This blog is written by Lorraine George, the Learning & Development Officer for Generations Working Together. There is a growing awareness of the topic of age within the workforce, with many organisations now having to manage four generational cohorts within the workplace. This has been reflected in the increase of ‘Age Awareness in the Workplace’ training that they deliver. Some organisations have embraced the challenge and embedded initiatives to maximise the potential of every generation, whilst others have yet even to open the age conversation with their employees and it has become the elephant in the room.
Here are five top tips to put age and generational diversity on everyone’s equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda.
- Start the conversation – even if you do not have all the answers!
Don’t make assumptions, be honest and consult with employees directly to find out what matters to them around age. - Celebrate, inclusion, diversity and difference and provide cross generational opportunities for staff to share their concerns and experiences. Listening to other people’s challenges and points of view, helps us to empathise and understand different perspectives and needs. Recognising commonalities with others then helps us to build collaborative relationships within the workplace.
- Encourage communication styles appropriate for different ages. As we all have our own preferences around communicating with others, effective communication strategies are central to developing a positive workplace culture because they directly impact upon how people learn, collaborate, and respond to being managed.
- Recognise ageism in the workplace through clear policies and reporting pathways. Think about age inclusion from the recruitment stage onwards in order to develop an age friendly workplace culture which creates opportunities for mutual learning between generations.
- Provide training for staff to enable them to recognise the benefits and challenges of generational diversity in the workplace and the part they can play in creating a positive working environment for all ages.
We all have a role to play in fostering a workplace culture in which everyone, regardless of age, feels equally respected, heard, and valued and able to contribute.
Age awareness training should be on the top everyone’s ‘to do’ list!