Gen Y demands new tech at the office

As CIOs begin to hire a new generation of IT workers--that Generation Y crowd born roughly starting in 1982--they might be wise to get with the times and give these tech savvy employees the latest communications technologies. Ron Alsop, author of the new book, "The Trophy Kids Grow Up," said that many recent workforce entrants face a shock in some corporate cultures that avoid new technologies due to security concerns or budgetary issues.

"Companies really need to loosen up a bit and not play Big Brother too much by worrying about blocking certain social networking web sites," Alsop said. He added that some companies are making an effort, noting that recent MBA graduates hired by Johnson & Johnson successfully lobbied the company to create an internal social network that has grown to include virtual classrooms for training and a career counseling center.

Capital One Financial Corp. is creating internal discussion boards and its own version of Wikipedia in an effort to improve worker collaboration. Linda Gravett, author of "Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Get Radio Babies, Boomers, Gen Xers, and Gen Yers to Work Together and Achieve More," noted that the folks from the younger generation that she interviewed for her book were very clear in their reluctance to work for a company that lacks Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies.

For more on what Gen Y wants:
 - see this CIO.com article