Results launched today from an international research project commissioned by Mimecast® have revealed that offices are being compromised by an emerging ‘Generation Gmail’ of corporate email users. A new cohort of social media savvy employees, Generation Gmail, displays a particular frustration with corporate email restrictions, complaining that mailbox sizes are too constrained and that they will readily “work around” using personal email to be as productive and flexible as possible.

The findings have revealed that corporate email users under the age of 25 are putting businesses at risk with a slapdash attitude to company intellectual property (IP) flowing outside the organisation and being stored on public servers. Use of personal email for work purposes is pervasive, with 85% of under 25s admitting that they send work related emails or documents to or from personal email accounts, the highest of all age groups.

“With social networks and personal email a ubiquitous part of their life, the way email is used by this demographic is bleeding into the workplace.  So it is not surprising that expectations for workplace technology are shifting accordingly,” commented Nathaniel Borenstein, Chief Scientist at Mimecast. “The results find workers frustrated with corporate restrictions and working around these using personal email accounts in order not to affect their productivity or flexibility.”

In tandem with Generation Gmail’s appetite for technology – and instinctive desire to share and collaborate - comes a frustration with traditional workplace tools and behaviours.  Over half (51%) of under 25s say if they had an unlimited work mailbox they would be less likely to send work emails to personal accounts – 11 per cent higher than other age groups.

The Generation Gmail report also found that:

More than a third (36%) of incoming email to work inboxes is NOT work related
Over 300 work-related emails are sent per person via personal accounts each year
Typically around half of these emails contain attachments, meaning that the average employee under 25 will send approximately three emails a week containing corporate IP and potentially sensitive information outside of their corporate environment
Generation Gmail is particularly predisposed to personal email; 52 per cent rated it as better than work email in terms of mailbox size, compared to just 29 per cent of over 55s
Borenstein, one of the creators of the MIME standard, which makes modern email delivery possible, continued, “Email is a vital channel, indeed the preferred choice, of communications within companies today.  Although more fanciful headlines would have us believe that email is on the verge of extinction – the reality is that email is embedded within company culture and will remain a core communication channel for some time to come.

“However, unprecedented change is afoot as a new generation of people who have had lifelong exposure to technology enter the workforce, bringing with them unique challenges in the provision and management of email and other technologies for companies. The proliferation of social networks and mobile devices has transformed the communications landscape within companies; employees increasingly mix and match technologies, using devices and platforms interchangeably to find workarounds that maximise their flexibility and productivity. Employers need to work out what they are going to do in the face of this cultural shift,” concluded Borenstein.

Supplier of cloud-based email security, continuity and archiving software Mimecast commissioned Loudhouse, an independent marketing research consultancy, to conduct a survey to investigate how attitudes to work email use are evolving and how progressive employers are managing this core communication channel.  The research comprised a total of more than 2,400 online interviews with corporate email users in the UK (1,080 interviews), the US (805), Canada (272) and South Africa (300).