When working towards building a diverse workforce, most organizations focus on factors such as gender, race, and ethnicity, ignoring generational diversity. Age-based stereotypes are prevalent across organizations and industry segments, resulting in discrimination or ageism, whereby an employee or candidate is discriminated against because of his age. It affects people over 40 but can also be relevant to younger employees who are perceived to lack experience due to their age.
As with other types of diversity, generational diversity can benefit the organization in several ways:
• Having people of different ages on a team brings varied viewpoints, providing creative solutions and innovative thinking. • When used to its advantage, with initiatives such as intergenerational mentoring and reverse mentoring, generational diversity can fuel an employee’s career development and increase employee retention. • Since most brands cater to an audience of varied ages, generational diversity helps better understand different segments of the customer base.
Given these advantages, it’s essential to account for generational diversity when recruiting and learn how to manage generationally diverse teams.
The United States has four generations within its employable workforce – Baby Boomers (1945-60), Generation X (1961-80), Generation Y or Millennials (1981-95), and Generation Z (after 1995). To benefit from generational diversity, recruiting people across each generation is essential. Therefore, job posts should be worded to remove any age-discriminating criteria and posted across various channels to ensure it reaches each set of potential candidates. For example, Baby Boomers can be reached through professional networks or referrals, while Gen Z candidates can be reached through online campaigns or social media.
Instead of making assumptions about an employee or candidate of a specific generation based on stereotypes, it’s essential to understand each employee’s working style, skills, and preferences. For instance, a common assumption is that older people aren’t tech-savvy, but it isn’t always the case. Explaining generational differences and talking about ageism or generational stereotyping can create awareness about age-related bias, making employees conscious of its existence at various levels. It can make them more accepting and forgiving of people from generations other than their own.
It’s essential to maintain open lines of communication to empower employees to communicate what they need from the company or team to work efficiently. Listen to employees to understand each person’s specific needs rather than making age-based assumptions about a generation’s needs. Customizing how you treat or deal with each employee based on listening to their needs, rather than as a group based on stereotypical assumptions, can improve employee engagement and retention.
Learning to adopt varying communication modes and styles when communicating with each generation can help generations learn from each other, creating a more collaborative environment. Instead of having a single mode of communication, it’s essential to employ varied modes to suit each generation’s preferred communication style. For example, Baby Boomers might prefer to communicate over the phone, whereas Millennials and Gen Z are more comfortable with texting or instant messaging.
As with communication styles, each generation has a specific preference regarding feedback on their performance. For example, Gen X employees prefer to work without supervision and regular feedback, whereas Gen Z employees expect quick feedback after each task. Customizing feedback delivery for each generation based on their preferences can make employees happy and more effective.
The best way to capitalize on the strengths of each generation is to encourage team members to interact and collaborate. Forming teams with employees of diverse ages brings them together, helping them build relationships with each other. Working together allows employees from different generations to understand each other and work through conflicting opinions or disagreements. It also helps them appreciate one another’s unique skills.
Creating an environment where employees learn from each other can help increase retention. Unless resolved, intergenerational conflict can lead to a high attrition rate. Devising strategies, such as mentorship programs, age-specific rewards programs, or customized communication channels to reduce conflicts and foster teamwork, can boost employee morale and reduce turnover.
Although managing generational diversity can be challenging for employees and leaders, the company’s competitive advantage from age-diverse teams is far too significant to ignore. The different life experiences and values each person contributes to the work environment make companies more innovative, thereby improving competitiveness and profitability. Therefore, age diversity must be included in hiring and retention strategies.
Episode 4 : Strategic Planning towards Belonging
Harward Business Review : How to Manage a Multi-Generational Team
The Diverseek podcast aims to create a platform for meaningful conversations, education, and advocacy surrounding issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in various aspects of society.
Diverseek serves as a platform for meaningful conversations, education, and advocacy surrounding issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.