Age: The forgotten diversity

In the ever-evolving consulting industry, companies looking for an edge continue to explore ways to innovate not only in project delivery but also in corporate structures, succession planning and people and culture. Generational change in engineering has already occurred and will continue this decade with the large population of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age and stepping away from the industry. This has resulted in Gen X employees stepping up into management teams but will also see a significant change and opportunity for other generations (Gen Y, Z) to be more represented within management teams. Baby boomers have accounted for a large percentage of management profile over the past decades.

This article discusses how the industry can respond or adapt to this generational change in organisations and increase diversity in age, particularly within management teams.

In understanding age diversity and the associated opportunities and challenges, it is important to note the defined ages of each generation:

• Baby Boomers (Born 1946 to 1964)
• Gen X (Born 1965 to 1979)
• Gen Y/Millennials (1980 to 1994)
• Gen Z (1995 to current)

As many as five generations of people are represented in today’s workforce as people live longer and in turn work longer. Millennials and Gen Z will make up a large proportion of the engineering work force in the coming years due to retirement of Baby Boomers and also resulting from a financial downturn in the late 80’s, early 90’s that lead to a lot of engineers leaving the industry and pursuing other sectors like financial services. This exodus was corrected following the privatisation of many government engineering industries in the time following.

As at 2020, there has been 9 years of Baby Boomers reaching 65 years old with another 10 years remaining. The population of Australians aged over 65 is increasing steadily. There are around 3.8 million people aged 65 and over (15% of population, ABS 2017) which has increased from 5% in 1927 and 9% in 1977. By 2057, it is projected this demographic will make up 22% of the Australian population. By comparison, in the US alone, 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day (Article Arlene S. Hirsch) and in the EU for every 10 Generation Z members, there are 12 people aged 65 or older (European Labour Force Survey). While a portion of this generation have retired already, the remaining are transitioning to a reduced workload or becoming a specialist contingent workforce handing on engrained experience and knowledge.

There is constant discussion around the value of gender and cultural diversity in teams but there has been little focus on creating teams that have varying levels of life and age experience. With the impending generation exodus, now is the time to plan for succession and to innovate with how we structure management teams going forward. With the fast pace of technology development and the growth in hype sectors like ‘Internet of Things’, artificial intelligence, BIM and visualisation driving project delivery and organisational change, it is important to reconsider the place of younger generations (under 35’s) within organisation management hierarchy. Inclusion of younger generations in management teams is currently not commonplace within the engineering industry.

Millennials and Gen Z as age groups, are often criticised for their high expectations of work place, their desire for flexible work arrangements, quick promotion in roles and fast paced lifestyle: a perceived generation of privilege that have had the benefit of growing up in the technology boom with easy access to information and answers to questions readily on hand. This generation know how to engrain technology in everything they do and to utilise the internet to quickly solve problems in ways other generations cannot comprehend. Efficiency can be easily confused with laziness as they try to streamline delivery through pushing technology. The exposure to new technology and ways of thinking streamlines process. By not doing things the old way the ‘new’ generations have freed up time for other things they consider more important like Instagram, travel and smashed avocado brunches.

It is also important to note the majority of our technology is developed by people under 30 years of age. Over 60% of Silicon Valley developers are aged under 29. They manage the way we move through life, what options are presented to us, what decisions we make and how we are directed through the day. Increasingly, this demographic will be making more of our choices in the future with the increase in artificial intelligence; telling our cars how to drive or analysing our data. Technology companies capture more and more volumes of daily data. Data which will only be further utilised to guide societal direction into the future.

Interestingly however, in large engineering consultancies, young people are not present in management teams. Years of industry experience is the main contributing factor in selection for these management roles. There is some variation to this rule, with high achievers who have gone above and beyond able to progress their careers at faster pace. But these people still contribute a very small percentage of management position uptake. Formal structures to engrain age diversity are not commonplace, likely due to the pure number of Baby Boomers that have been available to take up these roles. Over the past 10 and next 10 years this will have to change significantly and with a reduced number of Gen X’s in the market, the industry will need to look to ways to incorporate Gen Y/Millennials and Gen Z into management teams and pass on significant knowledge. These generations can however have a shortfall in interpersonal experience and political nuance that comes with on the ground experience. There are aspects that only come with being provided the time to make mistakes.

There is not a suggestion that we should replace all management teams with 22 year old graduates, but, as with gender diversity targets, we should include a targeted percentage of each age group from the organisation with the intent to drive innovation and uptake of technological efficiency. This diversity will aid in developing corporate policy that reflects the desire of the overall industry rather than an approach of ‘business as usual’. It will also provide significant value to junior staff moving quickly through the organisation and bolster future management team strength. Management teams should be evolving constantly with new people bringing new ideas.

The opportunity for a material changes in management style is here with the end of single generation and gender management teams and the transition to truly diverse management groups. Age diversity will result in management teams that drive innovation, technology uptake improving efficiency and bring fresh ideas to organisations. The perception that you must have worked for a fixed period before being management material will change. It will become merit based with the most innovative being considered.

Either way, the next 10 years will be an exciting transformational time for our industry.

About the author

Scott Carne is a Civil Engineer working for global consultant SMEC and a board member of Engineers Australia National Civil College. He has a passion for continual improvement in the industry.