03 Jul How to hire the right talent with the help of Google

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world’s second largest professional services network, have moved their global organisation of over 200,000 employees to Google Apps for Work. One of the key reasons PwC decided to move to Google was due to the demand for more innovative tools for their largest demographic of new recruits – graduate students.

So why does using Google make PwC a more attractive place to work?

Besides from the obvious features that make Google for Work desirable, such as collaboration, communication, productivity (and so the list goes on…) there are 900 million users worldwide who make Gmail their email platform of choice. Alongside this, 45 million students use Google Apps for Education at school or college, as do 72 out of 100 of the top universities in the US.

The generation of millennials who are now graduating and becoming the most desirable new recruits for organisations, are the first generation to have grown up from a young age with the internet and mobile phones. They put technology first, and demand information at their fingertips with the tools to enable them to access it. They struggle to understand the clunky, dated, legacy tools that have been in organisation’s for years, and they are confused by the lack of speed, access and innovation.

Leaving university, these students have most likely had experience using Gmail along with the rest of the Google Apps suite, and these products provide an interface that they are familiar with, and not only that, they chose to use it because it is intuitive, mobile friendly and easy to use. Instant messaging, video calling and cloud storage apps are tools that they use every day as part of their personal lives.

According to a study by Accenture, young people both in the workplace and in school say they expect to use their own technology and mobile devices for work rather than those supplied by their employer.  In nearly every category of workplace technology, more than 20% of the respondents stated that employer-provided technologies did not meet expectations, while one-third of the mid-Millennials said they expect not only to use the computer of their choice, but also to access the technology applications of their choice once in the workforce. Furthermore, three-quarters of the mid-Millennials report that they have accessed online collaborative tools and online applications from free public websites when those technologies were not available at work or not meeting their expectations. This gives a clear indication that not only are millennials not happy with the tools they are being provided at work, but they are prepared to go out and get the tools they require themselves, without authority. This poses a threat for business leaders and IT departments, if employees are downloading collaboration tools that aren’t properly monitored by the organisation. IT Managers are already suffering the headache of a very real BYOD culture, and this is so prevalent because of the rapid change in consumer technologies, that organisation’s just aren’t keeping up with in the workplace. Talent Culture wrote an interesting article which analyses the link between Technology and Retention, which cites a 2% improvement in employee retention when organisations are providing up to date and innovative technologies.

And then, you’ve got to take into consideration that Google itself has been rated Fortune’s Best Place to Work for its sixth year. Google know how to do good culture, and that’s a strong objective for many organisations. Granted, some of the perks are unrealistic and unaffordable for many recruiters – including but not limited to free food, free gymnasiums, sports rooms and more – but a large proportion of the perks are those based around collaboration, flexibility and communication. The reason Google can allow people to work from a bean bag in the office or from home on a snowy day is because they give their employees the tools they need to be able to work from anywhere. With collaborative cloud based tools – Google Apps for Work – employees can work anywhere at any time, and this reaps rewards for Google that have harder working and more efficient staff in return.

More and more organisations are now choosing to go Google because they want to encourage a change in culture, rather than just a change in technology. People work when they feel most productive, whether this is at 6am or 10pm, but for a lot of employees working for organisations with legacy tools, they are forced to trim their creative thinking to a certain few hours of the day when they’re in front of their PC. With the help of Google, you can work at a time that suits you. This is the way of working people crave in 2015, so organisations that promote a more flexible and collaborative way of working, instantly become more desirable to prospective employees.

Want to know more?

If you’re having issues recruiting tech-savvy employees, or are looking for a change of culture, speak to our team today and see how we can help your organisation transform with the help of Google Apps for Work. Call 0113 366 2008 or email helpmegogoogle@appscare.com.

Thanks for reading!

Update 08/07/2015: Organizations whose employees average between 18-34 years of age are 55% more likely to use Google Apps than Office 365, a BetterCloud survey finds. David Politis, founder and CEO of BetterCloud, calls this trend “Growing up Google.”