Engaging the Multi-generational Workforce

Corporate America is as diverse as ever. An unprecedented number of workers from four generations – Traditional, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Generation Y – are working alongside one another and bringing their own values, goals and communication approaches to the workplace. Such generational dynamics in the workplace affect morale, productivity, recruitment and retention. Employers are facing immediate challenges when it comes to optimizing productivity, protecting profits and growing their businesses.

While organizations have developed policies and programs to promote diversity in race, culture and gender, generational diversity has yet to be addressed in the boardroom or on the front lines.

To create employee assistance program (EAP) services that effectively reach all generations, ValueOptions (a global provider of EAP and behavioral health care services) adapted its EAP services to better match the cultural, demographic, and attitude preferences of each generation.

ValueOptions utilized sophisticated geodemographic segmentation systems and data mining techniques to better understand the unique attributes of each generation. The result of the analysis enabled the company to promote the availability and benefit of its services to suit each generation.

ValueOptions’ interest in this initiative was based on the belief that a better understanding of each generation could lead to more effective messaging and employee engagement with an organization’s EAP. By considering each generation’s differing values, attributes, work styles, ethnic composition, and lifetime experiences, an organization’s leaders can determine how best to:

• manage and motivate talent;
  
• engage all employees for a productive work environment;
  
• align benefits with the needs of each generational group.

The Multigenerational Workforce

A generation is defined by the common attitudes, experiences and preferences that develop in the context of social and economic events of a defined period of time. Generational commonalities transcend cultural and gender differences. The social and economic influences that create popular culture are experienced by all within a particular generation, even though culture and gender play a role in how the experience is interpreted individually.

The multigenerational workforce offers both challenge and opportunity. In the current labor market, the Traditional Generation is delaying retirement (or returning to work), Baby Boomers are beginning to retire, Generation Xers have realigned their work/family priorities and Generation Y is entering the workforce with distinctly different demands of their employers than those of previous generations.

An organization’s EAP must evolve to meet the changing needs of each generation in the workplace. Is your EAP ready to grow in response to the workplace challenges and issues facing Generation Y?

Generation Y is now entering the workforce in droves. As the generational and cultural landscape is changing, so is the procession from adolescence to adulthood. An individual’s age once constituted the demarcation between adolescence and adulthood. More recently social psychologists have identified a new developmental period—emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood is the period between adolescence and adulthood, typically between the ages 18 and 25, in which individuals are no longer fully dependent, but are not yet fully self-sufficient and able to handle the full responsibilities and independence of adulthood.

Work Styles

Work roles are indicative of generational groups. Workers of the Traditional Generation hold more executive level positions, while Baby Boomers and older Gen X employees hold middle management positions and those of Generation Y hold front-line or entry-level positions.

Typically, workgroup cohorts have tended to advance and remain with others of their generation. These workgroup cohorts create the culture of the organization, of work teams and of products and services.

As workplaces move toward matching job roles with skill sets and becoming more horizontal in structure, employees find themselves in work environments with co-workers of different generations. Multigenerational work environments can breed misunderstanding and conflict, and can compromise growth. Yet, they also can be a source of positive challenge, opportunity, and significant growth if managed effectively.

Traditional Generation

A Traditional Generation employee’s focus on advancement with a view toward the past can place this employee in a difficult situation. Wanting bigger and better improvements in business, yet being cautious of untried initiatives, may be interpreted as a reluctance to change. Medical concerns and untreated depression can have a devastating effect on the older worker’s ability to remain at work and affect their ability to concentrate.

This generation has seen tremendous changes in the workplace: gender and racial equality initiatives, drug-free workplace rules and changes in organizational structure from hierarchical to horizontal management. Confusion about their role in the organization, and a perceived disrespect for their historical knowledge of the industry and the organization, can contribute to a lack of engagement. Feeling respected for their contributions and historical knowledge is important for these employees, who prefer not to be marginalized as ineffective because they may lack the team-orientation or technological skills of later generations.

It is important not to undervalue the workplace opportunities offered by this generation’s employees. Logic, attention to detail, and historical knowledge are important considerations in the development and implementation of products and services.

The older worker will more likely struggle at work with:

• presenteeism related to medical issues or depression
• absence related to medical concerns
• respect for diversity
• consequences of their lifestyle behaviors, including smoking and alcoholism
  Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers have a preference for face-to-face interaction, conflict avoidance, consensus decision making, and tend toward self-absorption. They oppose the strict management styles of their bosses from earlier generations. Baby Boomers ushered in group decision making and a focus on the process, not the policy or procedure.

Valuing personal gratification and seeking high achievement, Boomers provide the energy to get a project and team noticed. They dedicate themselves to what they perceive to be the project at hand and expect nothing less from anyone else.

The Baby Boomer worker will most likely struggle at work with:

• the nontraditional work styles of Generation X and Generation Y
• technology replacing human interaction
• sharing praise and rewards
• balancing work and family
• practicing what they preach
  Generation X

Generation X members have a nontraditional attitude toward work. This creates a perception that they have engagement and attendance problems. Generation X has learned that loyalty and commitment to a company do not translate into job security, and they change jobs frequently.

Likewise, companies with entrenched management practices and rigid organizational hierarchies may create job dissatisfaction for this generation. This translates into conflict with co-workers and management, and leads to job turnover.

Cross-generational conflict, especially with Baby Boomer managers, is common. Boomers with their micromanaging style and aversion to conflict can clash with Gen Xers who may be more direct and unskilled in conflict management.

In Generation X, we see an independent, outspoken, adaptable and fearless group. They can move your company forward with their competence, ability to lead by example, and their willingness to take risks necessary for corporate growth.

The Gen X worker will more likely struggle at work with:

• career development
• conflict resolution and office politics
• multigenerational team projects
• balancing work and family
  Generation Y

Generation Y has been described as the best educated generation. However, the quality of their education is not always reflected in their grammar and spelling; they often use phonetic spelling to speed the process of written communication. This savvy group of young workers negotiate for salary and benefits without offering much in return commitment.

This group of workers craves and seeks out change, innovation, immediate response, teamwork, and frequent reward and recognition. They are expressive and socially responsible and want to make a positive impact on the organization they work with and the communities where they live.

In Generation Y, we see a highly expressive, over-confident and relatively self-absorbed risk-taking group who will move your organization forward with their creativity, innovation, global perspective, inclusiveness and immediacy. These are powerful energies to harness and transform.

The “live for today” mindset characteristic of Generation Y workers can have a negative impact on a young worker’s present and future circumstances. Credit problems from unplanned and spontaneous spending, accidents, unsafe health behaviors, and legal problems related to episodes of impulsive violence, risk taking, and substance use are risks for these young employees—and their employers.

The young worker will more likely struggle at work with:

• absence related to lifestyle decisions
• respectful communication
• functional literacy
• the consequences of their lifestyle or risk-taking behavior

Managing the Generations at Work

Managing the mixture of ages, faces, values and views is an increasingly difficult task. In their book Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers, and Nexters in Your Workplace, authors Zemke, Raines and Filipczak suggest that successful companies succeed by building nontraditional workplaces that exhibit flexibility, emphasize respectful relationships and focus on retaining talented employees. They recommend five ways to avoid confusion and conflict at work:

• Accommodate employee differences. Treat employees as you do your customers. Work to meet their specific needs and serve them according to their unique preferences. Accommodate personal scheduling needs, work/life balance issues and nontraditional lifestyles.
• Create workplace choices. Allow the workplace to shape itself around the work being done, the customers being served and the people who work there. Shorten the chain of command and decrease bureaucracy.
• Operate for a sophisticated management style. Give your direct reports the big picture, specific goals and measures. Then turn them loose. Give them feedback, rewards and recognition.
• Respect competence and initiative. Treat everyone, from the newest recruit to the most seasoned employee, as if they have great things to offer and are motivated to do their best. Hire to assure a good match between people and work.
• Nourish retention. Keeping valuable employees is as important as retaining customers. Offer lots of training, from one-on-one coaching sessions, to interactive computer-based classes, to an extensive and varied classroom curriculum. Encourage lateral movement and broader assignments.

Communicating With and Engaging Each Generation

To engage each generation, it is critical to understand the channel and message type that will resonate best with a given generation. The following table illustrates this point:

Promotion is critical to the success of an EAP. Whether an organization is promoting their EAP benefit or other health and wellness programs, understanding effective communication methods and themes become of paramount importance.

Employers need proven intervention strategies that reduce risks and boost productivity across the workforce. Communication methods must effectively engage employees to make good health care and lifestyle decisions. By understanding generational differences – their values and communication preferences - organizations can push out targeted messages to at-risk segments of the population.

Now, more than ever before, it is imperative that we engage individuals as managers of their own health—to make good lifestyle decisions and be wise consumers of health care services.

For more information on this topic and to access an employers handbook
on engaging a multigenerational workforce, please visit: http://www.valueoptions.com/clients/Education_Center.htm

About the Author

Rich Paul is vice president of the health and performance solutions department at ValueOptions, a global provider of EAP and behavioral health care services. He also serves as president of the Employee Assistance Society of North America and is a frequent speaker and author on issues impacting workplace health and productivity. In addition, he is co-author of Workplace Disaster: Preparedness, Response, and Management.

ValueOptions, the nation's largest independent behavioral health care company, covers more than 23 million individuals through a variety of direct contracts with health plans and employers, as well as through state and county agencies. ValueOptions is a national managed care company that specializes in disease management for all mental health and chemical dependency diagnoses.

For more information about ValueOptions products and services, or if you would like to speak with a ValueOptions sales executive please contact us at:

(866) VOSALES
sales@valueoptions.com