Future Feds Demand Tech

On Wednesday, I wrote about a new report by Accenture that found that 97 percent of Millennials (ages 14 to 27) in the United States at least partly agree that state-of-the-art technology and equipment will be essential when choosing an employer. Research by Deloitte released in January also found that 88 percent of teens use social networks every day, with more than half saying they would consider their ability to access them at work when weighing a job offer from a potential employer.

While the studies did not target federal workers, it's worth noting that the research has significant implications for government agencies, particularly as they seek to recruit and retain Millennials to help fill the gaps left by large numbers of retiring Baby Boomers. My colleague Allan Holmes sounded the same alarm this week.

Andrew Krzmarzick, director of community engagement for GovLoop and writer of the Generation Shift blog, said Friday that the results of the survey should be a wake-up call for federal agencies to begin paying attention to the ways Millennials have grown accustomed to working and communicating.

"Let's say the Baby Boomers showed up to work and found there were no land-line phones," Krzmarzick said. "That's the kind of shock that the Millennial generation is experiencing when they get into an office and are not issued a workstation or a laptop, find that there's no high-speed Internet, or realize that social media is blocked."

He recommended that agencies begin using social networking tools to engage potential young workers before and during their federal employment. For example, human resources professionals and agency recruiters should be engaging with potential recruits through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and through the new open government initiative, in part to discover who is active in agency dialogues and is providing thoughtful responses to agency questions, he said.

"Agencies should take note of these folks and reach out and encourage them to consider government employment," he said. "You're seeing performance in advance. But if you're going to recruit them using those tools, you have to allow use of them when they get there."

Meanwhile, the Accenture survey also found that communication is shifting away from e-mail towards instant alternatives, particularly for younger Millennials. Older Millennials (age 23-27), for example, still spend an average of 6.8 hours per week writing or receiving work-related e-mails, while younger Millennials already in the workforce spend just 4.2 hours per week on e-mail and more time on text messaging (3 hours) or instant messaging (3.2 hours), the survey found.

Krzmarzick noted that the government is not yet adapting to this shift in communication. For example, he said, agencies recruiting on college campuses are probably collecting e-mail information but not mobile phone numbers from potential recruits. Agencies could ask for permission to send recruits text messages when a job opportunity comes available, Krzmarzick said.

What are your thoughts on the survey's implications for government, particularly when it comes to recruiting and retaining the workforce of the future? Can the federal government adapt quickly enough to the changes young people demand?