

    JOSEPH COUGHLIN: “The kids today…” That’s the phrase used in one form or another by every generation looking at the “new kids” joining the workforce. Here are three tips for older employees to survive and thrive in a multigenerational workplace.

    Take a New Look at Work. Be willing to see the world through the younger employee’s eyes. If you are a baby boomer you learned from your supervisors decades ago that work was conducted with formal agendas and meetings. Now think of your younger colleagues who have grown up believing that productive interactions are online, on text and on video. Informal and brief interactions are the norm for younger employees. Just because there is not a rectangular table with you sitting at the head does not mean that work isn’t being done. Brief, frequent and efficient interactions are becoming the communications norm in today’s workplace.
    Teach and be Taught. As an older employee you have lots to teach, you also have lots to learn. Despite the outer confidence of youth there is an inner insecurity in understanding the business, office politics and for some client relations. Older workers know the difference between the organization chart and how the organization really works. There is no degree program or app for this knowledge, it is taught with time and with mentorship. Teaching younger employees how to navigate a bureaucracy or manage a client pays your way to learn from them. Younger employees are a fountain of knowledge when it comes to understanding and using new technology – knowledge that will make your job easier and make you more valuable to your employer.

    Stay Flexible. The baby boomers were the first to seek work/family balance in the workplace. Today younger workers see workplace flexibility as critical to quality of life not just balancing home and work demands. As most older workers seek to stay in the workplace longer either to extend retirement savings or to simply have a reason to get up in the morning, younger colleagues may be your strategic partners in creating opportunities for job sharing, flexible hours and covering each other when one needs time away.


     Read the latest Encore Report.