Multigenerational workplaces are those that recruit and retain employees from all ages & stages of life. An organization is only as strong as the team behind it, and ensuring that your team has a diverse range of ages is crucial for ensuring success in the marketplace. Let’s break down the reasons a healthy, multigenerational workforce boosts morale and increases employee performance.
The Multigenerational Workforce Landscape
Many people are prolonging their working years, retiring later while, at the same time, others are entering the workforce for the first time following college and high school graduation. This adds up to a pool of workers ranging 50 or more years. Odds are, your organization hosts a wide range of ages on any given workday. This is a good thing! Advantages of an age-diverse team include mentoring opportunities, more perspectives representing consumers, and individual levels of innovation.
Combining Fresh Perspectives with Valuable Experience
If you’ve been working long enough, you realize that every age can bring something to the table. While younger workers may bring a fresh perspective into the mix, people who have been in an industry for an extended period of time can bring learnings from real-life experiences. Combining these two qualities together makes for a powerful opportunity to collaborate.
Bridging the Generation Gap
A team that includes representatives from every generation is a stronger one. But what happens when your team doesn’t see it that way? Generational stereotypes have been around for centuries, but they’ve grown more prominent in recent years with the evolution of technology. Boomers often are seen as being old-fashioned or out-of-touch, while Gen Zers are often criticized for their less formal work styles and ways of communicating. Instead of giving your team room to participate in these generalizations, consider offering exercises and outings that reinforce a teamwork atmosphere. Give employees from all age groups a chance to collaborate with those outside of their generation and to appreciate each other’s perspectives. Bringing generations together outside of the day-to-day routine is a great way to foster their ability to work as a team to further the organization.
Leveraging collaboration across ages can take many different forms. Crosworks has a number of programs that can be customized to fit the culture of your organization. Learn more with a quick introductory call so you can maximize your team’s potential.