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May 24, 2006
Repeat after me: Not everyone has Internet access
It’s always surprising to me how many companies rely almost exclusively on electronic vehicles to share information with employees, even though at nearly every company, a significant number of employees are still unwired. Ignoring the existence (or importance) of these employees is not only bad communication, it’s bad management.
Does your organization have employees doing jobs like these? Working on a manufacturing line. Driving a truck. Serving customers in a store or restaurant. Moving stuff in a distribution center or warehouse. Preparing food. Or even answering phones in a call center, where the “computer” on the desk may not be connected to the company’s information system.
If so, my bet is that these employees’ electronic access is limited or non-existent. And here’s the rest of the bad news: They may not be wired at home, either. (There goes your excuse that you’ll rely on an extranet to communicate.) According to the Pew Internet & American Life project, in 2005, 22% of Americans weren’t using the Internet at all—in fact, their homes have no web connection. www.pewinternet.org
Even more interesting, the percentage of unconnected Americans has remained stable over the past three years. And, as you might expect, the likelihood that someone will have Internet connections depends on their demographics:
- 89% of college graduates connect, while 71% of those without high school diplomas don’t.
- 83% of parents with young children connect, while 40% of those with no children don’t.
Just because the people who work with you in headquarters are all wired doesn’t mean that employees doing the real work, in noisy factories and hot warehouses, are, too.
So here’s the question: Are you doing enough to reach non-wired employees?
Posted by Alison Davis at May 24, 2006 11:22 AM