Punter Southall Aspire chief executive Steve Butler has published a book on the challenge of managing intergenerational workforces.
Butler says this “demographic revolution” creates a number of challenges for workforces. The book offers insight into how managers can engage and motivate younger people, effectively manage workers who are older than them, and structure business processes, benefits and communications that work for across different generations.
The book: Manage the Gap: Achieving success with intergenerational teams, comes after a government report this year, which said employers are failing to anticipate the implications of an ageing workforce.
Figures from the Office for National Statistic project that almost one in four (24 per cent) of people living in the UK will be aged 65 or older by 2042. This is an increase from the 18 per cent recorded in 2016.
Furthermore,organisations are increasingly seeing multi-generations working together, from employees in their 20s and 30s through to those in their 70s and even 80s.
Butler says: “Over the last few years, businesses have had to navigate a technology revolution that has transformed the workplace. Now another revolution is under way: a demographic one.”
He says different generations bring with them different skills and attitudes towards work.
“One of the key messages in the book is if you’re going to manage an age diverse workforce and get the very most out of them, then you need to acknowledge how the mindsets and life experiences of different generations affect the way they approach their work.”
He says managers need to anticipate the potential for discord, as well as work with individuals, be they baby boomers, millennials or ‘Generation Z’ to work out what each group needs.
Butler is a chartered manager and fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
The book utilise the examples, management tips and case studies contined on Butler’s blog, to help business managers and HR leaders eliminate age discrimination in the workplace and and allowing employees to work into later life.