Unraveled Idea Mill

No People, Size Does Not Matter (Part 2)

Cultural change defines the type of place you want to works, but not how companies work… in the short term.

Briefly here is a summary of the work culture change I see being demanded:

• Job seekers want access to technology (whether social media or cellphones) not as a luxury, but as a tool.
• People want flexibility both with time and location.
• Young workers want to have constant visibility of how they fit into and help achieve the company vision/mission.
• New job seekers are looking for an environment where they can constantly learn and grow

SUMMARY: There is a culture shift for employees to have the ability to help the company anytime, anywhere, anyway.  “Give me the tools and reap the rewards.” This seems to be a stark contrast to the 9-5, office building, work compartmentalization mentality from other generations.

The point of this article is not to define the change, so I won’t go further, but wanted to point out the change I see in order to compare the different places I have worked or worked with.

Small Companies:
Most see the value in being connected at both from the employee and management perspectives.  Employees like the flexibility and managers like the constant availability and rapid response of employees.  In the small company I worked at flexibility was implemented and encouraged, but due to budget constraints that I assume are common in small companies not everyone was given new phones and technology.  However, access to social networking and use of online tools was not filtered whatsoever.

Medium Companies:
The medium company I worked at had a decent amount of flexibility in terms of time and location. Technology was open and available. I regularly had conversations with clients and coworkers late in the evening, at bars, at libraries, or early in the morning at omelette shops.

Large Companies:
Large companies stand out to me as the ones that fit their mold more than any.  At both of the large companies I worked at, flexibility of both time and location was looked at as a privilege earned over time, not as a productivity tool.  Workers that wanted this had to swim upstream for quite some time to get it.  Technology was also limited.  Neither company widely provided cell phones for employees (at least at the entry level) and both had restrictive filters on internet use.

CONCLUSION:
Change takes infinitely more time at a large company than a small company.  Young employees bring with them the culture they have grown up in and then either effectively push change up or change when they are put in position to make decisions.  I would argue that large companies will resist change especially when a young employee is asking for something that older employees see as a benefit that they had to work for.  It often does not matter if this request could improve productivity.

On a side note, I think that the acceptance of cultural change may be more dependent on age of the company rather than size.  In general though if you are looking for a company that works in the newest style I would suggest looking at a small and young company.