These days, you’ll find companies with a desire to maintain a young workforce. They appreciate the energy, innovation, and radical thinking that the younger generation brings to the workplace and utilize it to create and grow strong brands.
However, successful enterprises spanning years of unparalleled product and service delivery maintain multigenerational teams. Thus, it implies that there are certain benefits that these big organizations reap from keeping different perspective in the workforce.
According to the United States Census Bureau data of 2020, 12.4% of the population of Los Angeles are 65 years of age and over, 20.7% are under 18 years of age, and 5.9% of the population are people under the age of 5. The remaining percentage makes the legal working population of Los Angeles County.
Incorporating some of the people in the 12.4 percent of Los Angeles population into the present-day workforce makes it multigenerational and this packs some great advantages.
What is a Multigenerational Workforce?
The multigenerational workforce is a term used to describe organizations with a workforce that spans four to five generations. This implies a workforce encompassing employees of the Silent Generation (people born between 1928 and 1945), the Baby Boomers (1946-1964), the Generation Xers (1965-1980), the Millennials (1981-1996), and the Generation Zers (1997-2012). Having all these generations working together in an organization is possible these days as more people are working past the legal retirement age.
How Multigenerational Teams Work
In organizations where up to four generations characterize the workforce, each group is valued in the team based on the advantage their generation offers. It is typical of the Baby boomers and Generation Xers to bring in a work culture rich with ethics, quality, and collaboration. The younger generations – the Millennials and Generation Zers – are tech-savvy and energetic. They are instrumental in introducing ways of working with social media, mobile apps, the cloud, and other advanced technologies.
A trade-off of knowledge and experience occurs in their daily interactions. Their organizations benefit from this trade-off to create emotional, innovative, and technologically advanced products and services that meet the needs of their customers.
How L. A.’s Workforce Can Benefit from Multigenerational Teams
If businesses in Los Angeles County embrace the idea of having multigenerational teams, here are ways it could benefit them:
Job responsibilities will be viewed from multiple perspectives, and when these perspectives are shared across the team, it forms the framework for innovation.
The problem-solving ability of the members of the team will be enhanced as a result of the combination of several perspectives and skills.
The team is able to learn and mentor each other from the wealth of their varied experiences and insights, in a much better way.
Knowledge is better retained and transferred from the learning and mentorship that goes on, thus helping the company to meet its future leadership needs.
The employees are able to have more unique relationships with their colleagues that engender emotional balance and job satisfaction.
The Challenges of Managing a Multigenerational Workforce
Managing multigenerational teams has the potential to be challenging. There could be communication issues while trying to balance the right tone and language to use when addressing the different generations in a team. There’s also the issue of negative stereotype — the older generation may feel that the younger generation are entitled and oversensitive, while the younger generation may see the older generation as inflexible and unwilling to accept technological changes.
Brand LA helps organizations to better manage a diverse, multigenerational workforce through trainings and events geared towards the prosperity of the county.
You can get in contact with Brand LA if you hope to build or effectively manage a multigenerational team in Los Angeles County.
Rounding Up
The challenges involved in managing multigenerational teams may seem too big but they are surmountable with a little help from leadership training professionals.
The benefits of adopting a multigenerational workforce incite innovation, growth, and inclusiveness. One that Los Angeles County can use to unite its diverse workforce towards greater organizational success.
Zeemanuel for Brand LA