theceomagazine.com | 43THE
GAME
With today’s workplace accommodating ages from
20 to 70, how best to handle the dynamics of such
a diverse set of staff needs and attitudes?WORDS • STEPHEN CORBYF
or the first time, we have five generations working side by side: the outgoing traditionalists
through to the incoming generation Z. As the boss, the fresh challenge is how to manage
the dynamics of the most diverse workforce industry has ever seen.
As alarming and implausible as it may seem, people who were born while most of us
were partying like it was 1999 (because it was, in fact, 1999) are now rolling out of universities and
into workplaces. This is the kind of knowledge that makes even millennials feel like Mick Jagger.
These generation Z workers will be joining colleagues from generation Y, generation X and
the people who started this whole generation game, the Baby Boomers, as well as the declining
number of ‘traditionalists’ (born pre-1946) in the same offices.
As you may have noticed, this presents a whole world of challenges for a management team
suddenly tasked with balancing the needs, and attitudes, of people aged from 20 to 70.
So what’s new about that, you might wonder. After all, people of different ages have always
joined the workforce, even back when young people were just young people, and not card-carrying
members of a generation with a consonant attached.
“We’ve always had different generations at work, but they were ranked based on age and
experience,” says Mark McCrindle, head of the McCrindle social research firm. “You had the older
people running the show, you had the middle people in middle management, and the young people
on the frontline.
“But now you’ve got graduates who are managing older people. You’ve got retrained older
people coming into junior positions. You’ve got a mix of generations on the same team doing the
exact same jobs. That presents legitimate management challenges.”
The way the C-suite meets these challenges can have a significant impact on a company’s
fortunes. A global study recently conducted by the University of Sydney’s Business School found
that companies that manage intergenerational workplaces well are more innovative, and more
successful, than those that don’t.
Yes, it literally pays to have a workforce that gets along, and understanding what defines and
drives each of those generations is the key. »GENERATION
The diverse workforce | INSPIRE