Corporate e-mail users under the age of 25 are putting businesses at risk with a careless attitude to intellectual property (IP), which sees company details flowing outside the organisation and being stored on public servers.
These were the major findings of an international research project commissioned by Mimecast, which also discovered that offices are being compromised by an emerging 'Generation Gmail' of corporate e-mail users.
Attracting a total of 2 400 online interviews, the study also found that a new cohort of social media savvy employees, Generation Gmail, displays a particular frustration with corporate e-mail restrictions. They complain that mailbox sizes are too constrained and will readily 'work around' limitations using personal e-mail to be as productive and flexible as possible.
It was also discovered that the use of personal e-mail for work purposes is pervasive, with 85% of under-25s admitting that they send work-related e-mails or documents to or from personal e-mail accounts. This is the highest of all age groups.
“With social networks and personal e-mail a ubiquitous part of their life, the way e-mail is used by this demographic is bleeding into the workplace,” says Nathaniel Borenstein, chief scientist at Mimecast.
“So it is not surprising that expectations for workplace technology are shifting accordingly.”
In tandem with Generation Gmail's appetite for technology and instinctive desire to share and collaborate, comes a frustration with traditional workplace tools and behaviours, the survey found.
Over half (51%) of under-25s revealed if they had an unlimited work mailbox, they would be less likely to send work e-mails to personal accounts - 11% higher than other age groups.
The Generation Gmail report also found that more than a third (36%) of incoming e-mail to work inboxes is not work-related, while over 300 work-related e-mails are sent per person via personal accounts each year.
It also emerged that around half of these e-mails contain attachments, meaning the average employee under 25 will send approximately three e-mails a week containing corporate IP and potentially sensitive information outside of their corporate environment.
Generation Gmail is particularly predisposed to personal e-mail; 52% rated it as better than work e-mail in terms of mailbox size, compared to just 29% of over-55s, the study shows.
Borenstein says: “E-mail is a vital channel, indeed the preferred choice of communications within companies today. Although more fanciful headlines would have us believe that e-mail is on the verge of extinction, the reality is that e-mail is embedded within company culture and will remain a core communication channel for some time to come.
“However, unprecedented change is afoot, as a new generation of people who have had lifelong exposure to technology enter the workforce, bringing with them unique challenges in the provision and management of e-mail and other technologies for companies,” he notes.
Borenstein explains that the proliferation of social networks and mobile devices has transformed the communications landscape within companies; employees increasingly mix and match technologies, using devices and platforms interchangeably to find workarounds that maximise their flexibility and productivity.
“Employers need to work out what they are going to do in the face of this cultural shift,” he said.
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