Millennials Admit to Breaching Tech Etiquette at Work. What Did They Do?

09.01.2015
HR & Safety

Recent college graduates admit they enter the workforce with several bad habits when it comes to IT etiquette, according to a recent survey released by the Center for Professional Excellence (CPE) at York College of Pennsylvania.

Most common problems include excessive use of social media; using the Internet for nonbusiness purposes; excessive use of cell phones, texting, or emailing instead of direct conversation; and texting at inappropriate times.

“As younger workers are hired into the workforce, they’re not coming empty-handed,” says Matthew Randall, executive director of the CPE.

“Along with them come smartphones, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and a constant sense of connectedness.”

A national sample of 519 recent college graduates ages 23-28 participated in the survey. The maximum margin of error associated with the samples is 4.3% at the 95% confidence level.

Respondents were asked, “While working for your employer, what are some of the key technology challenges you frequently wrestle with?” Nearly half (49.1%) admitted they spend too much time on social media. Close behind was inappropriate use of Internet (46.6%) and excessive use of cell phones (46.4%).

Texting presents another pitfall. An additional 40.3% of respondents admitted to both relying on text messaging or emailing when direct conversation was more appropriate, as well as texting at inappropriate times.

“It also appears the IT struggle is getting bleaker rather than brighter,” says Randall. “Respondents were nearly three times as likely to say that problems with IT misuses and etiquette have increased (37.8%) rather than decreased (12.7%) for young employees over the past five years.”

The full survey results, which address several aspects of college graduates transitioning to the workplace, are available here.

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