Multigenerational workplaces: Opportunities and challenges for organizations

What is it?

A multi-generational workplace refers to a work environment where employees from different age groups work together. This can include individuals from different generations such as Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964), Generation X (born 1965-1980), Millennials (born 1981-1996), and Generation Z (born after 1997).

Having a multi-generational workplace means that there are differences in work styles, perspectives, and values among the employees. For example, Baby Boomers may have different expectations about work hours and job loyalty than Millennials who prioritize work-life balance and career growth.

It is important for employers to recognize and understand these differences in order to create a collaborative and inclusive workplace culture that respects and values the diversity of experiences and perspectives brought by each generation. Employers can create programs and policies that appeal to each generation and promote teamwork, communication, and respect among employees of all ages.

Why should we care?

The corporate world is growing fast and efficiently. With this comes many changes to the old ways and new pathways are created and this is why we should care. Multi-generational workplaces are an amazing collaboration of knowledge and new work methods. Employees of all ages contribute to the organization’s success. Young personnel who are comfortable with technology will grow swiftly and adapt to changes. More mature personnel will use their years of expertise to help with decision-making… The corporation will gain a competitive edge by combining creativity with experience as two minds are better than one.

More specifically, multi-generational workplace brings 3 main benefits:

Better problem solving

To put it simply, 2 will always be better than 1. When there are many generations working together, everyone will be able to come up with many different ways to handle and solve problems. They can share ideas and experiences to choose the best solution for every situation. This is also why generationally diverse teams tend to be more productive.

Reflect the business’s customers.

Understanding the needs of customers is the most important factor to help businesses sell their products. However, what if you only have employees of the younger generation, difficult to access and exploit information from older customers? In fact, unless your product is unique or age-specific, and your potential customers are well-defined, the combination of staff from the same generation will make the process of understanding and exploiting the needs of each customer group much more difficult. Of course, businesses can deploy market research strategies, asking customers for feedback. However, the efficiency will certainly not be as high as letting employees’ approach and collect directly from customers of the same generation as them.

Learning opportunities

The more varied the team, the more chances there are for everyone to engage and learn from one another’s perspectives. Those with extensive experience may advise younger colleagues on career advancement. Furthermore, the new practice of reverse mentorship across generations allows many younger employees to instruct older workers in modern innovations and technology.

There are many opportunities, but businesses cannot avoid challenges when maintaining a multi-generational working environment.

Conflict between generations

People who are not of the same generation will have their own thoughts and ways of working. This also easily leads to contradictions and conflicts. Boomers like what’s safe, they choose to follow the path. However, the young generation z likes challenges, they think that what older employees do is outdated, and inappropriate. If these two components are in the same group, working on the same project, it will be difficult to come to a consensus. Gradually conflicts began to arise because no one wanted their point of view to be dismissed.

Negative stereotypes

As with any diversity, people will have more or less stereotypes about people of a different age group. Older individuals may believe that younger generations are not persistent. Younger employees might see older employees as rigid and fearful of adopting new technology. Negative stereotypes can result in toxic workplace cultures, unequal treatment, and age discrimination.

Differences in job orientation

People of different generations may not have the same expectations when it comes to work. The way people complete tasks, learn from training courses, or expect to be evaluated for performance can vary.

How to use it?

How can you use the knowledge above to overcome the problems of a multigenerational workplace and reap the benefits?

Under a manager/leader perspective, we can use information above in two things:

Overcome the challenges to create a multigenerational workforce, since the benefits outweigh the disadvantage.
How to effectively manage a multigenerational workforce.

How to create a multigenerational workforce

Review the recruitment details.

Adjust the organization’s age profile if it favors one group over another. Begins with the job description, eliminating the age requirement if the work is not too demanding. Of course, an organization doesn’t have to entirely replace or erase the job requirements; simply organize them correctly.

Find out employee desires.

Employees of different generations, as previously said, will have different wants and expectations. So, should company leaders learn to understand what their people truly want?

– Employees may want different types of training.

– Valuing everyone’s work interests can be different.

– The way employees communicate will also be different.

– Expectations about working time, office activities are not the same.

Organizations can modify policies and rules to meet the demands of employees once the interests and aspirations of each generation are properly understood.

It can be seen that developing a multi-generational working environment is not easy for leaders. However, that doesn’t mean we’ve run out of options. Human resource managers have a role to play in ensuring the company closes the generation gap and unites teams.

Here are four key points in managing a multigenerational workforce:

Do not make assumptions by age.

First thing that leaders need to keep in mind when building and maintaining a multi-generational work environment is not to make assumptions based on age. You certainly won’t lose your ability to use technology when you pass 50 years old. That means not every older employee will have a lower level of skill or the younger employee will not know anything. All evaluations and opinions must be made based on reality, how people work, how effective they are, not their ages.

Create a supportive environment in the workplace.

HR managers need to work on creating an inclusive work environment for everyone. However, age variety may be the most underappreciated topic. When developing a company’s diversity and inclusion policy, you must consider the generation gap. Employees should feel appreciated and free to express themselves, regardless of their age.

Minimize prejudices in the company.

Generational biases and prejudices really exist in every work environment. While it is wrong to assume that a person is “authoritative,” “workaholic,” or “inflexible” simply because of their age, it is true that depending on different backgrounds and life experiences, people will be shaped in specific ways.

Recognizing and considering differences allows you to see the good side of each generation. To eliminate age-based stereotypes, company training may be required. Explaining the misconceptions helps people become more conscious of their biases.

Create learning and development opportunities.

People in general are constantly keen to enhance their skills and advance their professions, and this is not just limited to young employees. Companies need to provide knowledge-building opportunities to benefit staff development and increase employee contribution to the organization. Also, an environment that encourages questioning promotes learning and improvement.

Upgrading abilities is not just accomplished through formal training courses. But it can be developed by cross-generational information exchange, such as mentoring and cross-learning among personnel of the same age.

Conclusion

Managing a multi-generational workforce in a company is certainly tedious as you have many parameters to keep in mind, but it also brings a lot of benefits to your organization. Leveraging reasonable age-related differences will support the sustainable growth of the business.

The idea is to create a smooth working place for all the multi gen employees. Starting from simple employee feedback to reporting and distributing business results. Bring individuals and teams, groups together. Help everyone have unity in the pursuit of the company’s vision and mission. By giving them specific common goals, assign clear tasks. And there are appropriate measures and KPI evaluations.