Everything about work has changed. Even before the pandemic, businesses have had to move with the times whether they like it or not.
As well as running a business whose colleagues are WFH and keeping morale high, businesses have to work with and cater for 4 generations in the workplace.
Who are the 4 generations?
- Baby Boomers – born 1946 to 1964
- Generation X – born 1965 to 1980
- Generation Y or Millennials – born 1981 to 1995
- Generation Z – born 1996 to 2012
So how did we get to four generations working together?
Many trends have led to this multi-generational workforce being created, including:
- Traditionalists and Baby Boomers are not retiring in the same way that previous generations did, for example, Prince Philip retired from public duties in 2017 at the age of 96.
- Constant technological advances are resulting in new ways of working allowing for a wider range of generations to remain in work.
What does this mean for businesses in general and the individuals specifically?
Each generation has come to maturity at a very specific time in history, and their outlooks, beliefs and perspectives on what work means to them have been moulded by the socio-economic, political and cultural atmospheres in which they grew up.
In the 20th Century there were three generations working together and although their outlooks were different, the way work was accomplished, and businesses managed was rather similar.
At the beginning of the 21st Century, as new technologies were developed and introduced into the workplace, changes in how work was accomplished began to make themselves felt.
However, it has only been over the last 20 years that technological changes have been exponential.
It must be acknowledged that whilst Generation X may promote some use of these technologies at work, the greater proponents are Millennials, and now Generation Z. This is because although the foundations for these technological changes were created by the first three generations, only the latter two have grown up steeped in the use of technology to accomplish or support most of their activities.
Millennials and Generation Z enter the workplace using technology that is often far ahead of those adopted by their employer. It’s their expectation of how technology is used that has proved to be one of the main reasons for the shift in dynamic within the workplace today. Technology is acknowledged as a main driving force behind the changes in dynamics and expectations across the generations. Other driving forces that are equally as important include work style, leadership and development, communication, work life balance and expectations around total compensation.
It’s also important to realise that the generational balance is shifting – Millennials now comprise of more than 50% of the workforce.
The challenge of attracting, and retaining the best talent, ensuring strong collective capability within the business and building an amazing culture has become far more important. This is due in part to the fact that younger generations are not averse to changing employers in the same way older generations were. Whatever your business looks like today, in 2030 it will most likely look very different.
What can you do to integrate these generations so that they will work, learn and communicate easily and effectively together?
Business owners and leaders today are operating in unchartered territory so it’s important to have a vision, strategy and plan to harness the opportunities and potential presented by a multi-generational workplace. It’s also crucial to know how to work through the tensions and pressures created by this mix.
These strategies need to motivate and engage, attract and retain talent, make communication between the generations easy, and in general meet their different personal needs, expectations and desires. They must address the causes of these shifts that are occurring in the workplace.
What should you do to adapt?
Here are 7 key considerations and questions to ask yourself in order to get started:
1. Do you consider a multi-generational workforce to be an asset or a liability?
The answer will directly impact the vision you have for your business and support the development of the strategy to move forward and grow.
2. Will this multi-generational workplace feel happy and productive or challenging and stressful?
The approach and perception you have will directly lead to choices that impact the culture of your business. To build a sustainable and scalable business into the future that is an amazing place to work, you must remain open minded and ask a lot of questions about your own, and others’ perceptions.
3. Know the composition of your workforce across each generation, including yourself.
This will provide insight into challenges that may have been arising, identify opportunities for reducing them and begin to reveal what should be included in your strategy.
4. Be aware of the similarities and differences that exist for each generation in each of the core areas.
Understand the similarities before looking at the differences. Focusing and engaging on activities that support the similarities across the generations will create more goodwill than attempting to rectify or close the gaps between the differences.
5. Assume nothing and do not become a victim of generalisations.
What assumptions do you have about the different generations? What labels are you attaching to people and allowing to affect your relationships and interactions?
6. Encourage each generation to learn about each other and to embrace the diversity in each generation.
Develop strategies that will allow generations to work together rather than only with those in their age group. Create multi-generational teams for projects and initiatives that will enable everyone to share their expertise and knowledge.
7.Think about how to build an employer brand that is attractive to each of these generations.
Research and identify what key characteristics employees are looking for in their employers, irrespective of generation.
A critical outcome of having a multi-generational workforce means that there is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Multiple solutions for professional and personal development, rewards, communication, work life balance etc. need to be created if the best talent is to be acquired, retained and leveraged in your business.
The advent of the multi-generational workforce calls on everyone to learn how to acknowledge, work with and leverage differences, in order to create a sensational place to work.
A Powered by Shirlaws licence will give you access to a tool kit for self-implementation, or you can choose to work with one of our Shirlaws Coaches. To find out more sign up for one of our interactive Discovery Sessions or alternatively complete our form and one of our team will be in touch.
