The last 50 years economies have evolved from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy which brings us to the latest economy which is known as the creative economy. With this new evolution people’s needs have changed in many ways; physically, emotionally and spiritually. Over the last decade this new challenge has become obvious for organisations and HR departments are struggling with this new conundrum. This new challenge does ask the question, what drives effective or ineffective generational relationships and how to improve them? In other words how to narrow the gap between the different generations in the workforce today?
Two recent surveys highlighted some of the main issues organisations are facing today and what organisations can do to develop leadership; manage talent and success planning with their staff. The surveys were based on the key differences within the different generation gaps currently showing in most workplaces.
The first survey is an on-going survey that has started 11 years ago by the Leadership Management Australasia (LMA), looking at generations L.E.A.D (Leadership, Employment and Directions) in the workplace in New Zealand and Australia. The LMA survey concluded thus far that large numbers in all generations don’t want to work with, or report to baby boomers in the future, this also includes baby boomers themselves. Among the 14 survey questions, two questions were asked: Which generation they prefer to work with in the future and which generation they prefer to report to in the future.
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LMA Survey |
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Q1 Would prefer to work with in the Future? |
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Baby Boomers |
Gen X |
Gen Y |
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Baby Boomers |
17% |
40% |
27% |
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Gen X |
4% |
57% |
32% |
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Gen Y |
4% |
29% |
53% |
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Q2 Would prefer to report to in the Future? |
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Baby Boomers |
Gen X |
Gen Y |
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Baby Boomers |
41% |
33% |
5% |
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Gen X |
14% |
71% |
6% |
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Gen Y |
8% |
24% |
50% |
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Only 4% of both Gen X and Gen Y nominated baby boomers in the work question, with 14% and 8% respectively nominating baby boomers in the report question.
The second survey was done by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) in conjunction with the London Business School (LBS) an online survey looking at “management innovation” to respond to two important trends in the workplace: the arrival of Gen Y and the rise of Web 2.0 technologies.
The CIPD study indicates that although those surveyed understood the need for management innovation, they lacked “the tools, experience or time to make it happen.” And although 46% of respondents felt that Gen Y employees were significantly different from those of previous generations, most managers had not taken concrete steps to address those differences and seek ways to leverage them for benefit of their organisations.
In order to understand and to motivate Gen Y, organisations need to invest in cross-generational communication, supported by openness and sharing. Organisations need to identify the different generations and acknowledge their existence within the workplace and discover what drives effective relationships with each generation and find ways to narrowing the generation gap. For all employees over 30 years in today’s workforce need to acknowledge their new colleagues and look at their demands and values. They might just be surprised that Gen Y may be their bosses in the not so future distance.
Today we are finding many examples of companies acknowledging Gen Y and working towards Gen Y strengths. One such example is Best Buy a big American consumer-electronics retailer. Keen to create a new employee portal, the firm contacted an external consultancy that quoted it a price of several million dollars. Shocked by this, a group of young Best Buy employees put together a small team of developers from their own networks which produced a new portal for about $250,000. Another Gen Y at the company patched together a mobile-phone version of Best Buy’s website www.bestbuy.com for fun in seven days in his spare time.
Estée Lauder, a cosmetics firm, is also encouraging Gen Y to help it innovate. It has launched an initiative called “iForce” which brings together young staff to dream up ways of marketing products using emerging technologies.
Sun Microsystem's telecommuting program has kicked into high gear in response to Generation Y's demands. Today more than half of Sun's employees work remotely. Another example will be the software company Salesforce.com gives 1% of profits to its foundation, which pays for employees to volunteer 1% of their work time. Salesforce.com staff will do 50,000 hours of community service this year. The CEO Marc Benioff has praised this initiative "This program has dramatically increased our ability to recruit and retain high-quality employees."
The first step will be for organisations to acknowledge the gap, understand the differences exist between the different generations. Be creative about work-life balance and embrace our new colleagues for a better future to all businesses.
Hi Pieter, this topic is still actual and keeps many scholars and business leaders across the globe on their toes. I can surely relate to this subject and share my experience as a senior manager in a pubic listed company, where the generation’s gap is also complimented by multiculturalism across our entities.
Mike
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Piter, interesting topic. I have a similar issue in my work environment where all three generations are represented. Trying to balance my expectations to their needs & what makes them tick is always going to be the key to how we get along in our working relationship!
Nigel
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Pieter, you pose a really interesting challenge, and the data you cite is frightening. I'm not quite sure what you're proposing except "we should talk!" - is there a specific way of communicating between generations that you feel would be helpful?
There are lots of emerging insights and practical ideas in this area - here is a research project I've been involved in, in case it's helpful: www.thedgeneration.com
And here's a case study on 'reverse mentoring' which can be really helpful as part of the practical solution: http://www.careerinnovation.com/innovation-hub/publications/reverse-ment...
I'm sure there are lots more, and would welcome ideas or insights you've gained.
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