Article: A Guide to Multigenerational Workforce

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), describes the multigenerational workforce as one where employees from different generations are active and available in the labour market.

The workforce has changed dramatically over the years due to employees enjoying better quality of life due to improvements in healthcare and a decline in mortality rate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global life expectancy has increased from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.4 years in 2020. Meanwhile, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported that the number of live births declined 2.8 % in 2019.

The increase in life expectancy coupled with lower birth rates means that more people will outlive their retirement savings. Furthermore, it is important to note that with the rising cost of living, retirement is also becoming increasingly more expensive than before.

As a result, more people are working beyond their retirement age. In addition, the Minimum Retirement Age Act of 2012 (MRA Act 753) states that the minimum retirement age of employee is 60 years old. The Act applies to all employers and employees in the private sector throughout Malaysia. However, should they choose to do so, and if their employers agree, employees can still work after turning 60 years old. These developments led to the creation of a multigenerational workforce in the labour market.

Beyond that, the workforce landscape is shifting more than ever, as employers need to change their existing beliefs and attitudes to cater to both, the old and new generation of talents. Employees from different generations have different working styles and this forces employers to adapt accordingly, in order to create a harmonious workplace. As pointed out in “Managing People from Five Generations” by Harvard Business Review (2014), whether the workplace is productive and happy or challenging and stressful depends on employers.

Understanding 5 Generations in the Workplace:
Firstly, employers need to understand that a multigenerational workforce is made up of the following five generations:

Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/multigenerational-workplace.htm

Broadly speaking, with each generation having their own set of traits and characteristics, it is possible for tension and conflict to breed in the workplace. It is especially common in instances where someone younger is managing someone older. When this happens, mature employees may find himself being managed by someone with a lot less experience than himself while the younger employer may feel insecure due to communication barriers and lack of experience.

Potentials and Challenges in Managing a Multigenerational Workforce

According to research by Randstad Malaysia (2018), 90% of the respondents in Malaysia said that multigenerational workforce drives innovation where younger people are able to come up with innovative ideas while mature people are able to guide them knowledge sharing and experience. Encouraging collaboration between the two may promote growth as the different generations are exposed to different experiences and ideas that can drive greater workplace efficiency. Additionally, the wide range of knowledge and ideas will create a future-ready workforce while developing a sustainable pipeline of good talents. This is essential, as with a strong talent retention; organisations can concentrate their resources in upskilling and reskilling employees instead of hiring.

One of the challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce is communication barrier. The difficulty in communicating across generations stems from different communication preferences and tools. For instance, Millennials prefer text messaging while Baby Boomers may prefer one-to-one conversation, physically.

This fact is affirmed by the afore-mentioned Randstad Study where 40% of respondents stated that they find it difficult to communicate with people who are not from the same age group. On the other hand, according to “How to Thrive in a Multi-Generational Workplace: Avoiding Conflict and Creating Opportunity” by MindTools.com, employees from the younger generation may feel that their opportunities for career advancement are being restricted as more mature co-workers delay their retirement. These factors alone magnify communication gaps and tension between different generations that need to be addressed by employers.

Strategies in Managing a Multigenerational Workplace

Ultimately, it is the employer’s responsibility to optimise potential and bridge any gap between different generations. Recognising the distinct communication preferences, and working styles of employees while emphasising the opportunities to reduce conflict and enhance productivity are of the utmost importance in managing a multigenerational workforce (“Managing People from Five Generations” by Harvard Business Review (2014)).

The following strategy has been developed based on the potential and challenges in managing a multigenerational workforce as well as secondary data collection:

Understand Flexible Working Styles
One size does not fit all. Employees from different generations have different working styles. Adjusting accordingly will create a harmonious workplace

Communicate and Engage
Encourage interactions between different generations in order to help dismantle stereotypes and avoid ill-informed remarks.

Respect and Have an Empathetic Mindset
Respecting and accommodating the needs and values of others regardless of their age and experience can help avoid division and conflict

Promote Similarities
Colleagues of all generations should focus on similarities rather than on differences. After all, most people want to feel engaged at work regardless of age.

One of the ways to promote communication in a multigenerational workplace is through a reverse mentoring programme. This programme encourages younger employees to mentor mature employees instead of the other way around. For example, the YoPros (young professionals), in partnership with MasterCard is championing the reverse mentoring programme where younger employees give sessions to older MasterCard employees who may have valuable experience but are not familiar with tech skills (Newsroom, MasterCard, 2012).

When Ron Garrow, Chief Human Resources Officer at MasterCard, a 51 year old with low tech skills volunteered for this programme, he was assigned to a 24-year-old employee who was an avid social media user. She taught Ron how to use Twitter as well as professional networking site; LinkedIn while Ron provided professional advice and improved her communications skills.

Making good use of internal expertise as well as being open-minded to learning are the key takeaways of the programme. The success of the programme prompted hundreds of MasterCard employees to take part in the programme, which is currently offered in five offices worldwide.

Reverse-mentorship programme is deemed valuable especially during the COVID-19 pandemic as most people are opting for flexible working arrangements. Younger employees may find it easier to work remotely as they are more tech-savvy compared to their mature co-workers. We have experienced on several occasions where our mature co-workers have technical issues in setting up virtual conference calls where they accidentally muted themselves or were unable to share their screen and more. This programme may come in handy in such instances, allowing for the mutual exchange of skills, knowledge and ideas across generations.

Beyond that, different generations are motivated differently. Employers should keep this in mind when developing their benefits and compensation packages. For example, mature employees may prefer working remotely instead of being office-bound on a daily basis. This is particularly true for Generation X and Baby Boomers while younger employees such as Generation Z or Y may be keener to travel for work.

It is also possible to look into incentives for different generations. Mature employees would probably appreciate healthcare provisions such as yearly health screenings while younger employees would probably hope for more incentive to use gym facilities and tech allowances. Perhaps finding a balance between the generations or giving various options to a multigenerational workforce is the way forward.

Essentially, there are no hard and fast rules on how to manage a multigenerational workplace. However, the willingness to explore different strategies will help employers retain talent, avoid tensions and encourage appreciation amongst co-workers of different generations.

Sam Pei Ying is part of the National Human Resource Centre’s (NHRC) Policy Development team. Her current role at the NHRC involves carrying out policy research at the national level.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.