Back in the “old days” it was easy for employees to give lectures to other employees, because it was easy for workers to stay at a single company for 30 some odd years. But that story has changed. In today’s workplace, companies are hiring a variety of workers and every employee can learn something from each other no matter how old they are.
Yes, older employees may possess quite a bit more knowledge than the younger employees due to years of experience, but, with all the technology that wasn’t around when the older employees were starting out, I’m sure they can still learn a thing or two.
However, it is obvious, the dramatic gap of age in the workplace can trigger a few issues. Young employees think they are invincible and of course they know it all, while the older employees are saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!”
There are many questions that stream through my mind when I think about the vast differences between older employees vs. young employees and getting them to work together:
- How can we get older employees and younger employees on the same page?
- How can we make the workplace unbiased?
- Are there any strategies we can implement to help our young employees and older employees to see eye-to-eye?
- Is it a possible for young employees to become open-minded and think that just because some employers are older doesn’t mean they aren’t capable enough to fulfill their duties within the workplace?
What are some strategies to help our young and older employers to come together as a team to see past the age gap?
Skill over Age
Every employee has a special set of skills they can bring to the workplace. When new projects arise stabilize groups based on skills instead of age. Having balanced teams of older and younger employees can add great value: older people can learn new technology skills and younger employees can learn how to interact and communicate better.
Focus on Attitude
Younger employees are motivated and driven toward new opportunities, give a dose of that excitement to your older employees. Introducing new positive attitudes around the workplace may just liven up the other employees that have been there longer, whom lost that edge a while ago.
Effective Communication
Of course, with the age gap there might be some emotional strain, but it is the employer’s duty to make everyone feel welcome and accepted all the same. If conflicts do happen to surface, help your employees work through their issues to create a stronger bond. Treating all employees equally when resolving problems is a great strategy to showing employees that no one is more of a priority than the other, regardless of age – very employee is equivalent to the other.
In today’s workforce, employees of all ages have been gathered together to make companies successful.
How do they make it work? Simple. Workplace Culture.
How employers run their company has a huge impact on how employees work with each other. As long as there’s an understanding of company policy and goals every employee will be able to see passed their differences to work cohesively together.
How does your company encourage employees of various ages to work together? What are some examples of what your employees have learned from one another?