Currently there are four generations at work—baby boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1979), Generation Y or millennials (1980-1999), and Generation Z (2000- 2020). Let us look at how these generations are in terms of their numerical presence and how the workforce composition is likely to be in the near future. By 2028, most of the boomers might retire; however, some will still continue to work for another six to seven years. During the same time, Generation X will outnumber boomers and will be holding most of the senior leadership and senior management positions. By 2025, millennials will make close to 75% per cent of the world’s working population, making them the largest percentage of the global workforce. The oldest of the Generation Z members have started to trickle into the workforce and will continue to do so at an increasing rate in the coming years, making them a close second in terms of workforce numbers in the coming decade. In summary, in the next five years, the global workforce will have few boomers, a good number of Generation X in senior positions, mostly millennials in key positions driving organisations, and a sizeable number of Generation Z members in entryand mid-level positions. Generation diversity is here to stay, a global reality and something that organisations can leverage on to improve their performance and sustainability.
Who hold the onus of managing generational diversity then? Is it the more mature generation i.e., boomers and Generation X or the relatively younger generations millennials and Generation Z? Undoubtedly, this onus lies with every generation. Empathy is never a one-way street. However, owing to the positional and situational superiority of the mature generations, the onus of initiating and managing generational diversity lies more with boomers and Generation X leaders. Diversity and inclusivity are cultural aspects, and are always driven from the top. Without the intent and commitment of the top brass, these initiatives remain a mere lip service and nothing more than that.
Signs of growing discontent among younger generation
As the Covid-19 waves started receding, another undesirable wave started to engulf the world—the great resignation wave. What started in the US, has spread rapidly across other countries like France, Germany, Singapore, United Kingdom, and even India. To provide a rough estimate, in 2021 alone, 47.8 million workers quit their jobs voluntarily in the US. According to the Willis Towers Watson’s 2022 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, 44 per cent of the employees are job seekers. A recent report from Michael Page—a professional recruitment services firm—states that nearly 86 per cent of India’s professionals will seek new jobs in the next six months as the Great Resignation in India will intensify in 2022.
Worrisome statistics, no doubt. But wait! Can this great resignation be attributed to poor management of generational diversity? A closer look at these figures reveals one more fact—millennials and Generation Z workers are at the forefront of this great resignation. More than half who have quit belong to these two generational cohorts. This is where it raises suspicion that poor management of generational diversity might be one of the reasons behind the great resignation. Obviously, when people quit, some reasons are attributed to those decisions like dissatisfaction with pay, poor manager, work environment, etc. But what remains mostly muted is that those who quit voluntarily could not find a voice or a medium to communicate what was bothering them about their company. Therefore, when we find that most of those who quit recently belong to the younger generational cohorts, it more or less confirms that communication and comfort between them and the more mature generations continues to be a point of concern. A classic Harvard study had revealed that people do not stay because they are happy, but because they are not unhappy enough to quit or not hungry enough to leave. Therefore, what must worry companies more is those who might have not yet left, but could gather enough momentum to overcome the inertia of staying put. Just to put it in context, the engagement of millennials and Generation Z workers in the workplace continue to be low as per most global engagement reports.
Leveraging generational diversity My decade-long research on generations, especially on millennials and Generation Z, work with the industry regarding generational diversity management, and engagement of millennials at workplace, has led me to the conclusion that unfortunately very few companies really worry about managing generational diversity. Most either ignore it, thinking generational talk is just a fad or think that the supply-side of the human resources is too skewed in their favour for them to worry about managing generational diversity. Both these beliefs are not only incorrect, but they are also fraught with risks that might threaten the sustenance of the company in the long run.
During my research on millennials and Generation Z, I had an opportunity to not only interact with countless millennials from around the world, but also find opportunity to work with companies in Dubai, UK, the US, and India helping them manage generational diversity and improve engagement of millennial and Generation Z workers. Based on empirical evidence and experience that I have gathered from the field, I propose a five-pronged strategy to manage generational diversity-
- Foster understanding
Millennials and Generation Z, have, in particular, lived a transformed time that has resulted in a significant shift in their life realities, mindsets, and attitudes. Both millennials and generation Z live a paradoxical life, with the barter not working in their favour—losing more than what they have gained compared to the previous generations. Millennials, for instance, have probably more choices when it comes to career-options, greater autonomy, bigger and more global network, and more lifestyle choices. However, they also have to deal with greater job instability, low, or at times, non-existent social support systems; they are the first generation to earn less than their parents (adjusted to purchasing power parity and inflation), the volatile environmental stress and modern life pace impacting their physical and mental health and growing loneliness among these generational cohorts making their life realities different and complex. Empathy is the first step towards managing generational diversity.
Organisations must take active steps to ensure that their leaders and managers learn the art of empathy when it comes to younger generational cohorts. This requires both training and awareness. The Deliotte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial survey reveals that cost of living expenses is the biggest worry of these two generational cohorts and most of them are living pay check to pay check. Majority of them do not believe that they will be able to retire comfortably and also feel that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening in their respective countries. Most of them actually have taken-up a second part-time job, besides their full-time employment. Other concerns include political instability and disturbances caused by wars and conflicts. Their priority in job includes good worklife balance, opportunities for learning and development, flexible work arrangements that helps them work remotely so that they can save on expenses, and free time to pursue their passion and spend more time with their families. Both these generations look for values alignment when taking-up an employment and two out of five have rejected job offers from companies who have no commitment to issues like diversity and inclusion, sustainability, etc.
Empathy goes a long way in creating a better understanding between mature and younger generations and thereby the ability to understand each other standpoints.
- Train managers and leaders
When we talk of developing empathy, how does that really occur? How fair will it be to point fingers at managers and leaders, blaming them for lack of empathy and poor understanding of the younger generations. And then, is empathy just expected from mature generations and not from the younger generations? What will we do about the millennial managers? Do they need to learn empathy for understanding their own generation reportees or Generation Z workers?
Empathy needs to be learnt and comes through structured learning programs for managers of all generations on issues related to generational diversity. In the year 2017, when a prominent bank, headquartered in Dubai, was at the cusp of launching a millennial version of their bank, they encountered survey findings about their own managers doing not too well when it came to engaging millennial team members, leaving them baffled. My subsequent engagement with them and the series of structured training workshops that I conducted for the CXO-level leaders as well for their senior business managers was a mutually rewarding experience. They went on to successfully launch the millennial version of their business and have continued to retain their market leadership position. Recently, I was invited by iPlace USA, a prominent global recruitment firm to discuss about generational diversity and millennial engagement. The fact that this event was attended by their CEO himself, showed their commitment to generational diversity.
Mentoring by senior leaders is a great way to enable younger generations to develop empathy and improve generational diversity. Such engagements improve understanding between generations and create a more inclusive environment.
- Culture of openness and inclusivity
A very interesting study was done recently by resume.io, wherein they analysed LinkedIn median tenure of employees and identified top 20 companies where employees have stayed the longest, averaging between eight and ten years, and another list of 20 companies where employees have lasted less than two years. The study revealed that companies where employees stayed longer were the ones who offered them greater freedom to use their initiative and craft their own roles, flexible work from home options among others.
“In our organisation, generational © Shutterstock.com gap is bridged in a variety of ways. We celebrate Bahrain Sports Day forming teams with a varied spectrum of age. Teams working on any project is always a mix of young and old. Further, factory acceptance test visits also always constitutes of old and young professionals.” - Saikat Sarkar, Chief (Engineering Design, Planning & Studies), Electricity & Water Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain.
“In our company, we have done away with any form of hierarchy. The respect is for your role and the work that you do, regardless of whether you are an office assistant or the CEO of the firm. We encourage empathy, remove communication barriers, and have built a culture of respect for each other, with which I strongly believe everything will fall in place. Internal innovations and collaborations are encouraged, and we believe that generational diversity is our strength to make the world a better place.” - Jyoshna Reddy Bodedhula, co-founder & Head of Operations, Careerpedia and Inkprog Technologies Pvt Ltd, India.
A great way to leverage generational diversity is to understand the varying needs of different generational cohorts. Building an open culture and empowering the younger generations by providing them greater flexibility goes a step further towards ensuring generational inclusivity.
Research has revealed that both millennials and Generation Z like early leadership opportunities in their career. The sense of ownership and organisational citizenship behaviour grows when they are entrusted with leadership roles early in their career.
“Organisations have moved beyond orthodox methods of experience barriers for specific roles. The priority is now on competency/skills over years of experience. This opens up opportunities for young minds to take up leadership roles. It also opens up window for continuous learning and cross functional movements regardless of one’s background. Various MNCs are now encouraging work-integrated learning programs that groom early talent for taking up roles at the level of experienced professionals. The reason we see young leaders taking up CXO roles is proof of increasing generational diversity.” - Benjin Samuel, Senior HR Professional, India.
“Most companies still do not have a digital-first mindset. Pandemic period has been a huge testimony to the power of digital and how companies can leverage the same to grow exponentially as well as become more resilient to future challenges and crises. Younger generational members are undoubtedly more versed and proficient in such technologies. Creating reverse mentoring opportunities where a millennial or Generation Z member has an opportunity to reverse mentor a senior on digital and other modern technologies could be a great way to display trust on their capabilities and respect generational diversity in letter and spirit.
Expert teachers must meet at least once or twice a week for at the ‘discussion table’, wherein full teaching strategies are taught to the newly hired teachers during their first semester at the school. Experience is certainly more important to be a good academic/teacher, as teaching skills is a compounded skill, but that does not mean the new teachers are less valued. In fact, they gave great ideas, and they are handling e-learning faster compared to the older generation. Both parties learn from each other, and I feel such culture must be there in all the organisations regardless of their industry.” - Fatema Mahmood Ghareeb, Business and Commercial studies Teacher, Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Bahrain.
When the organisation shows trust in the diversity of thoughts, ideas, and capabilities of different generational members and leverages them in a way that creates complimentary competencies across the board, it truly harnesses the power of generational diversity.
- Revamping internal communications
A great way to leverage generational diversity is to create an open culture and engage different generations through a meaningful dialogue by strengthening the internal communications strategy. Some companies have revolutionised their internal communications by integrating social media like Bunzl, Cisco, Grant Thorton, Pfizer, Shopify, to name a few. Smart companies are employing such capabilities to encourage informal sharing among all employees of different generational cohorts. Social media tools such as Smarp, Bitrix24, Slack, GaggleAMP, Paper.li are some such tools that have helped companies integrate social media in their internal content sharing.
“The CEO of my current organisation—also my reporting manager—is younger to me. I see that the culture of the organisation is flat, and this enables a free flow of communications across all levels of management, and employees are encouraged to speak freely. I also personally experience that ideas from the team members are encouraged without generation or gender discrimination and small successes are celebrated and appreciated which are a great morale boost for team members to create positive working relationships.” - Neelima Somashekar, GM Communications, Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SaPa), India.
Meaningful engagement starts with powerful internal communications strategy, one that recognises contemporary social media tools keeping in mind the preference of the younger generations. Open, multi-way communications is the only way to ensure that different generations of workers understand each other better, recognise and respect each other, and address to the needs and priorities of each other.
“There are multiple ways in which generational differences are bridged. At a previous organisation we attempted reverse mentoring for senior leadership by younger generation. In another firm, we included them in a brand task force that came up with creative ideas and plans to improve recall and awareness. In yet another firm, we created solutions where all generations contributed solutions to existing company issues like attrition and brand engagement. And in one firm, we invited them to be citizen journalists inside the firm.” - Aniisu K Verghese, Ph.D. Global Internal Communications Expert, Poland.
Conclusion: Generational diversity is a double-edged sword and cuts both ways, depending on how it is being managed. It can help organisations to leverage on experience as well as exuberance, wisdom as well as radical ideas, established factors of competitive advantage as well as new-age technological hues. On the other hand, if not managed peoperly, it can result in disharmony, misunderstandings, and conflict between generational members, resulting in disengagement, loss of voluntary efforts and organisational citizenship behaviour and undesirable turnover.
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