Managing the Intergenerational Workplace

We now have four different generations in the workplace at the same time.

• Baby Boomers - anyone over the age of 57
• Generation ‘X’ - born somewhere between 1964 and 1980
• Millennials (sometimes known as Gen ‘Y’) – born between 1980 and 2000
• Generation ‘Z’ - born after 2000 and just starting to enter the global workforce

It is not unusual to have four generations in the workplace. What is unusual is to find them all within the same team.

Historically, as employees got older, they were separated from their younger counterparts and moved up the management ladder.

Today this is not the case. It has become increasingly common for younger managers to have team members who are older than the manager. Most teams today are made up of representatives from three if not four of the generations.

Each of the generations are different from the others. Here are just a few of the observable differences:

Baby Boomers	Generation ‘X’	Millennials	Generation ‘Z’
Want to be valued and respected.	Want to be left alone until they need help	Want constant feedback	Demand constant feedback
Patient and prepared to work their way up	Patient and prepared to work their way up	Impatient and ambitious for progression	Impatient and ready to move both company and career as necessary
Socially confident	Socially competent	Value social interaction but not confident	Value social interaction enormously but find it problematic
Find technology challenging	Technologically competent	Technologically confident	Accept and work with technology as a fact of life

These differences create a range of challenges for any manager of a multi-generational team including:

• What are the defining characteristics of each generation?
• How did these differences arise?
• What motivates each generation?
• How to increase employee retention with impatient generations?
• How to encourage interaction and cooperation between the generations in your team

Managing the inter-generational workplace is something all managers will increasingly have to face.

To successfully navigate through the generational differences and create a culture of inclusions it is necessary to manage differences in:

• Work ethic
• Work-life balance
• Career planning
• Achieving generational give and take

Enrol here to attend this interactive training course, and find out what Leaders and Managers can do to manage a blended workforce spanning four generations.

Posted on February 17 2022 by Geoff Marsh

 

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