The Monday Morning Conference Call

Millennials want the freedom, flexibility to telecommute

By amacisaac | 2013/05/20

Millenials are the ‘now’ generation, the new workforce, the ones with the innovative ideas that will take our companies into the next decade.

Except for one problem: they don’t want to be tied to cubicle hell.

oDesk, an online jobs resource for freelancers and entrerpreneurs, and Millennial Branding, a Generation Y consulting firm, teamed up to survey 1,958 ‘Millennials,’ or youth from 19 to 30 years old, on their career paths.

The results might be startling:

✓ 72% of those still at “regular” jobs want to quit to be entirely independent; 61% say they likely will within two years
✓ Freedom is the top reason those at “regular” jobs would like to quit; and 89% say they prefer to work when and where they choose (versus in a corporate, 9 – 5 job)
✓ 90% of independent workers indicated that being an entrepreneur reflects having a certain mindset (rather than being strictly defined as having started a company)
✓ Of the freelancing Millennials surveyed, 58% of those familiar with the term “entrepreneur” classify themselves as one

This oDesk infographic shows the ‘now’ generation wants to work wherever and whenever they want:

What does it all mean?

“We believe that the barriers of Industrial Age work simply don’t make sense for businesses that want to get more work done, or for workers who are demanding more freedom. No one today wants to be confined to a cubicle,” said Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, in a news release. “As independent professionals embrace this freedom, hours worked on oDesk have increased eightfold since 2009.”

It means that many more businesses have to open up to a telecommuting program that allows young employees the freedom to maintain that work-life balance we all so desperately crave. And yet, their productivity is often better than your in-office employees.

A telework program can save companies money, too. When employees work from home, businesses start to realize reduced costs in real-estate space, furniture, electricity and utilities, janitorial services, security, paper and office supplies and equipment, and coffee and water service.

Telecommuters are also less likely to call in sick.

With the innovators of tomorrow wanting more freedom and flexibility while they earn paycheque, it makes sense to start a work-from-home program from your office, not dial it back like Yahoo and Best Buy have done.

Your business instantly becomes a place where the younger generation wants to work and you should start to see a deeper pool of applicants for your job postings.

Engage participants with a poll during your web conference

By amacisaac | 2013/05/13

If you’re looking for feedback and information, a poll is a great way to find out what your web conference participants are thinking.

A quick poll lets your web conference chairperson easily turn presentations into engaging, informative sessions.

By answering a simple question or two, you make your web conference participants feel like they’re an active part of the discussion.

And just imagine the information you could learn: your participants’ demographics, knowledge level of the topic and opinions.

Learning more about your participants can help your further develop your presentation, as you figure out what they know, what they want to learn and whether some topics need more discussion.

The OnConference Presents! poll function lets you choose a poll type:

✓ Yes or no response
✓ Multiple choice
✓ Ranking
✓ Opinion

You can gather general comments in a simple text box and the feature will capture the results for real-time reporting and individual followup.

Running a poll

Here are some tips for successful web conference polling:

Prepare your question in advance

You should know at what point in your discussion you want feedback from your audience. Have your poll ready to go at the right time to stimulate participation and interaction.

Keep it simple

Ensure your question is straightforward and doesn’t confuse your audience. Don’t ask more than one question at a time and keep the available responses equally as simple and applicable.

Be inclusive

You run the risk of alienating members of the audience if they don’t have a response. Always make sure a multiple choice question has an ‘other’ or ‘not applicable’ option. You could even generate further discussion by asking the ‘other’ respondents to expand on their thoughts.

Use it sparingly

You don’t want to hammer your web conference participants with questions. They came to you looking to learn something. While you can learn something about them, you want to ensure you provide them with the value they came for. Keep the number of polls per web conference to a minimum, making sure they broaden the topic for you and your audience while staying on point.

Discuss the results

A poll shouldn’t be used as a random moment to make sure your web conference audience is awake and paying attention. It should be relevant to the presentation and enrich the discussion. Use your real-time results to further the discussion and develop talking points on the fly.

Your turn

Have you used polls in your web conference or webinar? Did you gain useful information from them and do you plan on using more polls in future presentations?