discussion board
AGE DIVERSE WORKFORCE
BABY BOOMERS AND MILLENIALS
The age category includes the baby boomers who were born between 1946 and 1964 and the millennials between 1980 and 2000.
Baby boomers are viewed by most as the loyal to the company. They are willing to sacrifice long hours to ensure that the work that needs to be done is done and are team players.
They are capable of breaking large projects into small manageable sections and prefer conversations in person.
Millennials are considered as a whole new category. They are able to multitask, are whole minded and are goal oriented.
They prefer openness and a true relationship with their managers.
They honestly appreciate their tasks and of the people that they work with.
The common factor between the two age workforce is that they both want to be shown respect in their work.
DIFFERENCES IN THE GENERATIONS THAT CAUSE FRICTION
The baby boomers need to be respected and acknowledged by the younger workers.
Millennials on the other hand feel that they need to be shown the respect that they deserve in their work places irrespective of their ages and their levels of experience.
The baby boomers who are skilled at the delegation of duties, fit into the system easily.
Millennials who have just entered the workforce need to be supervised and directed in order to catch up with the system.
These two forces have different ways of working and perception of each other.
Clearly the baby boomers and the millennials work in two different ways.
Their relationship between the work force and their managers and others is quite different.
There strategies that are applied by the two workforce to ensuring the companies success is also different.
The mode of communication and the respect that is demanded in the communication is also very different.
The operations of the two workforce together is what brings the friction between the work forces.
Both the two have good strategies to secure the success of the organizations hence they need to blend with each other.
SOLUTIONS TO FRICTION BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS
One way of reducing the friction between the two age work forces is to bring them together to work in teams.
The baby boomers are good in teamwork hence will blend in together with the millennials.
They also appreciate their work and that of other hence bringing them together will reduce the friction between them.
A mentorship program of both the work forces together is another way to ensure that there is respect between them which in turn reduces the friction.
They will also get the advantage of having a one on one connection which can help them learn new skills and increase their performance.
Both teams need to be encouraged to have an open communication system which will ensure there is reduced friction between the two groups.
DIFFERENCE IN POINT OF VIEW
It is clear that the different generations will always have a different point of view.
They will always look at things in different angles but this should not be a factor to contribute towards the friction but rather it should be used as an advantage.
Adopting a work environment that respects and values the differences in opinions of different people will ensure there is no disagreement.
An effective communication system that will work for both the generations will also reduce the friction.
setting of a meetings will blend with the schedules for both the categories of work forces.
References
Beaver, G., & Hutchings, K. (2005). Training and developing an age diverse workforce in SMEs: The need for a strategic approach. Education+ Training, 47(8/9), 592-604.
Newton, B. (2006). Training an age-diverse workforce. Industrial and commercial training, 38(2), 93-97.