Web 2.0 generation expect work on their terms

The UK's business leaders are being warned they must embrace flexible working and consumer technologies if they are to attract and retain the next generation of workers.

The issue of work/life balance is on the radar of future employees - before they've even nailed down their first proper job. This web 2.0 generation also expects technologies such as instant messaging, social networking and webcams to be welcomed in the workplace - and many are prepared to up sticks and move abroad in search of a better lifestyle should the reality of the daily grind disappoint.

A survey of the attitudes of 13 to 17 year olds, commissioned by Logicalis, reveals 81 per cent have already thought about their work/life balance, while more than half (55 per cent) expect to use instant messaging in the workplace to communicate with colleagues. Many also expect to be able to continue using other web 2.0 technologies they have grown up with - such as wikis, social networks and blogs.

Ninety-one per cent of teens questioned said they use IM at least once per week, while more than 50 per cent use it every day and 87 per cent said they are members of an online community. More than one-third (35 per cent) have written their own blog and nearly half (47 per cent) have read somebody else's.

IT departments, meanwhile, must also be prepared to accommodate this new wave of technophiles, says analyst Yankee Group, by giving them control over their IT environments.

Yankee Group enterprise research programme manager Joshua Holbrook said in a statement: "Enterprises can't avoid consumerisation or implement traditional approaches to managing consumerisation in the enterprise because it's failing. It's time for a new operating model; an IT care co-op is the solution."

The analyst recommends companies make use of web 2.0 tools such as social networks and wikis to build communities of end users that can manage their own IT support function.

Last year, oil giant BP pioneered a similar end user empowerment strategy by offering selected employees the chance to buy and manage their own IT equipment.