Problematic IT Policies

According to the findings from a survey conducted by Clearswift Ltd. security concerns are causing a number of businesses to block social media. Elsewhere, a study published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute reveals more older Americans are remaining in the workforce even though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows higher rates of unemployment for older IT workers.

Focal Points:

• A Clearswift survey of 1,529 employees and 906 managers in companies across the world about social media use found that 60 per cent of employers worried that giving their employees free access to Web 2.0 would bring in viruses and worms. Another 49 percent feared the loss of confidential data through employee carelessness, or hacking (45 percent), while 40 percent worried it would have a negative impact on productivity. 37 percent felt it posed a threat of reputational damage if used inappropriately. The study also found employers used a range of tactics to keep track of employee Internet usage. 71 percent issued a best practice policy on Internet use while 68 percent said they monitored employee Internet activity. The study showed that 19 percent of firms are now blocking employee access to social media websites and technology, which is up from nine percent of respondents who expressed the same sentiment in 2010. 43 percent of polled companies actually experienced a security incident resulting from Internet use.
• According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute more older Americans are remaining in the workforce than ever before. In 1975 only 36.4 percent of workers 55 or older were working. This shrank to 29.4 percent by 1993 but by last year, even with the recession, the percentage reached 40.2 percent, the highest level in 35 years. 
• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released numbers early this year that show that older IT workers have higher rates of unemployment than both younger IT workers and older workers in other professions. Between 2009 and 2010 the overall unemployment rate for people 55 and over jumped from 6 percent to 8.4 percent while for those between the ages of 25 to 54 the rate fell from 5.1 percent to 4.5 percent. Moreover, according to the latest Computerworld salary survey, the number of IT people feeling somewhat or very insecure rises steadily as they age.  While no evidence of age bias appears in actual salaries, the older employees feel as though they have lost ground financially over the past two years. 

Experton Group believes enterprises need to get over their fears of the social media and Web 2.0. Denial of access to these outlets will turn off the younger generations and, at a minimum, impair their productivity. Worst case it will result in their unwillingness to work for the organization. Furthermore, new tools such as those recently announced by Salesforce.com Inc. integrate these media into mainstream workflows. Executives should embrace social media and Web 2.0 as new distribution and information channels and apply security measures to protect the company from attacks and malware. On the employment front, IT executives should remember what happened to their workforce during the last downturn when older staff was released to cut costs.

IT lost valuable business knowledge, which proved difficult to replace and impaired IT's ability to be responsive to business needs. Too much of the IT knowledge base still remains undocumented and locked in the cranial cavities of senior staff. IT executives should work with human resources staff to develop three- to five-year staffing plans that encompass job categories, skills, workforce mix and profiles (age, race, sex, geography, etc.) so that executives are no blindsided by planned or unplanned departures.