Generational and Age Diversity in Workplace

Workplace is identified as a group of individuals who are from various backgrounds and various age levels. Generational differences in the workplace as a research and intervention topic have recently grown significantly in popularity (Joshi et al., 2011; Lyons et al., 2015; Campbell et al., 2017). Age diversity is a fact that has affected on most of the organizations which has also resulted employee conflicts. Generational gap is inter-related with the skill level of the employee, where aged employees are reluctant to learn from the young. Main aim of any organization is to maintain its performance. In order to achieve this target, a skilled staff is a critical and an essential factor (Liang, 2012). So, organizations need to adjust human resource management (HRM) policies to inspire the workforce (Truss et al., 2013). The employees of various Generations as X, Y, and Z have diverse set of skills and perceptions regarding their jobs, which results organizations face multidimensional challenges due to the age differences among the employees (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002; Witt & Wilson, 1991). The performance of and organizations has always been depended on the different behavioral patterns of the employees’ (based on their age) toward their jobs (Shropshire & Kadlec, 2012)


Figure 1 - (Age diversity: How to engage different age groups in your workplace, 2022)



The Figure 1 above depicts a clear set of data that has been gathered on how different age groups progress on factors like Salary, Friendliness, adjusting to company culture, progression and learning new skills.

Age diversity can result positive, negative or either zero impact on organization outcomes based on different contextual factors (Van Knippenberg et al., 2013). The profitability and the strength of an organization in the market is solely depend on financial performance (FP) and non-financial performance (NFP) (Giessner et al., 2016). HRM policies such as job reforming will increase the emolyees performances (Weber & Tarba, 2010) as well as it will help to decrease absenteeism (Hausknecht, Hiller and Vance, 2008) which will satisfy the employees of different ages, and reduce the turnoverwith (Drabe, Hauff and Richter, 2014). Also, positive thoughts that has been gained on HRM policies (Kundu & Mor, 2017) will supports the organization to motivate an age-diverse workforce.

Accordingly, it is identified that the two significant factors that will impact of the performance and helping other people getting use to the professional environment will be the psychological empowerment and psychological flexibility. At the moment there has no any emerging studies to analyze these concepts with the generational aspects of the employees. A convenient fact of a person is that we believe they are developed and grown in a separate world, because of the ways of thinking are different. But in academic and realistic studies, there is a controversial theory of “generation” which explains the reliability and characteristics of a person. The fundamental reproaches to these studies relate to the explanatory weakness of the generation concept (Giancola, 2006; Ng and Feldman, 2010; Constanza et al., 2012; Constanza and Finkelstein, 2015)..



References
Drabe, D., Hauff, S. and Richter, N., 2014. Job satisfaction in aging workforces: an analysis of the USA, Japan and Germany. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(6), pp.783-805.

Giancola, F., 2006. The generation gap: More myth than reality. People and strategy, 29(4), p.32.

Giessner, S., Horton, K. and Humborstad, S., 2016. Identity Management during Organizational Mergers: Empirical Insights and Practical Advice. Social Issues and Policy Review, 10(1), pp.47-81

Hausknecht, J., Hiller, N. and Vance, R., 2008. Work-Unit Absenteeism: Effects of Satisfaction, Commitment, Labor Market Conditions, and Time. Academy of Management Journal, 51(6), pp.1223-1245.

Kundu, S. and Mor, A., 2017. Workforce diversity and organizational performance: a study of IT industry in India. Employee Relations, 39(2), pp.160-183.

Liang, Y., 2012. The relationships among work values, burnout, and organizational citizenship behaviors. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(2), pp.251-268.

Ng, T.W. and Feldman, D.C., 2010. The relationships of age with job attitudes: A meta‐analysis. Personnel Psychology, 63(3), pp.677-718.

Recruitment Insight. 2022. Age diversity: How to engage different age groups in your workplace. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2022].

Taylor & Francis. 2022. Employee engagement, organisational performance and individual well-being: exploring the evidence, developing the theory. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 April 2022].

Weber, Y. and Tarba, S., 2010. Human resource practices and performance of mergers and acquisitions in Israel. Human Resource Management Review, 20(3), pp.203-211.

Witt, L. and Wilson, J., 1991. Moderating Effect of Job Satisfaction on the Relationship Between Equity and Extra-Role Behaviors. The Journal of Social Psychology, 131(2), pp.247-

Comments

  1. sampathJApril 23, 2022 at 9:58 PM

    Organizational demography has undergone a major shift as increasing numbers of workers from multiple generations enter the workforce. Generation differences are viewed as useful in understanding the diversity in workers’ values, attitudes and behaviors and thereby in informing key managerial policies and practices. Generations, as currently conceptualized, refer to distinct age cohorts that are assumed to share unique core values, attitudes and behavior (Zemke, Raines and Filipczak, 2000). The values, attitudes and behaviors of one generation of workers can be quite distinct from other generations. When such differences exist, managers should take these generational differences into account if they are to avoid inter-generational conflict and its subsequent negative consequences on organizational performance and employee behavior. Age diversity can improve organizational performance, and HR practices that improve the age diversity climate within an organization have the potential to lower employee turnover. And age diversity within teams is positively related to performance when groups are involved in complex decision-making tasks.

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  2. ShashikaApril 26, 2022 at 10:00 AM

    Age Diversity

    It’s essential that organizations pay close attention to age diversity in the workplace. Ageism in the workplace is a very real thing; many organizations may believe that older employees don’t have the technological know-how to do certain jobs (or willingness to learn new skills), or that younger employees might not have the attitude, workability, or personality to succeed on a long-term basis. 

    Instead, organizations should be open to all ages when it comes to diversity in the workplace; the different skills and life experiences people of all ages bring to the workplace can be valuable in a variety of ways for a wide range of different positions. ( GlobeSmart 2022)

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  3. Anne PereraApril 27, 2022 at 12:07 AM

    Hi,

    Generational and Age Diversity in Workplace is really important to the organizations as you have clearly discussed in your article. the organizations need employees who are well experienced with the structure and the outputs of the organization and the ones with little experience but with knowledge of new technologies (Vendramin, 2009). if the organizations can create a culture that embraces learning and respecting each other; they can have the advantage of getting the best outputs which is a combination of old learnings and new technologies. this brings a competitive advantage for the employers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gayani Erandika MillawithanachchiMay 2, 2022 at 1:29 PM

    Generational diversity simply means having people of a wide range of different ages represented in the workplace. I’m sure you’ve heard that saying, “Two heads are better than one.” When two people come together to solve a problem, they can pool their experiences and ideas to devise a better solution. People of different ages can bring very different viewpoints, particularly in this age of rapid technological progress.

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