How to attract and retain the next generation for your company?

Digitalization and the VUCA (Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world have given rise to a contemporary and diverse workforce where a blend of ideas, culture and generations coexist. In fact, the workforce of today constitutes of leaders and staff members of different age groups, hence different generations. These generations are classified into 5 categories, namely the maturists or silents, baby boomers, generation X and generation Y (also known as Millennials) (1) and generation Z. The next demographic cohort succeeding generation Z is generation alpha, those who are born after 2010. Therefore, they are not in scope for todays workforce.

The following graphic provides an overview on the existing generations: 

Although the workforce of today is mostly made up of generation X’s and Millennials, it is most likely that Millennials will take the reign as they are outgrowing their elder colleagues in different aspects. It has been forecasted for this year and the years to come that half of the organizations’ manpower will be Millennials totaling nearly 75 million individuals(acc to Tardieu, 2020), therefore making them the hugest living generation. It is thus imperative for leaders to re-evaluate their working practices to satisfy the demands of this young, tech savvy generation who unlike their predecessors are keener to a work-life balance (2).

The generation of Millennials is defined as one whose individuals were born between the 80s and late 90s. This generation is well-known for been very tech and knowledge oriented, open-minded and favor flexibility at work. They endorse these characteristics because they have been brought up in an environment where things change rapidly, and state-of-the-art technologies continuously emerge. Consequently, Millennials are potential key players for the success of organizations in the digital world since they are at ease in this disruptive and complex environment. This generation is believed to have a major impact on the performance of companies thanks to their abilities and working approach that are quite different from the previous generation of employees. The association of leadership to Millennials is therefore inevitable due to the rise of the latter in both the workforce and leadership scene alongside the implicating challenging aspects that current leaders must face.

Is there a conflict of generations collaborating?

Firstly, not every manager will understand the needs of their young employees if the latter himself/herself do notbelong to the same age group as their staff members. In this challenging context of generational gap, conflicts usually arise because of some differences in perspectives and work ethics between managers and their employees as well as among the employees themselves. On one hand, new generation employees are thought to pose enormous challenges for senior managers due to their divergent opinions and methods (3). On the other hand, the traditional methods are no longer effective to manage and lead the complex and volatile individuals. They can be designated so because they are masters of multi-tasking, fond of high-tech and innovative solutions, and always keen to take on challenges and push themselves to the limit (4).

The scope of conflict of interest between generations could also be extended in a reverse manner i.e. in the case where a Millennial leader oversees most baby boomers or generation X’s.

Differences among generations in the workforce can be classified in top five responses from each generation(5):

To better understand the generational conflict prevailing in leadership, the table above illustrates how millennials behave and perform in the workforce and contrasts their interests and opinions with the older generations. Evidence from the above table suggests that Millennials are different from the other generations at work, with different values, lifestyle and work ethics. They are for instance more tolerant, open to new ideas and eager to embrace risks comparedto generation X, who tend to stick to their traditional principles and rather stay on the safe side. In such a scenario, it is often problematic for leaders of a multigenerational workforce since they are tangled between two schools of thought and are obliged to settle a common ground in order to perpetuate a healthy collaboration and communication of theiremployees.

The other challenge for leaders is that some of them are not able or refuse to recognize that these conflicts exist in their enterprise. When it comes for Millennials, leaders usually tend to have some misconceptions on what really the characteristics of the latter are. This makes it difficult to lead because good communication and collaboration only are not enough to succeed in leading the younger generation. The occurrence of these conflicts can be explained by two factors:

1.     the perception of what millennial values are by leaders and 

2.     the real characteristics that define, who millennials are 

There is no denying that the generation Y is one of the biggest challenges for today’s leadership besides the constantly evolving and complex environment. Considering that they are a relatively young and connected generation; the expectations of Millennials are higher in regard to their quality of life and well-being on the personal andprofessional level. For example, they can be very demanding regarding flexibility of their work schedule because they want to have enough free time for themselves and their beloved ones. As a result, leaders are often obliged to define clear objectives and make compromises between allocating free time to their employees while at the same time still being able to quickly respond to the requests of their customers; which is not always easy to achieve for customer eccentric enterprises.

But since generation Y employees are talented individuals who have huge potentials to uplift their organizations through digital transformation, managers are compelled to adjust the culture and the way their enterprise is operating according to the traits of the former in a view to offer them the best working environment possible. In the context of generational conflict in the workforce, leaders hold the keys to unite the two generations and bring up a strong and versatile manpower. To achieve this, it is their mission to focus on a framework to engage a plan of action rather than abiding to stereotypes and misjudgments that would lead nowhere (Espinoza et al., 2011, p. 22).

Authors: 

Karsten Machholz

Mahery Rakotomaharo

Marcell Vollmer

(1) Kapoor and Solomon, 2011, p. 308 Rodriguez and Rodriguez, 2015  

(2) Rodriguez and Rodriguez, 2015

(3) Kornelsen, 2019, p. 28

(4) Tardieu et al., 2020, p. 132

(5) Stewart et al., 2017 for Gen Y to Silents (not included, Gen Z)