Age Diversity in the Workplace

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Introduction

An organization's primary goal is to enhance and sustain its performance. A skilled staff is

a basic and vital resource for achieving this aim (Liang, 2012). Personnel from Generations X, Y,

and Z have distinct abilities and perspectives on their employment, and businesses confront

multifaceted issues as a result of the age variations among employees (Rhoades & Eisenberger,

2002). Organizational effectiveness varies owing to individuals' varying attitudes about their

employment (depending on their age).

The term "diversity of workforce" refers to the coexistence of people from various social,

cultural, and ethnic origins inside an enterprise (Kundu, 2003). Diversity also refers to the

variances between persons in terms of their characteristics, which show how people differ from

one another and necessitate different management techniques. There are several types of diversity;

however, the most prevalent variables to quantify diversity are age, gender, and country origin.

Age diversity is a social feature that represents subjective and objective differences amongst group

members (Ferrero-Ferrero et al., 2015). The workforce has become increasingly age diverse over

the previous few decades, resulting in a greater spectrum of younger and older persons working

together like never before. The fact that more individuals are working later in life is a key element

in the rising age variety. This paper looks into age as a crucial factor of diversity and its impact on

the workplace, whether positive or negative.

Definition

Before shedding light on the effects of age diversity in the workplace, it is important to

start by defining what age diversity is. Generally, diversity is defined as a distinction or a

combination of several characteristics (Pytlovany & Truxillo, 2015). Diversity in the workplace
refers to the apparent (e.g., age, gender) or unseen (e.g., culture) qualities of employees that can

be either a benefit or an impediment to achieving today's corporate goals of competitiveness and

performance (Bellotti et al., 2022). Thus, age diversity at work refers to variances in employee age

distribution and is used to characterize the composition of an organization as a whole or the

composition of workgroups within an organization (Pytlovany & Truxillo, 2015). Workers are

often classified as "younger," "middle-aged," or "older."

Importance of Age Diversity

In my opinion, age is a number, not a qualification. Unfortunately, old prejudices continue

to impact age views in the workplace. Statements like "she's too old to master a new computer

program" or "he's too young to manage a team" minimize the importance and qualifications of the

individuals concerned. The truth is, employee knowledge and experience grow with age. Also, a

young individual with exceptional talents and potential should not be held back by his or her age.

Furthermore, personnel of all ages may complement and learn from one another, boosting

knowledge integration and thereby contributing value to the company. For example, older workers

may transfer their acquired knowledge and skills through training and mentorship and impart

insight on how to deal with interpersonal conflict and difficult situations to younger workers. At

the same time, younger workers can transfer their own knowledge and skills, such as those in

technology, to older workers.

The Effect of Workplace Age Diversity

Evidence shows that adopting a diverse staff may increase productivity. A 2013 research

paper by the German Institute for Employment Research based on survey data from over 18,000

organizations discovered that age diversity can have a positive influence on corporate productivity,
particularly in 'new' or 'creative' industries (Backes-Gellner & Veen, 2012). Researchers

discovered that the optimal workforce in these industries consisted of a diverse mix of young and

senior people. Because of the mix of people with varied talents and backgrounds, it is considered

that enhanced age diversity might inspire better problem-solving techniques. This can provide a

competitive edge in areas that need innovation and complicated decision making (Backes-Gellner

& Veen, 2012). A lack of age diversity, on the other hand, can lead to a stagnant workforce in

which employees stay in the same job for an extended length of time, restricting promotion chances

for others. An age varied workforce can be more dynamic, as older workers leave or move to part-

time work, allowing younger workers to progress and take on new tasks.

Working in an age diverse workforce can also benefit older people and may help them stay

in the workforce longer. Older workers felt the most involved as part of an age diverse team. Older

people who work in age diverse workforces had higher self-esteem and work performance than

their counterparts who face age discrimination. Many organizations are well aware of the

advantages of a diverse staff. A global study performed by AARP, an interest group representing

people over the age of 50, collected information from 6000 companies in 36 countries (AARP,

2020). According to 83% of those polled, age diversity in the workplace is critical to growth and

success.

Age variety boosts human capital. Employees of different ages have complementing

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). More precisely, younger workers may be armed with

more up-to-date scientific and technical information received from outside the firm, whereas older

employees often have valuable job-specific and social expertise (Burmeister & Deller, 2016).

When it comes to skills, elder employees have superior political and social abilities. This is due to

their extensive expertise in interpreting informal rules and negotiating complex relationships.
Younger employees, on the other hand, are frequently more adept at discovering and accessing

new material using sophisticated learning methods (Gerpott et al., 2017). Younger personnel have

more fluid intellectual talents and more adaptable knowledge structures, allowing them to operate

successfully in dynamic, ambiguous, and complicated contexts (Mannucci & Yong, 2018). Older

personnel, on the other hand, have more crystallized intellectual capacities and may use their

existing knowledge to tackle new challenges more effectively (Rietzschel et al., 2016). Thus,

employees of varying ages complement one another, resulting in a more complete and diversified

collection of KSAs that meet a broader variety of tasks and circumstances confronting a company.

On the other hand, it can be said that there are few negative sides to age inclusive work

environments. One of them is interpersonal conflicts in an aging workforce. Understanding how

various age groups interact with one another in the workplace is a vital component for managing

an age-diverse workforce. When groups of people engage with one another, conflict can emerge

(Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015). Having an age-diverse workforce may lead to workplace conflict

amongst individuals of different age groups (Hillman, 2014). A work-related dispute is frequently

the outcome of friction caused by opposing viewpoints or interests among groups or people

engaging in the office (Martinez-Corts et al., 2015). Interpersonal conflict can emerge when

persons with different opinions, values, and attitudes engage with people who have opposing

beliefs, values, and attitudes. The presence of various generations working together in a workforce

can cause problems that harm both the firm and the workers. Conflicts frequently result in the

insolence and distance of the people involved (Meier et al., 2014). Conflict may have a detrimental

impact on an organization's productivity and effectiveness (Fusch & Fusch, 2015). Conflict in the

workplace may also have an impact on the physical and psychological health of those who are
impacted (Martinez-Corts et al., 2015). As a result, it is critical for business executives to detect

and resolve workplace conflicts before they negatively impact the company or its employees.

Conclusion

The capacity of an organization to tolerate persons of varied ages inside the company's

business environment is defined as age diversity. It has become a standard component for

organizations to deal with an aging population in every way imaginable. When we talk about

workplace diversity, color, gender, and cultural background are frequently the first things that

come to mind. However, there is one facet of variety that is sometimes disregarded but is as

important: age. Although there might be few negatives to age diversity in the workplace, the

positives appear to outweigh them. Hence, it is important for companies and organizations to adopt

age inclusive policies that support all employees regardless of how old they are.
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