Why having a Multi-Generational Workforce Matters

Why having a Multi-Generational Workforce Matters

In the modern era, most of the organisations have 3-5 generations present in their workplace. That includes Traditionalists who are born before 1945 and up to Generation Z. This kind of diversity can create a range of challenges for the company because each generation has different expectations about work-life and how they want to be managed. But having a multi-generational workforce is an added advantage because a wide range of ideas and years of experience can serve the company much better while it helps other young employees to excel in their work. Due to demographic trends and pension legislation changes, it’s a common behaviour for organisations to have at least three generations working alongside each other. Having a multi-generational workforce will be very effective because of three reasons.

Companies are facing serious skills shortages

 

Business who want to grow and secure their future by gaining more profits will soon find that they don’t have a choice when it comes to age diversity. The statistics show that there are plenty of young people who are willing to take part to fill the predicted number of future jobs, but the problem comes because of the skill shortage. Newly hired employees might not be the same employee who worked with your organisation for a few years. As a result, over 50s are set to play an important part in their workforce. MIT Sloan Management Review warns that in the tech industry, companies should focus on their older employees. Also, they mentioned that retaining older tech workers might be good rather than trying to hire bright young employees who will be always looking forward to next big opportunity and are unlikely to stay with the company for long. Organisations can use different approaches for different generations to conduct a strategic review regarding how to adopt for a multi-generational workforce.

 

Diversity of thought

 

Fresh insights of millennials combined with the knowledge and experience of older workers make a powerful combination. Baby boomer employee will have a deep understanding of the business and they are specialised in what they are operating. This doesn’t mean that they are not open to new ideas. That means they have been in tough situations, made mistakes and learnt from them. Therefore they are in a good position to see both pitfalls and opportunities for new approaches. Younger employees may not have that kind of knowledge, but they have completely different skills than baby boomers and Generation Z. Generation Z and boomers are grown up in a digital world and they know the expectations of the emerging customer base, while the older generation knows about more traditional approaches. Companies can successfully combine these two forces and they will able to find better solutions to the problems. Moreover, it will lead to generating innovative ideas that will give a competitive advantage for the organisation. Youngsters can use social media for business development and tech to their older employees.

 

It’s a win-win situation for the employee

Employees who are working with an age-diverse team are very lucky because everyone knows about different skills. That will make a huge talent pool and younger employees can learn from older employees as older employees have learnt from youngsters. Older colleagues can pass technical skills like HCM software, HR technology skills or advice to their youngsters regarding how to deal with internal policies and how to maintain a tricky workplace relationship. Also, they can help youngsters to build business social networks. It’s important to create a learning culture among the organisation to protect institutional knowledge. When people learn from each other they will able to perform well.

Millennials are the only generation that gets proper attention when it comes to generational issues at work. Most of the organisations are tend to provide HR solutions for problems of millennials and they forget the older generation. Ignoring the older generation in the process will lead to a decrease in productivity. Companies must think about all in general because each employee is important when it comes to specific work.

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  • Last modified on Friday, 23 August 2019 05:13
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