Two years ago, the number of people who were over 65 outstripped those who were under 16 for the first time.
Moreover, the abolition of the Default Retirement Age now means that older workers are likely to stay in the workplace for longer – either through choice or economic necessity.
Meanwhile, Generation Y-ers – the Facebook generation – with their focus on social media, their desire for instant gratification and their anti-authority stance, are also entering the workforce.
But this situation presents a challenge: how do you manage the aspirations and needs of these very different groups and ensure that both parties – and all the other age groups in between – work together harmoniously?
Ruth Jacobs, operations director at Randstad business support, a division of recruitment and HR services firm, Randstad, explains the problem: “The demographic mix found within departments today has never been more diverse. This brings as many challenges as benefits. Prospective areas of friction can include education styles, language, relationships with technology and even where people are in terms of their career goals.”
An end to obligatory retirement at 65 requires companies to make subtle adjustments to help older workers remain productive and stay focused.
But rather than seeing them as coasting towards retirement, requiring neither training nor fresh challenges, managers – with a helpful nudge from their HR departments – need to think about their requirements and how to keep them motivated.
So this could mean everything from conversations about reducing work hours and working flexibly to taking up training in order to help them do their jobs more effectively.
Different abilities
Alick Miskin, head of diversity at business services company Grass Roots, says: “There’s a much greater need to focus on the capability of the workforce. As people age, they are more likely to be disabled – a third of people over 50 have a disability.”
But dealing with this situation effectively is potentially a win-win: older workers are likely to be more motivated and happier, while their employers will benefit from their experience and increased productivity. The now classic example of this scenario in practice is at B&Q, which found that staffing a store entirely with over-50 year olds in 1990 produced substantially higher profits and less absenteeism.
The DIY chain has maintained its policy of promoting diversity in its workforce, and staff ages have ranged from 16 to over 90 ever since as it believes that a workforce with a diverse age range reflects its customer profile more accurately. It also found that older workers (a quarter of its workforce are 50 plus) tend to be more effective at customer service as they are both conscientious and prepared to share their knowledge with others.
Fast food giant McDonalds likewise discovered that its customer satisfaction levels became 20% higher when its franchises employed workers who were aged over 60.
While this doesn’t mean that everyone under 25 is lousy at customer service, what it does mean is that they do tend to bring different strengths to the business.
“People do bring different skills and attitudes regardless of age,” says Miskin. “There’s no doubt that young people are more in touch with social media so I think it’s vital to listen to people at all stages of career. Graduate entry is something that you ignore at your peril.”
For example, young people fresh out of school or university are generally more comfortable with technology, but are also more likely to question why things are done in a certain way. They likewise tend to want responsibility from day one, are idealistic and anti-hierarchical. But given the right motivation, they can also be highly creative and autonomous workers.
It’s the skills that count
“The key lies in gaining an understanding of the intrinsic values that each generation brings and devising structures and processes that harness the best that all participants have to offer,” Jacobs notes.
Learning, for instance, may be one area which requires different approaches as workers from different age groups tend to have different learning styles and preferences.
“Some companies have adopted specific upward-mentoring programmes, where Gen Y employees are paired with Baby Boomers in order to explain how they approach issues of planning and communication – one of the most noticeable differences between the generations,” says Jacobs.
In order to deal with this situation effectively, however, HR must train managers to become more aware of age-related issues and furnish them with the skills needed to manage and motivate a diverse workforce. Creating teams of mixed age workers can also help to break down some of the prejudices that different groups often have about each other.
For Miskin, the best way of ensuring that this happens is for HR to get out of the office and become part of the business. “HR’s job is to make sure everyone is following legislation and best practice,” he says. “No one looks at policies so HR must be properly decentralised and HR people diffused into business teams and know what’s happening all the time.”
Every manager has different skills and being able to manage a mixed age workforce effectively will not necessarily be one of them. So it’s up to HR to spot whether this is the case and support them if necessary.
Ultimately though, age should not be the issue: it’s skills that count – and ensuring that all staff have the right expertise to effectively deliver on business goals is the real key.
2 Responses
Managing mixed age groups
I am pleased to see some debate at last about the need to manage the fact that people will work longer alongside the whole Generation Y / Z debate. However, it is still slightly worrying to see so much that focuses on stereotypes, and not research (good luck Fancine who has posted on here about her research). A couple of weeks ago I attended a CIPD event, and was shocked to hear so many employers talking about changing their organisation structures and recruiting / talent management to meet the "aspirations" of Gen Y / Z (and their supposed heightened need for challenges, variety, and so on). There aren’t that many longitudinal studies out there proving these generations are different anyway – but there are at least three things that mean we may all be running in the wrong direction when we try to accomodate these generations’ aspirations: 1. People change during the course of their lives – so as these generations take on responsibilities outside work (families etc) they too may take on many of the characteristics that are currently often attributed to other generations (e.g. baby boomers). Let’s not assume they will forever want new roles, new variety, and so on. 2. The impact of the currrent economic downturn is going to affect their expectations – and limit what companies can actually do to accomodate them anyway. Again, this will cause changes in their expectations and what they are willing to do. Will generation Z really want lots of variety, and postings through job "opportunities", or will they actually long for some stability (which seems almost impossible in the current economic climate?) 3. In setting these generations up as being so different to previous ones, are we creating a "them and us" workplace – with baby boomers developing some resentment for these younger generations who are treated to "talent management" activities in a way they no longer are? Let’s be honest – the older generations were never labelled with sexy tags like X and Y – and haven’t been debated and courted in the same way. That doesn’t make them less worthwhile. While I welcome the posting about how to deal with everyone together at work, the suggestions for what to talk to older staff about (flexi time and reduced hours) are more than a little patronising and may even demonstrate some indirect discrimination. Again – longitudnal resaerch (not hearsay and personal opinion) is what we should base HR policies on – and, as an example, many older staff experience a renewed willingness, ability, and vigor at work once family responsibilities have lessened.
Jo
Age norms
It’s nice of course to hear about good practice examples, but the truth is that age norms are firmly embedded within organizations within the UK. It is time for recruiters and strategists to face up to the need to match their skills deficits with the real demographics of our workforce. Never had there been a better time to unpack these practices if we want to compete globally. And they do exist across the age spectrum, not just at polarized ends. My research is exploring mid spectrum norms, so if any organisations would like to assist me with my PhD (case study) please let me know. I am a mid spectrum doctoral candidate at Manchester Business School.