aren’t as many GenY’s as there were GenXers when I graduated 17 years ago. 

Regarding specific down-time for employees to surf the net – I imagine it does breed resentment.  So, though, does asking people to work weekends and late nights at the expense of family life and friends – it’s quid pro quo I think on that one.  I wouldn’t advocate specific down-time – a Facebook-break – but I’m pretty old-fashioned. 

I would say that it is probably like getting a personal phone call at work – you don’t worry if it isn’t too much, but if a person spent hours on it to affect their effectiveness, you’d have to pull their horns in. 

Anyone else’s thoughts on this matter?  These are my grab-bag response to this issue – I may have missed something or get something wrong.  It’s been known to happen.

Thanks:  Micheal Axelsen

 

A ‘Guest Post’ for CPA Congress

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A little while ago CPA Australia requested that I write a guest post for them for publication on the CPA Congress blog (cpacongress.wordpress.com), with the purpose of promoting my upcoming social networking workshop in Melbourne on social networking.  That post went live on Friday.  You can find the guest post at http://cpacongress.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/online-social-networking/, and I reproduce the post here for posterity, who I am sure will be so grateful they will come down to the retirement home to turn off Wheel of Fortune 2050AD. 

Looking forward to giving the workshop in Octobrer.

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It’s all fun until someone loses an eye. Then – it’s a sport.

In the same way, online social networking started out all in good fun. Somehow, online social networking moved away from the thumbs of tech-savvy Gen Y and into mainstream media. When someone lost their job though because of something they did online that their boss didn’t like, social networking became business. Nowadays it feels like there are tabloid journalists searching Facebook, MySpace and YouTube looking for a new angle and a new career to destroy – but that may perhaps be paranoid. Still, if you’re into muck-raking it’s more effective than going through someone’s wheelie-bin dumpster-diving for dirt – it’s cleaner, there are fewer pizza cartons involved, and it can all be done from the desk with a few mouse-clicks.

People do some silly things on online social networking websites. People also carry out private conversations in public forums. These activities can sometimes affect a business. All too frequently people are afflicted by a lack of common sense when they use online social networking websites like MySpace, YouTube and FaceBook (and at least 126 other social networking websites according to Wikipedia). When common sense flies out the window, the business can pay the price.

Ask the teacher who posted ‘lewd’ photos on Facebook the price of tabloid infamy (what, 12 year-olds don’t Google?). Ask the new owner of a motor dealership who did not know that a previous customer had written an online post advising prospective customers to ‘avoid them like the plague’ – three years on, it’s still there and showing up when new customers Google the dealership. Ask the owner of the store how she feels about the time a customer ‘twittered’ about bad service – before the customer had even left the store, the message was received by 789 of her ‘followers’. Then you could ask the shareholders of a company whose support technician was videoed asleep on a customer’s couch – and then the video posted to YouTube. Of course, that’s just plain funny, but it can’t be helping the brand strategy, can it?

There may also be some regrets for the partner of a consulting firm whose photo was posted online by a member of his staff – complete with his Hitler moustache, swastika, and doing a Nazi salute. Not a good look – but it’s still there, so maybe he doesn’t know about it! Or the married couple, a photograph of whom was uploaded to Photobucket – they were passionately kissing at the office Christmas party. Their main concern was that they were married, yes, just not to each other. I’m sure I don’t need to discuss the ‘Vlog Naked’ campaign. You get the drift.

Some of these firms know that these things have appeared online. Many businesses though do not know. In fact, when it comes to social networking, some businesses are slower on the uptake than a turkey at Thanksgiving.

What can businesses do about their online reputation?

There is hope! Those attending CPA Congress this year have the opportunity to participate in a workshop I am running called ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’ on Thursday 16 October. It’s not a great title, but at least it’s descriptive. This is a companion workshop to a forthcoming CPA Australia Information Technology & Management Centre of Excellence publication – a Guide to managing the business challenges that arise from online social networking.

This workshop provides an overview of social networking, discusses practical steps people can take to ensure their personal privacy, and walks through a process that businesses can use to develop policies and procedures that mitigate the negative impact of online social networking. The workshop also provides an insight into some of the potential business applications of online social networking. As a result, attendees at this workshop will be able to respond to the business challenge of social networking according to their requirements, and receive some practical pointers in helping their staff understand what they should and shouldn’t do online.

This workshop also promises to be a bit of fun – honestly, you never knew how much fun you could have with AS/NZS 4360:2004, did you? At the end of the workshop, participants will definitely have a firmer insight into online social networking and how to ensure that this new technology works for the business, not against it. Attending this workshop will equip you with the basic tools to use online social networking safely and to develop a policy approach that will limit the impact of online social networking upon the business.

Micheal Axelsen FCPA is Director of Applied Insight Pty Ltd and provides business systems consulting advice to clients. Micheal will be presenting ‘Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Flickr – managing and leveraging the business impact of social networking sites’ at CPA Victoria Congress on 16th October 2008.

My twitter news network

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There are always those seminal events in your life.  Those things that you remember.  For me given my apparently long, long life (thanks Norman Thurecht – ‘you’re on the cusp of Gen X aren’t you?’ – hmmm, if making the cut off by at least 5 years is cuspy thank you very much!), I can remember some pretty major things:

  • US bombed a Libyan nuclear power plant in 1985 (I think)
  • US invaded Iraq Mk1
  • Princess Diana’s death in 1997
  • September 11
  • US invaded Iraq Mk2
  • Obama announced who his running mate was going to be (well OK not the major event but the US hasn’t invaded anybody lately).

I think it’s interesting to consider how I found out about these.  I remember I found out about the bombing of Libya (we all thought it meant nuclear war) while playing handball near the science labs at school (we weren’t supposed to but what can I say, we were rebels).  A friend proudly announced that it had happened about 12 hours ago and that she’d read it in the paper.  Source:  chinese whispers (maybe I didn’t have much of a network when I was 15).

I remember the declaration of war in Iraq Mk1 – I was getting my hair cut in a barber shop in 1991 and heard it on the radio they had playing.

For the death of Princess Diana I overheard someone mention it while we were at the Buderim Ginger Factory (my first and only visit thanks very much) who probably heard it on the radio.

September 11 – I was home alone and saw the news the next morning on television.  It took me about half an hour of watching endless replays before I realised both towers had come down.

The Mk2 invasion of Iraq I learned by browsing on WAP from my mobile phone to I think the Optus news site.

And Obama’s announcement of VP?  Although it’s not up there with the most earth-shattering events (the US hasn’t bombed or invaded anybody lately to my knowledge), I found out about this through Twitter (mostly seeing tweets from Shannon Nelson of a Girl’s Gotta Spa), sitting on the lounge while watching the most awful movie ever, ‘The Avengers’.  Well, maybe not the most awful – Weekend at Bernie’s 2 is apparently pretty bad, but I’ve never watched it (footnote: my favourite movie review line ever, I think, by Martin Scribbs of the Low IQ Canadian:  ‘Biting down on the cyanide capsule my editors had provided me, I was bitterly disappointed to find it was a dud. Sweet death, how I have longed for you!’). 

So – it shows how time marches on – Chinese whispers, radio, chinese whispers again, television, WAP and then Twitter.  I keep using Twitter, sometimes it’s annoying and a distraction but I keep getting useful things out of it and it helps me maintain relationships on a fly in/fly out basis.  I can watch someone’s tweets, they don’t have to hear from me, and while I can go back in time, I don’t feel compelled to.

Twitter’s unreliable, it’s inconsistent, it’s brain-dead and silly.  But it does something really valuable – it keeps me connected with many different people, and isn’t demanding of time and thought.  It’s not perfect, and it’s not the ultimate in human to human interaction, but I get more out of it than I ever thought I would.

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