Part 5, Global Sense, page 625 

Discuss the questions in the last bullet point: You’re a manager of a workplace that has different
“generations”. How will you approach engaging your employees? Do you think Gen Y employees
are going to find it more difficult to “engage”? Discuss (Linh)
In today’s world, the average lifespan for humans has been increasing, and workers are delaying
retirement and staying in the workplace longer, which helped create a more age-diverse workforce than
ever before. It is now for organizations to have employees working side-by-side who represent 4 or 5
generations, also known as a multigenerational workforce -  is personnel composed of people from
several generations.
Slide 3: According to the IBM Center of the Business Government, there are five types of generation,
including in the workplace:
 Traditionalist - born 1925 to 1945
 Baby Boomers - born 1946 to 1964
 Generation X - born 1965 to 1980
 Millennials - born 1981 to 2000
 Generation Z - born 2001 to 2020

After researching, we found out some trends affecting the multi-generational workforce which cause
some problems that lead to reduced job engagement, then we will suggest some of the approaches to
fulfill multi-generational satisfaction while performing their jobs. 

Trend 1: Increased Use of New Technologies to Communicate

Rapid demographic change, both generational and ethnic, can lead to communication problems
within an organization. If managers do not pay close attention to the dynamics in their
organization, this can lead to misperceptions and a less productive work environment. Now that
digital communication is changing the culture so rapidly, younger generations have much more
influence. Research has shown that Millennials thrive in a team environment and frequently
engage through social media as well as Gen Z. Members of these generations may feel that older
workers (particularly, Traditionalists) are unable to grasp technology. The current shift towards a
digital world has driven pronounced changes at an increasing pace, it challenges organizations to
rethink their business model rapidly. This leads to the older generation as Traditionalists, who
have trouble with the technological trend, soon lose the connection with the current job. 

=> To deal with this problem, conveying individuals’ importance in the organization will be
an approach. The key aspect of employee engagement is to tell your employees how valuable
and important they are to the company and encourage their positive self-image. In addition,
employees come into organizations with different needs, abilities, interests and attitudes. It is also
crucial for managers to design a job that matches employee’s talent and abilities. Not only
retaining the seniors but also influencing the younger generations, such as Millennials or Gen Z
and lower absenteeism, and greater their satisfaction with work.

It is also the problem that Gen Y employees are going to find it more difficult to “engage”
when they experience low offering recognition.

 Trend 2 (also the answer for question 2): Increased Need for New Ways to Recognize and
Reward Employees
 The importance of recognizing and rewarding high performance is one of the top factors
correlated to high employee engagement. In the early bureaucratic organization model, there were
not so many ways to incentivize and reward employees. Hence, for senior workers such as
Traditionalists or Baby Boomers, the only things they need for their hard work are just monetary
rewards and being respected as a senior. But for younger employees, they want a friendly work
atmosphere in which the seniors recognize and praise them instantly for their hard work. The
Millennial generation feels the most unappreciated—60 percent say their boss does not give them
enough recognition or praise, resulting in lost engagement. However, in the seniors’ perspective,
young people’s hunger for praise is inappropriate, as they can’t be praised just by showing up to
work on time. So, the key problem here is that young generations feel stressed by lack of
recognition, while the seniors think some of their work is not very important to be praised.

=> To contribute to improve productivity and engage a different generation workforce is to

carefully focus on hidden aspects of the organizations, such employee’s attitude, perceptions, ect.
Managers can most effectively engage Millennials by providing frequent feedback to Millennials.
By paying attention to younger employees’ need for recognition, action and feelings, managers
may create a work environment that encourages productivity and engagement. Managers who
know the unique characteristics of each generation can more effectively motivate its members,
helping keep all employees fully engaged.

(For a general approach, managers could develop an environment where employees in different
generations can gather and interact with each other. Individuals can open their mindset and learn to accept
the gap between generations through fostering communication and interaction by fulfilling each other's
shortcomings. Ex: when working with the older generation employees, older workers also play an
important role in providing skills to younger team members by passing on their knowledge and
experience, vice versa.)

 (Trend 1: Increased Expectation for Work-Life Flexibility.

Work-life flexibility is now being noticed by all five generations. But different generations have
different attitudes towards it. While the seniors see it is not much of a big problem, younger
generations value it more and actively demand it for their working experience. Since Generation
X entered the workforce, they started moving towards flexibility and even grew stronger when
Millennials and Generation Z showed up in the business. Generational differences in how work is
defined and the technology that makes it possible to work anywhere and anytime foster this trend
toward flexibility. This trend in flexibility also changes the viewpoint of the seniors to some
degree. For example, The Boomer generation that “live to work” is becoming a thing in the past.
Boomers are beginning to seek more flexibility as their responsibilities are caring for children and
elderly parents or considering working beyond the traditional retirement age. In a survey
conducted by nGenera Insight, senior leaders (who are Traditionalists and Boomers occupy most
of the positions of authority within the workplace) have not yet demonstrated as much support for
work-life balance as those in the private sector.  In the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint
Survey, 55 percent of total employees in an organization agreed that senior leaders demonstrate
support for work-life programs. 

=> To retain and engage top and other employees, it will become essential for organizations
to create a work culture that embraces work-life flexibility. Innovative management
approaches can lead to positive outcomes. As shown in Best Buy’s innovative program that lets
employees in its corporate headquarters work wherever and whenever they wanted as long as they
got the job done and delivered results on time. The benefits of a less stressed, more balanced
workforce can be measured in terms of lower absenteeism, fewer work-related accidents,
and greater customer satisfaction and engagement.)