Managing Multiple Generations In The Workplace

Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace

Diversity is no new thing in the workplace. Many different factors account for this circumstance in the business arena. Gender, race and ethnicity, and age are a few of the major factors that create diversity within the workplace. The latter, age, is one of the more understated and disregarded issue of diversity. But over time, differences in age in the workplace has been growing more and more, generating conflicts that could not be ignored any longer. The problem of age gaps in the workplace is caused by having multiple generations in one workplace. Most see the age gaps in the workplace as an inherent thing and thus, not something to cope with instead of something to be dealt with. Although the age gap problem is indeed inherent and inevitable, this does not mean that this problem is something that will just go away, or something that just takes getting used to. It is a problem that is based on beliefs and values, demographics, economics and must be dealt with utmost care and sensitivity.

At the onset of the new millennium, the workplace is different from the workplace that we knew at the time when work had evolved so much as to be called a "career", meaning, when work had become more than just a means of livelihood for people included in the workforce. When "jobs" became "careers", people began to feel that more was at stake with their respective workplaces than just their salaries. This gave way to the first generation of workforce that would put new meaning in the workplace, and will be followed by three more generations, and each would bring new and unique dynamics to the workplace.

Today there are four generations present and working together in one workplace. Each generation with different values, different ways of dealing with business relationships, different ways of thinking and talking. Although these generations or age groups are usually unspoken and informal, they are more or less as influential to a person as any major social group in the person's life. These groups are also more cohesive than one would expect an implicit grouping would be. Differences in people have been known to foster creativity and productivity, applying the concept of the sum being more than all its parts. Unfortunately, this concept is not applicable during all times and all seasons in the workplace. Differences of each generation has caused many companies major setbacks, and is still a confounding managerial challenge for most executives.

This era is not the first to have multiple generations in the workplace. There has been multiple generations in the workplace in the past, but the dynamics these generations were different. These generations did not mix in the workplace. "Seniors", or the older employees, were usually the ones filling up the top positions. Managers, executives, CEOs were older than the middle managers and the rank and file employees. One of the major criteria for moving up the corporate ladder was age, and seniority - or the duration of service - in the company. The "juniors", or the younger employees, were usually the workers on the factory floor, doing physically tasking activities, with the stereotype that they were more "able-bodied" and "strong" to do all the heavy lifting and running. This was the case before, and is apparently not the case today, as younger employees overtake older ones in going up the corporate ladder, new and old employees are joined at the same level in one team, and other scenarios of generational mixing.

Today, it is not unusual to know that your superior is younger in age than you are, or that rank and file positions are filled mainly by people aged over 40. Multiple generations has taken on a different mix in the workplace, one that is can create either the best or worst of situations, depending on how one manages this kind of diversity. Managing multiple generations in the workplace involves getting to know each generation based on their values and beliefs, applying these values and beliefs to work ethics and viewing them from a business-oriented perspective, and formulating strategies based on these gathered information to recruit and retain employees from different generations.

References

Academic Global Publications