Good old American values

Accenture recently conducted a survey to evaluate how the Millennial generation's technology preferences will affect companies' future decisions. The firm surveyed over 400 students and employees, aged 14 to 27, and found, overwhelmingly, that individuals of this demographic are increasingly choosing their employers based on how an employer meets their personal tech preferences.

For instance, Millennials are now demanding high-tech devices to connect with colleagues and peers, rather than relying on face-to-face contact - and they're pretty picky about those devices, too. Many survey respondents said they were dissatisfied with the technology supplied by their company, and therefore prefer to use their own mobile devices. Nor are they interested in any corporate policies preventing them from doing so, saying they often download programs from free public websites when the ones provided by their employer aren't cutting it. (Translation: I'm going to use my iPhone, no matter what you say, and you won't be able to tell if I'm doing work-related activities or updating my Facebook status.) More than half of those surveyed said state-of-the-art technology is a key factor in job selection, and over 20 percent said the technology they received from their company did not meet their expectations. It's good to see that, in spite of a faltering economy and a startling number of layoffs, we've still got our priorities straight.

The survey also showed that Millennials are spending much less time emailing than do employees of older generations, and instead prefer text and instant messaging, communicating on social networking sites and interacting in virtual communities. And they expect employers to provide them with easy access to these communication channels ? because without easy access to social networking sites, work product will surely suffer?