Half of Young Workers Would Prefer Facebook Access to a Salary Rise
The perception of young people is that they always have their face glued to a smartphone updating their Facebook page with their latest happenings.
A new report by Cisco has revealed some staggering insights into just how highly valued Facebook access is to the youngest generation of employees.
The networking company surveyed nearly 3,000 young professionals from around the world and found that nearly half of them would happily accept a lower salary if it meant greater access to Facebook. The study went on to reveal that nearly half would either not accept a job offer or look for clandestine ways around IT firewalls if Facebook was restricted at work.
"The growing use of the Internet and mobile devices in the workplace is creating a significant impact on job decisions, hiring and work-life balance," the report concluded. "The ability to use social media, mobile devices, and the Internet more freely in the workplace is strong enough to influence job choice, sometimes more than salary."
All of which seems to offer some very easy wins to companies wishing to engage employees on the cheap, something that should be on every managers radar after recent research from Gallup found over 70% of Americans are not engaged at work. For just a few simple workplace concessions (say, allowing employees to choose an iPhone over a BlackBerry, and opening up access to social networks), recruits could be more likely to accept job offers--and at a lower salary. One in four college students, according to the report, said issues like these would represent key factors in their decision to accept a job offer.
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