College study: Workers less professional

Kids these days.
As new professional employees, they spend too much time distracted as they talk with their thumbs, socialize on Facebook and browse the Internet.
These behaviors probably aren't limited to entry-level employees in most offices, but the younger group was the subject of a third annual study on professionalism from the Center for Professional Excellence at York College.
Recently released results of the 2011 study showed about a third of human resource respondents and 36.5 percent of managers believe new employees have less professionalism than five years ago.
Standards might be changing, though, because respondents who are under age 35 were significantly less likely to believe that professionalism has decreased, according to the study.
People polled for the nationwide study of 309 human resources professionals and 420 managers included a couple from businesses in York, but those companies won't be identified, said Matthew Randall, executive director of the center.
Interpersonal skills: The college uses the results to inform graduating seniors about professionalism practices they can employ to distinguish themselves for employers, Randall said.
Graduates need more than college degrees to become professionals, and limiting social media and other distractions is a good start, he said.
"I think what (the study) has done is confirm the level of professionalism, at least among recent college graduates, has declined," he said. "Interpersonal skills are not the strongest in today's recent college graduates. They do better with their thumbs (texting messages) than they do face-to-face."
Unfocused employees: Randall said the availability of technology challenges new employees to focus long enough to complete a task.
"They can't buckle down for an hour or two to deliver a document. ... The time to complete tasks is longer because they're multitasking, answering texts from friends, then going back to document," he said.
More than a fifth of managers reported they believe that the percent of unfocused employees has increased over the past five years.
Internet and social media were the most-cited causes of concern, 26.9 percent. About 21 percent said workers were distracted by personal problems driven by the poor economy, and 19.4 percent said people showed less ownership of their work, according to the study.
More than half of HR respondents reported an increase in IT abuses.
"The troubling news is that 97.1 percent of HR respondents and 91.7 percent of hiring managers have said IT misuse has either gotten worse or stayed the same," Randall said. "This means that addictions to social media, inappropriate use of text messages and inappropriate use of the Internet may be costing employees their jobs."
Randall declined to share his thoughts about the study's results from a sociological point of view, but said he hopes college seniors use the information to examine their lives and improve their performance as employees.