How to offer customization and flexibility to a multi-generational workforce

Fast Company

2 days ago

The modern workforce isn't just pushing us into the future. It's also making history.
For the first time, employers are dealing with a multi-generational workforce that includes four distinct cohorts. You have the seasoned Baby Boomers, the late-career Gen Xers, the mid-career Millennials (who are poised to represent 75% of working individuals soon per Korn Ferry) and the early-career Gen Zers. Together, these professionals bring fresh ideas and diverse perspectives to the table, which is good for any business. However, managing their unique needs and expectations can be tricky.
One of the greatest challenges faced by leaders is creating cultures that appeal to each generation. Overcoming this challenge requires a willingness to lean into flexibility—or risk losing engagement, productivity, and talent. That's a tall order, but not an impossible task.
Mastering multigenerational management starts by strategically adopting newer practices. If you're stumped about where to start, consider trying the following approaches.
1. REASSESS YOUR EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PACKAGE
The days of a one-size-fits-all benefits package are long gone because benefits that attract someone from one generation can mean little to an individual from another generation. Consequently, offering a buffet of benefits may help you stand out as an employer that's actively providing for all the generational members on your team.
According to a 2024 Working Advantage survey, retention and recruitment topped organizational goals and challenges at 62% and 54%, respectively. Forward-thinking employers are increasingly adding employee discount programs to their benefits packages as a cost-effective strategy to attract and retain talent across generations.
For example, you may already have tuition assistance in place. That can be a terrific draw for Gen Z and Millennials who are paying down student debt. But it probably will have less of an impact on Gen X or Boomer employees. Therefore, you may want to balance your tuition assistance benefit with another benefit that may be more appropriate for more mature workers, such as access to low-premium insurance policies for those 50 and older.
After establishing a thoughtfully designed menu of options, be sure to explain each option to your employees. It's not unusual for employees to underuse benefits, often because they aren't aware of them.
Another way to break down real or perceived generational barriers in the workplace is through peer-to-peer learning. When people get to know each other, they start to treat one another like individuals. And that's a good start toward building successful teams that welcome everyone's thoughts, beliefs, and experiences.
A New York Times article from 2024 highlighted the many advantages of multigenerational communication. As the piece points out, many business models are emerging that embrace multigenerational connections, like daycares that partner with nursing homes. The goal is to eliminate age segregation, which researchers have linked to positive health outcomes.
Offering a formal mentoring system can be a step toward bringing your workplace's generations together for positive discussions. Plus, mentorship has a side benefit you might not have considered: It enables the transfer of corporate knowledge to your next generation of leaders.
3. ARRANGE FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Around half of all employees want to gain the skills to advance their careers. Yet as SHRM points out, they don't always know where to start. And if your company isn't developing workers by offering them professional development programming, you could lose key people to a competitor.
Professional development means something different to all generations, though. That's where having multiple professional development opportunities comes into play. For example, you might want to design various learning 'journeys' that your workers can take. As each journey is completed, the worker can move to another level, such as becoming eligible for a raise or a supervisory position.
When laying out your company's professional development program, be sure that you can measure your results. Culture Amp explains that having metrics in place is essential to being able to track whether or not your program is working. Tools and systems already exist for this purpose. Investigate and test a few to see which will give you the clearest view of how well you're meeting your company's professional development-related goals for individual employees as well as generational cohorts.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Above all else, aim for an adaptable mindset when you're revamping your managerial strategies to engage your multigenerational workforce. That way, you'll be able to fill employee satisfaction gaps and improve your retention across all members of your team.