a set of skills and understanding about his area and business values. The digital on the other hand is a classic Millennial. She doesn’t work nine-to-five; however, she’s still emailing the CEO with ideas at eleven o’clock at night. She’s happiest not at her desk but slouched on a sofa in a breakout zone with her laptop and her headphones on, nibbling peanuts. She wants the business to have a mission. She thrives on teamwork and collaboration and craves feedback. She flouts the management structure and is always asking her manager to give her direction and talk about next steps. A manager may think the two have complimentary skills and decide to put them together to work on a project, expecting it all to go well but instead, the opposite happens. They both end up complaining they can’t work with the other.


This is a classic example of different generations coming to loggerheads because they have clashing attitudes and outlooks. Neither is going to change that much, because they have default settings on certain things, so the manager will have to find workarounds to make it possible for them to collaborate. As a manager, it’s not just about being there as a hand on someone’s shoulder when things go awry. It’s also about anticipating the potential for discord and proactively working out what each employee needs and treating them as individuals. Based on my experience of building a company and from research, here are some practical ways that businesses can prepare for an intergenerational workforce: Workplaces need a blend of abilities and people with a range of skills to succeed. This means age diversity is strength, not a weakness, and employers should strive to create a company culture where age diversity is truly celebrated and respected. They need to help employees understand there are enormous benefits of working in a multi-generational environment, even though people may work in different ways. Younger members of the team might have the edge with the latest technology. They may be more open to new ideas and new ways of doing things and they may even bring more energy and enthusiasm to a project.


However, older people bring soft skills that have been honed for years. They may have leadership skills, a keen awareness of what will (or won’t) work based on experience and ‘hard knocks’, strategic thinking, sector knowledge, emotional intelligence and customer- handling nous. Such qualities will always be in demand, especially in a business world where advancing technology makes things happen faster and more efficiently, but where success will always depend on human understanding and personal chemistry. A fusion of different ways of thinking and life experiences enriches the workplace, and employers need to find ways to have everyone communicating more effectively to build a supportive and successful workplace. Here’s one of the ways we’ve done this in our business: At the start of monthly team meetings we give everyone the


including younger employees, really appreciate the pressure these employees were under - most had no idea, and it has helped create greater understanding amongst the teams.


Workplaces need a blend of abilities and people with a range of skills to succeed. Tis means age diversity is strength, not a weakness, and employers should strive to create a company culture where age diversity is truly celebrated and respected


chance to answer the same question - how would they score their last month, in terms of work, wellbeing and their private life? Some people simply give a score out of ten and sit down again, but others have confessed all sorts of things going on in their life, personally and professionally. One week three staff members revealed they had ageing parents and were finding it difficult to care for them. This made everyone,


Whilst this ritual at the start of meetings is only a small change, it’s become instrumental in helping different generations in the same team understand each other and work better together. Another consideration is that everyone has knowledge to share. Older generations often have a lot of institutional and operational knowledge they can impart, and younger employees can help older employees with technology and navigating the world of social media. Creating cross-generational mentoring encourages people to share knowledge and their different perspectives, and companies also could consider if they need to restructure and change their business in order to facilitate this. Offering greater flexibility around the working week is another way for employers to create a level playing field across the generations. This is, however, an area of working life where the different generations are likely to have differing views which can create tensions and must be taken into account when developing policies. Some older employees may find the desire for flexible working mystifying. When they first started work it wasn’t an option. The working day was usually structured around the traditional nine to five, people dressed in suits for work and work was more formal. Millennials, meanwhile, relish the opportunity for flexible working. In one study5


amongst


younger employees, flexibility was cited as the number one motivation for them to stay in their jobs. But building in more flexibility and a better work-life balance can suit everyone. Research by Business in the Community6


has shown that by


ages 55-59, nearly 40 percent of workers want to reduce their working hours. Many might be supporting ageing parents as well as children. Allowing flexible work patterns can be a way to retain them in the workforce. For the older generation who could be working well into their 70s, having flexible working could help them sustain a longer career. Other options that work


DECEMBER 2019 | thehrdirector | 13


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