survey reveals alarming lack of generational workplace interaction
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Home » Survey Reveals Alarming Lack of Generational Workplace Interaction
Survey Reveals Alarming Lack of GenerationalWorkplace InteractionMark LarsonJuly 30, 20080 CommentsRelated Topics: Workforce Planning, Featured Article, RecruitmentReprints Share:
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There won’t be a skilled-worker shortage as baby boomers retire, a recent study says, but there will be a lack oftalent if there isn’t more collaboration between workforce generations than currently exists.
Atlanta-based Randstad USA’s annual 2008 World of Work survey found that the four generations now in theU.S. workforce—Generation X, Generation Y, baby boomers and "matures" (those born 1900 to 1945)—rarelyinteract with one another.
That lack of communication, the study found, is keeping key institutional job knowledge held by the boomergeneration from filtering down to younger workers.
The isolation among workforce generations is credited to a lack of recognition of the others’ skills or workethic. According to the Census Bureau, the Gen Y’ers in today’s workforce—born 1980 to 1988—total 79.8million, which outnumber the baby boomers, or those who were born 1946 to 1964. Those boomers, which total78.5 million people, are considered the keepers of the institutional job knowledge in companies across thenation.
Randstad conducted the U.S. survey in December and January among 3,494 adults, 1,295 of whom wereemployers and 2,199 were employees. Employees came from businesses with at least five staffers. Employerssampled were involved in human resources strategies at their companies for at least six months.
Given this scenario, businesses are faced with cultivating more interaction among generations in theirworkforce, says Eric Buntin, managing director of marketing and operations for Randstad.
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"The starting point is for employers to acknowledge and communicate to employees that there is a lack ofinteraction in the workforce," he says.
Once the employer puts the issue out in the open, says Buntin, the next move is to shuffle its employee deck toblend the generations.
"They need to find ways to create functional work teams to bring employees together," he says.
That doesn’t mean mentoring of younger workers by older workers, says Buntin, but rather collaboration onjobs that makes older and younger workers feel as if they’re both contributing to business goals on newproducts or handling service issues.
Such collaborative projects, the study suggests, give value to employees’ efforts and cultivate respect and trustbetween worker generations.
The study found that although boomers have a lot of knowledge and experience to share with Gen Y workers,51 percent of them and 66 percent of matures reported little or no interaction with their Gen Y colleagues. Andthe three younger generations reported little or no interaction with matures on the job.
Other key findings include:
Gen Y’s reputation as an overly demanding workplace generation no longer applies; since 2006, theyhave become more realistic about job expectations.
Gen Y has the lowest expectations among the four generations for "soft" workplace benefits of satisfyingwork, pleasant work environment, liking the people they work with, challenging work and flexible hours.
Gen Y describes co-workers of their own generation as positive socially but not necessarily competent.
With strong social skills, Gen X has the most potential to bridge the knowledge gap between boomers andGen Y’ers.
Stereotype barriers "Stereotyping is real," Buntin says. "If Gen X’ers think their baby boomer colleagues are less flexible—evenif they’re not—they believe it."
And although a company may be aware of the need to quell stereotyping and its associated downsides, it’seasier said than done, Buntin says.
"The current pressure for productivity—the pressure for people to do more with less creates that barrier," hesays. "Employers need to be aware that people just don’t have time to interact."
Karol Rose, chief marketing officer for Flexpaths, an online provider of flexible work programs, says the key togetting generations to share knowledge is to focus on things they have in common.
"You need to give them common ground so they can begin to understand each other," she says, citing jobsharing as one example. "The challenge is managing people. The way we transfer knowledge is very differentthan it was 20 years ago. "
But infusing cultural changes for more worker collaboration isn’t done overnight in most companies, Rose says.
"Organizations are like a big ship," she says. "They don’t turn easily. But this is a time when they have tobecome more nimble and proactive, not reactive."
Fostering an attitude of learning from others in a company is a big step, Rose says, in that it can break downbarriers to interaction.
She says managers these days have to know how to attract and retain talent, and a key to that is creating acustomized work environment for the workers that enables them to perform at optimum levels.
"People are trying to manage their careers and their lives," Rose says. "They can’t do it without flexibility. It’schallenging for organizations, managers and for employees. They don’t understand what’s possible."
Randstad’s Buntin figures things will get worse before they get better.
"The knowledge gap will come, and structurally it will create problems," he says. "It’s that type of pressure thatwill force changes, just like globalization forced up productivity."
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