Generational Shifts in the Workplace - Article Example

Generational Shifts in the Workplace Today’s workforce has become diverse in all respects of which age is an important factor. Young and old employees have to work together which becomes the cause of many tensions between the two. In order to remove their differences, managers should include members from both generations in the task forces, develop tutor-student relationship between them, and make fear-relieving policies in favor of old employees. Managers should design task forces for individual tasks where old and young employees can have an opportunity to work together to achieve the same objectives.

For instance, young and old employees should be assigned a common task. When employees from the different generations make members of the same team, their interests and goals are reciprocal. Moreover, as people from the different generations spend more time with one another, they are in a position to remove their differences and build good rapport which is conducive for more work and lesser fuss. Managers should tend to make the employees from different generations benefit from one another’s expertise.

For example, old employees have more experience and are aware of the traps. They know how to deal with intricate situations and companies benefit from their strategic planning. Likewise, young employees are more skilled in technology unlike the old employees. They have great knowledge of computer and can operate difficult softwares with extreme comfort. In order to progress in the contemporary age with so many competitors in the market, companies are in need of both the strategic planning of the elderly and the technological expertise of the young employees.

Nevertheless, it is essential to inculcate the skills of decision making in the young employees and make the old employees competent enough in the use of technology. In order to achieve that, managers should develop such programs in which the employees from different generations train one another in their respective areas of expertise. The fundamental cause of differences between the old and young employees is the xenophobia of the old employees. “In this millennium, there is little expectation within the working population of a ‘job for life’” (Augment Group, 2010).

For example, old employees fear that as more and more young employees are being recruited, they are more likely to be expelled from the service. In their frustration, they become more aggressive and become defensive in their interaction with the young employees. In order to keep that from happening, the company should have a balance between the old and young employees. There should be a policy according to which, certain number of old employees should be retained in the workforce at all times and the number of young employees should not exceed beyond a set limit.

Taking this policy into consideration, old employees’ fear will reduce and they will increase their acceptability towards the young employees. Managers can play an important role in removing the differences between different generations of employees. By making them work together for shared goals, learn from each other and teach each other, managers can minimize their conflicts. Additionally, policies should be such that they go in favor of both the old and young generation. References: Augment Group. (2010). Generational Shift in the Workplace.

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