Web 2.0 technologies are seen as vital to attracting younger employees

The federal government must adapt and embrace Web 2.0 technologies such as virtual worlds, wikis and social networks to attract and retain younger employees, because the technologies are here to stay, two federal knowledge management practitioners said in a presentation in Washington on Thursday.

Comment on this article in The Forum.Speaking at a conference on knowledge management and business intelligence organized by the Digital Government Institute, Giora Hader, the Federal Aviation Administration's knowledge architect, said agencies must embrace the world of social networking and collaborative technologies or risk losing out on a generation of new workers who are needed to fill gaps left by the upcoming wave of retirements.

"The fact is Web 2.0 is here to stay; it's not a fad," Hader said. "It can increase workforce efficiency and effectiveness while improving service -- keep in mind that we are all civil servants."

During the presentation, Hader and Paulette Robinson, assistant dean for teaching, learning and technology at the National Defense University, emphasized the importance of collaborative technologies in recruiting and retaining a new generation of "digital natives," who have grown up using social technologies and expect access to such tools. They said using a wiki or virtual world to collaborate on a document could be more effective than e-mail.

"Although some government agencies prohibit use and access to social networks, they are here to stay," said Hader. "People are social animals and like to be able to collaborate together."

Much of the resistance to such technologies, he said, comes from accusations that they lack security controls, sap productivity and flatten the organization's hierarchy. If the government does not embrace collaborative tools like wikis, Hader said, users are likely to turn to commercial social tools such as Facebook or Google Documents for work-related purposes, opening up security holes.

Productivity ultimately is an issue of trust, he said, adding that employees can goof off whether they are teleworking, sitting in their office or traveling on business. As for reducing hierarchies, Hader called it a cultural shift.

"Web 2.0 flattens organizations -- privates talk to generals, GS-1s speak with agency directors," he said. "They have access, and it scares people."

Hader said younger people need to feel free to ask questions and that discouraging them does not accomplish much. Robinson advocated social networking tools and other such technologies that would allow workers to interact, question each other and learn more about how the agency accomplishes its mission.

"People are using these technologies even if the government doesn't allow it," she said. "The horse has left the gate. At this point it's an issue of control."