Managing a multigenerational workforce

THE world today is experiencing a demographic shift. As the workforce demographics continue to shift and change, organizations tend to be inhabited usually by up to five generations of workers. This is both bane and boon. Organizations that have clear strategies for managing a multigenerational team succeed over the long term. A workforce belonging to different generations naturally have varied needs, values, priorities and motivations.

Today's new and emerging ways of doing work make it more difficult for managers to put diverse individuals into the same team. Now and in the near future, much of the work will be technology-enabled and technology-driven. The elderly generations are not as technologically savvy as the new entrants (Gen Z). This could cause irritation, frustration and lack of real collaboration that is expected of people in teams. To complicate matters, some companies no longer hire people to join a department, but a team. In large conglomerates, people work in global virtual teams (GVTs), where trust, engagement and collaboration are the major issues.