As millenials, or those who were born or grow up surrounded by digital media, enter the workforce, this generation is creating a change in how work gets done. There is a distinct difference from the work styles, expectations and career perspectives of the previous generation of workers.
This was the substance of the MeConomy 2014 study commissioned by VMware, a virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions provider. The study was conducted to 2,455 respondents between the ages of 18-64 years old across 14 countries in the Asia Pacific from January to February. Of the total respondents, 150 are from the Philippines.
“The millenials are known to be a tech-savvy generation who grew up with a fast paced lifestyle due to technology. Since their mindset and expectations are different from past generations, they are creating changes in the workplace, and businesses must be able to adapt to these to stay relevant,” said Emmanuel Portugal, VMware country manager for the Philippines.
Mobile is changing the way these new employees work. With the use of multiple access devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets, Filipino workers are realizing the benefits of technology, enabling them to develop a mobile mindset or a mobile work style which the management should adopt.
The study disclosed that more than 80% of Filipino respondents believed they could maintain their productivity outside the office, with 73% saying home is their ideal workplace. More than 80% say they use multiple devices (smartphones, etc.) both for work and personal use, indicating that they want to be able to live their life across all their devices and freedom in the way they work.
On the other hand, meeting clients and partners, and be more productive and creative are the main reasons why 67% of respondents worked outside the office. “Employees can be productive outside the office as long as they have the access to applications and data,” according to Portugal. “In case of calamities, employees can still work outside the office as long as they have the devices.”
As more and more millenials enter the workforce, businesses need to adjust to their mobile-oriented IT expectations. The study divulged that 69% expect companies to provide equipment and hardware that will allow them to be mobile; a comprehensive and accepted flexi-working policy (which allows employees not to be stacked in the office) is anticipated by 63%, and access to work applications on their personal devices (59%).
Sixty five percent of respondents said they believed technology could help them be productive outside of office hours if they have access to physical equipment and network that will allow them to work outside the office. Having seamless remote access to work from anywhere (at 53%) and having flexibility to manage personal matters (53%) are other benefits derived if these workers are given access to devices and applications that allow them to work outside the office.
Although the transformation can be productive, there is still a sigh of hesitation to some. Some businesses and IT departments continue to impose strict traditional IT policies to protect the company’s interest/security as reported by 80% of respondents; 72% are reluctant to the shift to avoid leakage of confidential information while 70% wants to avoid misuse of company assets by employees.
“Challenges for businesses and the IT industry are becoming more and more about adjusting to the needs of millenials – the new workforce – who expect computing to work the way they want it to, and want to receive information whenever and wherever they need it,” said Portugal.
Already, to respond to the new demands of the workplace, VMware introduced Horizon 6 to provide solutions to the changes occurring in the workplace as it gives end users secure access to their applications, data and desktops from any of their devices.
