31.08.2024 Today’s Insights from Harvard Business Review: Surprising Benefits of Intergenerational Workplaces
Dear Students,
Who hasn’t heard of the “inevitable” clashes amongst Millennials, Boomers, Traditionalists, Gen X and Gen Z? The media can sometimes make it sound as if it’s hard to get anything accomplished in a widely-aged workplace! Having five generations in the workforce for the first time, of course, can certainly make for some interesting stories.
As the HBR article below highlights, “We’re living longer and working longer — either by choice or necessity. In the last century, the 65+ age group has grown five times faster than the rest of the population and, by 2031, according to a recent Bain & Co. estimate, employees 55 and older will constitute a quarter of the global workforce.” What’s more, the writer (and best-selling author) goes on to convey that “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly half of the increase in the number of people participating in the U.S. labor force between 2016 and 2026 is attributable to those 60 and older.”
Despite this, it might seem easiest for you to intentionally surround yourself with colleagues who do the same things for fun, go to the same places to hang out and are at the same stage of life. However, as the piece below highlights, co-operating with coworkers who have “been around the bend” can bring significant benefits to aspiring talent like you. As the typical workplace ages, even ambitious international students (like you!) will discover how much you can learn about power skills while tapping the “wisdom” of those who have previously made the same mistakes, addressed the same challenges, and experienced the same late-night wonderings (especially about what’s often the hardest in a new grad’s first workplace – being effective and efficient while working with a diverse range of talent).
Our coaches would like to make sure that talented young professionals like you appreciate the “human” insights you can glean from your more seasoned teammates – and also that you recognize how much you can offer them, as well, if you can be patient, collaborative, time-sensitive and respectful in sharing your own knowledge, be it about technology, productivity tools or social media strategy.
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Today the workforce is getting older, and the number of younger workers in positions of senior management is growing. These two developments might appear to spell trouble, in that they seem to set the generations against one another, but the author of this article argues that in fact they represent an important opportunity: If companies can figure out how to enable the intergenerational transfer of the wisdom that comes with age and experience, they can strengthen themselves — and the workplace as a whole.
hbr.org
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Whatever you do this holiday weekend, make “wise” choices about who you learn from!
Best,
Amy-Louise