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This article is part of our Opinions section, where we invite industry professionals to share their views on the most pressing technology questions of our time.
Traditionalists, baby boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Gen Z all make up the modern workforce, a range that can mean you have a meeting made up of those aged between 16 to 75 years old. The older figure can sound surprising, but data released last year saw a 61% rise in those over the age of 70 who are still in work compared to 2012.
With so much emphasis on recruitment, often at the younger end of the scale, are businesses truly embracing generational diversity in organisations?
Generational diversity is not just the era in which you were born but covers much more. The role of work in broader life, work environments and working style, including leadership and management styles, as well as unique retention strategies. Understanding these differences, and the role of technology, puts the C Suite in a much more informed situation.
It would be remiss to assume that the expectations do not change; what your millennial workforce craved ten years ago will have changed with their life experience. Being flexible, agile and open to that is vital. Building programmes, as well as policies that can support the workforce in full, is hard work, but there are three key things that I believe can help.
It’s important to provide opportunities for all employees to learn and grow. This can include formal training programmes, workshops and mentorship schemes. It can also be more informal through opportunities like peer-led and reverse mentoring. Pairing younger employees with more experienced ones not only helps with knowledge transfer but also fosters mutual respect. Younger employees can also teach older ones about new technologies and trends, helping to reduce any divides between the generations.
Earlier this year, we ran a student showcase welcoming 60 students to the UK’s largest data centre conference. While the 16- 17-year-olds were chaperoned by recent graduates and apprentices just a few years older than them, they were also accompanied by industry all-stars who had spent decades in the industry.
The exercises undertaken by the students included a dive into technical industry questions through to the use of social media for personal and professional branding, with several generations showcasing their expertise in different ways. It was apparent how much all participants got out of the day from the positive feedback from the students and the employees participating.
We all have so much to learn from every generation: organisations must ensure their cultures enable this.
Creating programmes that segregate based on age implicitly implies that an organisation is not as inclusive as it could be. Whilst there is recognition that firms can’t deploy a unique programme for every generation, there are ways to ensure that special treatment, the creation of subcultures, and preferential treatment don’t result in ostracising team members – both current and potential.
Recruitment activities like graduate schemes or apprenticeship programmes can often be blamed for creating a divide. Still, the smarter organisations out there look at it this way: once the recruitment element is complete, the new employees become part of the team, from training to meetings to reviews and progression possibilities. There is no special treatment, but rather integration happens from the get-go.
Offering flexible working options such as flexible hours and part-time roles also helps to accommodate the different life stages and needs of potential employees.
This one is not as straightforward as it seems. Reviewing benefits is vital if you want to embrace generational diversity and ensure it forms part of your strategy towards being a high performing organisation.
Just because an employee is part of a generation doesn’t mean their motivations, life circumstances and experiences are homogenous to their peer group. However, having a wide array of benefits and opportunities that align and adapt to the needs of your workforce is perhaps the most progressive way to ensure you can support five generations in the workforce.
Providing benefits that cater to physical, mental and financial well-being can appeal to all generations. This might include gym memberships, mental health support and financial planning services. Offering a range of benefits that appeal to different age groups, such as childcare support, eldercare assistance and retirement planning, can also ensure that all generations feel valued and supported.
Supporting generational diversity in the workplace is more than a DEI gimmick. It’s more than a social media post with some basic web copy. It is an ongoing strategic program of work because it aligns with your business strategy and the corporate objectives the C Suite is driving over the one-, three- and five-year business plans.
