The Net Generation of Housing Employees
Show of hands…when was the last time you sent a text message?
We all know that our students are now coming to campus better able to use technology to communicate. Everything from blogs to Twitter, texting, and smart phones.The feature in the recent Talking Stick by Richard Holeton The Net Generation on Campus & Online is a must read!
Students are coming to school owning cell phones at a 99 percent clip, and more and more of them are using smart phones…the Blackberry or iPhone. A higher percent of college students own and use a smart phone than working adults. Employers are at risk of falling behind the Net Generation in using and adapting to communications tools. A recent survey by Big Blue shows that from even these technologically advanced students, more than half feel they need to improve their technology skills before they graduate, and 80 percent expect to encounter new technology once they enter the workforce. As these students graduate and become professional employees, our institutions will need to consider getting our current employees, and ourselves, trained and armed with the current technology devices.As we tentatively dip our toes into the social networking world of Facebook and MySpace, the kids will be racing off to a brand-new, yet undiscovered technology (Twitter), leaving us looking and feeling both inadequate and confused. How will our employees view us if we don’t know the rudimentary basics of today’s communication technology? In order to compete with the private sector, we cannot rely on technology, software and communication tools from the 1980s.
So we have a choice, not only as we try to renovate and market our facilities to the speed-of-light generation, but also to decide how to bring them into our hybrid academic-business world as employees. Do we force them to adapt to the world of board rooms and committee assignments, or attempt to change our current staff? We need to retain the very talented and skilled youth of tomorrow, and let their creativity flourish like Pixar and Google are doing. Here are five tips to tempt and tame Gen Y, courtesy of Silicon.com. While we embrace our new employees, we must create a balance through policies and expectations, lest the administration building turn into…well, I’ll leave that to your imagination.
We can make sure our information service departments have the resources to equip our offices, and human resources and our managers are designing flexible work assignments and are providing technology training to our staff. Housing systems should not just focus on facilities and marketing, but also include staff retention, training and accession plans in our strategic plans. Remember, it is the human element that provides outstanding service! If we don’t prepare for the next wave of people in our organizations, our competition from the private sector surely will.
Tags: Information Technology, Staff