Emphasising the link between 16-18 year olds' use of the latest technology at home and the preferred use of social media networks to maintain key relationships, the research found that one in four will expect to be provided with a smartphone, whilst more than one in six will want Facebook access during work.
The research surveyed US and UK teenagers about their future workplace expectations. It found, whilst the recession has caused a known impact on recruitment, companies still recruiting new graduates will increasingly use technology as a method for attracting the best new employees.
The research has found teenagers seek to mirror the technology that they use at home when they enter the workforce, with 40% wanting a laptop when they start work, and a further 13% also anticipating a tablet.
The majority of teenagers surveyed believe it will help them to be more productive, with nearly 70% saying smartphones and tablets will make it easier to do their jobs, and over half (55%) said it will make them more efficient in the workplace.
Access to applications like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter will also be very important for establishing networks, collaboration and communication in future UK workplaces, but not necessarily with management. This supports the mirroring effect of technology, as teenagers seek to replicate the tools and communication channels they already use at home, when they move into the workplace.
Geo-location features like Facebook places and Foursquare will also be used in business environments in the future, with 15% saying they'll use them for work to share their location.
As for the work/life blur experienced by many already in the workplace, this is expected to continue amongst a new generation of employees in the UK. But UK teens are more likely to think that this technology will persuade them to work out of hours (32%) than their US contemporaries, with only 18% of American teens thinking that BlackBerrys and iPads will require them to work into the evening.
Adrian Brookes, VP, strategy and technology office of Siemens Enterprise Communications comments: "With an estimated 320,000 having graduated this summer (and graduate recruitment placements rising by 9.4%), businesses need to ensure that they have the right technology in place to attract the top talent. To retain and maximise the productivity of "net natives", organisations need to align their communications and technology environments to allow effective collaboration and information flow.
"Today's working environment is all about enabling individuals to select the most appropriate communication channel to the task at hand. Be it over audio, video, social networking, web collaboration all initiated from a variety of devices, the advances in enterprise communications allows a rich user environment and organisations need to ensure they are maximising the productivity and knowledge of both current and future employees."
The research from Siemens Enterprise Communications was carried out by Opinion Matters and through Facebook between 14 and 24 June 2011, interviewing 164 UK and 154 US teenagers.
