Cisco has compiled the results of a survey into an interesting article, with surprising results, concerning how important the Internet is to some people.
Of the 3,000 people surveyed, which included college students and young professionals, a whopping 1/3 considered the Internet to be as important as the air we breath. Others in this same group compared the Internet to other basic necessities such as food, water, and even shelter. Shockingly, some of these educated individuals actually stated that they would take a lower salary to have the opportunity to enjoy their mobile devices and social networks at work.
Cisco chose college students and recent grads, new to the work force and starting their first jobs, to complete the survey to ascertain how the younger generation would respond to its marketing ploys. The biggest surprise to me was that 2/3rds of those surveyed would rather have Internet access over a car, which demonstrates just how serious this group of people are about the Internet and how much they depend on it in their daily lives.
So how will this next generation of young professionals shape the way companies hire new employees? Businesses, desiring the best candidates America has to offer, are going to have to change their company policies regarding access to an Internet connection during work hours. This could mean simply allowing them the freedom and flexibility to maintain an Internet connection for personal endeavors, while maintaining a limit to when or how often it is to accessed or giving them the freedom to access it at will. If this plays out businesses, will then need to provide Internet access for all devices that employees carry to work including iPads, iPhones, smart phones, notebooks, etc. This may prove to be quite costly to employee productivity and be a real game changer for corporate America and in its future hiring practices.
To learn about the results and the methodology used to conduct the survey, The Cisco Connected World Technology Report can be downloaded in PDF format.