Mind The Gap - Managing Today's Multi-Generational Workforce

bamboohr.com payscale.com
Wendy Brown
Director of Content Marketing
PayScale
Cassie Whitlock
Director of Human Resources
BambooHR

How can your organization adapt to the
modern, multi-generational workforce?

● Skills Gap
○ Roughly 10,000 turn 65 every day
○ Still constitute 31% of the workforce
● Later Retirement
○ 49% who are still working don’t plan
to retire until 66 or older
○ 1 in 10 predict they will never retire
Baby Boomers

Generation X
● Slower Career Growth
○ Promotion rate consistently 20%–30% slower than Millennials’
○ Nearly 1 in 5 Gen X leaders said their intention to leave has
increased in the last year
● Shifting Priorities
○ About 1/3 are or have been caregivers for aging family members
○ Only 59% are conﬁdent about their ﬁnances

● Growing out of “stereotype” of age group
○ First millenials turning 40 in 2020
● The focus on fairness and ﬂexibility is especially
relevant to communications on pay
○ Priorities are changing - parental leave and
health care now more important
Millennials

Millennials Care about Fairness…
but fairness doesn’t necessarily mean equal

● The members of Generation Z are not like their Millennial older siblings.
○ They grew up with technology
○ They’re diverse and appreciate the value of diversity
○ They want security
○ They have an independent approach to learning
○ They multitask
○ They are entrepreneurial
Generation Z

Mix of Pay
Preferences Differ
by Generation

Understanding How Pay is Perceived

The Exchange of Value

Recruiting Multi-Generational Teams

Baby Boomers
Beneﬁts
● Lots of experience
● People skills
● Diversity of thought
● Large network
Strategies
● Clear job description
● Focus on healthcare and
retirement beneﬁts
● Use traditional channels
● Approach passive candidates

Generation X
Benefits
● Technology skills
● Highly educated
● Work ethic
● Leadership potential
Strategies
● Offer a path forward
● Focus on flexible work or family leave benefits
● Provide fair compensation and stability
● Tailor employer brand

Millennials
Beneﬁts
● Ambitious
● Tech savvy
● Collaborative
● Highly educated
Strategies
● More than a job description
● Offer growth and learning opportunities
● Provide fair compensation and stability

Generation Z
Benefits
● Independent
● Diverse
● Entrepreneurial
● Able to multitask
Strategies
● Prepare now
● Offer internships and development opportunities
● Embrace technology
● Provide financial and retirement benefits

Training & Reskilling
Multi-Generational Teams

Skills Gap
By 2030, 85.2 million jobs will go unﬁlled world wide

Filling the Skills Gap
● Look for non-traditional applicants
● Incentivize employees to continue their education
● Network with educators
● Advocate for policy changes

“In our experience, reskilling is relevant to every generation
that's in or entering the workforce. In fact, 55% of employers
feel the skills shortage is causing an inability to innovate
effectively, according to a recent PwC study.”

Provide Training
● Employees with the most relevant skills sets will drive company success
● Orgs who offer up-skilling and re-skilling will attract better candidates.
● Provide cross-functional training
● L&D - Bite sized learning can help in continuous development
● Soft skills deserve special attention

Leadership Development for
Multi-Generational Teams

● Baby Boomers
○ Consensus/Consensual
○ Collegial
● Generation X
○ Competence
○ Everyone is the same
○ Challenge others
○ Ask why
Generational Leadership Styles
● Millennials
○ Achievers
○ Coaches/Mentors
● Generation Z
○ TBD

82%
of the time, companies fail to choose
candidates with the right skills for
management.

Talents of a Good Manager
● Motivates others
● Overcomes adversity
● Fosters accountability
● Builds relationships
● Makes sound decisions

Leaders Aren’t Always Managers
● Technical experts
● Senior contributors
● Broad skill sets

Managing Multi-Generational
Teams

Coaching
● Strengthens employees’ skills so you can give them more responsibilities
● Boosts productivity by helping your employees work smarter
● Develops a bench of talent who can take leadership roles as the ﬁrm grows
● Makes more effective use of company resources; coaching costs less than formal training.
● Allows you to get ahead of costly and time-consuming performance issues
“To coach means to partner with an employee in a thought-provoking and creative
process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

Challenge Employees
with Stretch Goals
● Focus on building strengths
● Use SMART goals
● Think about breadth and depth

Employee Goals
● Baby Boomers – hard working and want to be recognized for their skills.
● Gen X – prefer less supervision and greater autonomy.
● Millennials – want to be judged not for their hours in the ofﬁce, but for their results.
● Gen Y – want highly collaborative management relationships.

● The workforce is shifting and your org needs to adapt its strategies.
● Each generation has its own priorities and concerns, inﬂuenced by
how they were raised.
● Training employees now can help ﬁll skills gaps tomorrow.
● Choose and develop leaders for their management skills.
● Coaching and goals can work for employees from every generation.
● People are people, no matter their generation. Treat them well and
they’ll do great work.
Key Takeaways

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