In a tough economy, companies need ways to retain employees when salary budgets are tight. Here’s one strategy that might work for the under-30 set.

One thing young employees want: freedom to use technology how they want while they’re at work.

In fact, 20% of workers age 18-29 say they’d take a lower salary in exchange for more relaxed IT policies, according to a recent IT World survey.

Some things that matter to those employees:

• access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter
• the ability to work with personal devices of their choosing, such as Blackberries, iPhones and their own laptops, and
• freedom to use the Internet for personal business.

Developing smart policies

What it means for HR: Adapting technology policies to fit the needs and wants of the company’s employees could turn out to be a valuable recruiting and retention tool, especially as more tech-savvy youngsters enter the workforce.

Also, some experts say employees are productive when they’re free to work with the devices they want.

Of course, that doesn’t mean HR departments should suddenly do away with their tech rules. When creating or modifying policies, it’s important to take input from:

• IT – The main reason these policies are in place is to keep the company’s network safe and running smoothly. IT knows what’s possible and what will cause problems.
• Managers – Have there been productivity problems because of workers’ personal technology use? Policies can be made more or less strict depending on how big of an issue that’s been.
• Employees – If workers want a change in policy, it’s important to know why. They may have legitimate, work-related reasons for wanting more freedom, or they might not.

That’s right, members of Generation Y (people born after 1980) have the toughest time sticking to what’s considered “acceptable use.” No surprise there. These are people who know technology and who use it more for personal reasons, so it makes sense that personal use would cross over into work hours more often than with older folks.

But the study, released last month by security vendor Symantec, shows that younger employees might have a very different take on what’s OK for work. For example, 75% of the millennials surveyed said they use personal e-mail at work (compared to 54% of other workers). About two thirds (66%) use Facebook and Myspace, compared to just 13% of older workers.

But it isn’t all fun and games (even though, yes, more millenials play games online while they’re working). Younger employees also turn to their preferred technologies to get the job done: 69% said they’d use whatever application or device they wanted for work, rather than simply sticking with items that IT has issued or approved. That’s compared to just 31% of older workers.

What’s it all mean?

What do these results mean for companies? Possibly that an increase in education and enforcement is needed, in order to keep people productive and work-related data safe and secure.

Symantec also suggests companies use millenial’s technological proficiency as an advantage. They say some companies have started relaxing policies and giving employees more choice, which can help convince them to work with tech folks and let them know what devices they’re using, instead of doing it without IT’s knowledge.

More information on the study and advice from Symantec is available here.