CIOs Need To Take Care Of Their Younger Workers

Younger workers tend to make more mistakes
Younger workers tend to make more mistakes
Image Credit: Hussain Isa Alderazi

As the person in the CIO position, I’m pretty sure that by now you’ve come to realize that not all of the workers at your company are the same. It turns out that some of these workers need a little bit of extra help from your IT department. You might instinctively think that I’m talking about the company’s older workers. However, that’s not the case. I’m really talking about your younger workers. Study after study has shown that they are the ones who are most likely to make mistakes that will complicate your life.

The Problem With Young Workers And Security

I’m not exactly sure where to start to place the blame, but I think that the arrival of social networking has to take some of it. It is on these sites that many of your company’s younger workers may start to feel more relaxed and comfortable. I mean, they are just talking with friends, right? It’s this type of feeling that can lead them to do silly things like post their phone numbers and addresses. This is exactly the kind of information that the bad guys need in order to get to work.

A recent survey showed that younger workers are more likely to post too much personal information on social media sites and to respond to unsolicited email. What makes all of this risky behavior that much worse is that these workers are often accessing their social media sites from work and that can open a door for trojans to be downloaded onto your networks.

Identity Theft Is A Problem For Younger Workers

As though your younger workers didn’t have enough problems while they are at work, it turns out that the misery that they’ve invited in may be waiting to follow them home. It turns out that they are more likely than any other group to end up having their identities stolen. The studies have shown that people who are between 18-24 are at the highest risk of having their identities stolen.

What this group of workers is forgetting to do is to take some very basic precautions. These include switching to electronic version of bills to eliminate paper trails, shredding documents, and installing anivirus / antispyware software and firewalls. What you need to realize as a CIO is that this generation of workers is very comfortable with IT technology – perhaps too comfortable! It’s going to be your job to educate them on the dangers and risks that sharing too much personal information in any venue can cause. They’re willing to learn if you are willing to teach them!

What Does All Of This Mean For You?

Because of the importance of information technology, CIOs are responsible for everyone who works at a company. As a result of various studies, it turns out that CIOs really should be spending more of their time looking after their younger workers. These are the workers who are the most likely to make silly security mistakes that will cost you both time and money.

Young workers are generally highly connected. This means that they may have multiple social media accounts. This provides attackers with a means of both discovering them and then attacking them. Due to the large amount of personal information that these younger workers share, it can be all too easy for them to fall victim to identity theft.

As the company’s CIO you can’t necessarily prevent any bad things from happening to your younger workers. However, you can take steps to help to keep them informed of the dangers that they are facing. Trying to look out for the best interests of your younger workers is a very important part of having the CIO job!

– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World IT Department Leadership Skills™

Question For You: What do you think is the best way to get the attention of your younger workers so you can talk about security?

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Making a company be successful is tough work. For this to happen, it’s going to take a great deal of work on everyone’s part and, tougher yet, everyone is going to have to find ways to work together. As a CIO this means that you are going to find yourself having to work with the company’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). You know, the marketing guy or gal. What is your relationship with them like now and what are you doing to improve it?