Things have changed a lot in the workplace over the decades. From the technology we use to the management techniques employed, the way people work in 2016 isn’t the same way people worked in 1966. And one of the changes that may affect people in the most unexpected ways is the increasing time before senior employees decide to retire.
Because of people quitting the workforce at later and later periods in their lives, we’re now in a situation where the older generation may not just have to deal with the younger generation. They may even have to deal with younger generation that the younger generation is encountering.
The “baby boomers,” who are the top of the seniority totem pole, are now finding a workplace filled not just with “Generation X,” but the “Generation Y,” or the “Millenials,” and that can make for a potentially confusing place to work.
The Right Stuff
One thing that’s important to understand and accommodate for are the differences in these groups, and how to play up these strengths. A baby boomer’s greatest asset is experience, and that’s not something to be taken lightly. Millennials on the other hand, are full of potential, which, when paired with the right learning and experiences, can yield great dividends in the same way a prudent investment can.
The trick is to ensure that the differences and weaknesses of these generations don’t mix.
No one likes working late, for example, but a baby boomer, used to a world where work took place in the office, will have an easier time accepting overtime that needs to be done there. A millennial, on the other hand, may be comfortable enough with mobile technology that the extra hour or two that may be required to finish something can actually be done remotely, on a laptop while commuting back home.
Tactics like careful selection of duties, and even throwing these groups together in informal mentoring programs can ensure that even though you may have employees from dramatically different generations, their differences can actually work in your favor, cause friction within the workplace.
