Dive Brief:
- SHRM.org reports that, assisted by the widespread use of smartphones, 24% of 13- to 17-year-olds are online "almost constantly," according to a new research report from the Pew Research Center.
- In addition, Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015 reports that 93% of people in this age group use the Internet daily, enabled largely by the convenience of smartphones.
- Unsurprisingly, most of of their activity includes the use of social media sites and texting apps.
Dive Insight:
HR professionals would be smart to heed the results of the Pew study, because HR will need to adapt to these communication habits as today's teens eventually will morph into tomorrow's workforce.
According to the SHRM article, Stan Thorne, communications technology advisor for Joshua Communications, a 20-year-old advertising agency for brokers and HR leaders to better explain their benefits to their employees, said, "the first thing employers and HR leaders need to get over is the phone" because “Old school still sees it as a phone. New school … sees it as a way to stay in touch with friends and do some work.”
Thorne also told SHRM Online that “HR leaders need to understand that it is perfectly acceptable for [younger employees] to communicate via messaging—text, Snapchat, Facebook's Messenger, WhatsApp—or send some work e-mails on their phone. In fact, HR leaders should embrace using the Millennial's phone.”
