How to manage an age-diverse workplace

By Nicky Champ

Cast your mind back to the 2015 film, The Intern, starring Robert de Niro as Anne Hathaway’s elderly assistant. Back then, the idea of a seventy-year-old in the workplace seemed novel. Yet today, with people living and working longer, it reflects a global trend of older workers staying in or returning to the workforce (also known as unretirement).  

With the increased cost of living and the movement away from a traditional retirement, there are now four, up to five, generations in the workforce at the same time.   

Transitioning Well’s Rachael Palmer says having older employees in the workplace benefits the whole company, with people of different generations able to support and develop each other.  

“Younger generations are more open to working collaboratively and able share skills honed from being digital natives, says Rachel. “At the same time, older generations can share knowledge and relationship skills gained over their working lives and are often better able to cope with stress.

Mentoring and reverse mentoring add a sense of meaning and purpose to older people in their jobs, help build cross-generational bonds, and can boost morale and increase overall productivity in the workplace.”

Managers today need to have the skills to create sustainable and healthy workplace practices to suit everyone, regardless of their own generation.  
 

The good news is there are specific actions employers can take that increase engagement and wellbeing for people of any age. These include training employees, rewarding good performance, and consulting people by involving them in decision-making.  

Tips for managing all generations  

Managing a multi-generation workforce can present many challenges for leaders, but if done well, the benefits of an age-diverse workplace far outweigh the challenges. 

 
Avoid making assumptions 

Stereotypes and assumptions are significant barriers to older (and younger) workers in the workplace. Research has dispelled many mature-aged worker myths, such as being less capable of adopting new technologies or being more prone to health problems. Arm your managers with the facts to reduce bias and stereotypes. Don’t know where to start? Check out how we can help here.

 
Leverage job crafting and accommodations 

Listen to your people, be they old or young, to better understand their strengths and limitations. When managers know their people, they can use formal and informal processes to nurture that person-job fit. Job crafting is an informal process of performing a role by leveraging the strengths of a team of individual, whereas work adjustments are more formal accommodations made to protect and promote physical and mental health so that people can continue to perform the key requirements of the role.  

Encourage flexible work conversations  

Flexibility is valuable for all ages and working parents and people 55 years or older are entitled to request flexible working arrangements (along with people with other protected attributes). Best practice flexible working arrangements go far beyond part-time work or work-from-home. Options that appeal to workers will depend on their life-stage so conversations are essential. Ensure managers understand best practice flexible working arrangements and have the skills to discuss options with people. Using trial periods can be an effective mechanism to test assumptions around flexible work limitations. 

Enable knowledge transfer  

Introduce mentoring or buddy systems that facilitate two-way learning across different age groups. Succession planning is also an important part of this knowledge transfer and can help individuals feel comfortable and prepared to retire.  

Normalise late career conversations  

Don’t wait until pre-retirement to talk about the retirement transition. Equally as important, don’t assume that an older worker is counting the days to retirement and is uninterested in training or progression. Integrate career conversations into the employee management framework and train managers on how to have the conversations across all life stages. This is a simple way to keep everyone’s skills up to date and reduce the risk of people feeling discriminated against.  

Many of the above strategies involve communication, which isn’t coincidental. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all HR policies and practices. People today want to be seen as individuals and more than just workers. They want to feel valued and draw meaning from their work rather than simply trading their time for financial compensation (even in a downturn).   

Leaders and managers have the opportunity to create a future of work that’s fit for all ages. The impetus to get it right now? Before we know it, the Alpha generation will be our managers.  

 
If you’d like to get in touch about how Transitioning Well can support your leaders to manage a multi-generational workplace, contact us today.

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How to nurture a check in culture within your organisation

In the lead up to R U OK Day on Thursday 14 September we’re mindful of the shifting narrative that accompanies this day (and so many others like it). For us, we see R U OK Day as an important anchor day. We know that organisations need to commit to a year-round culture of care. However, what R U OK Day does is provide a dedicated day for us to focus on raising awareness and understanding to encourage more organisations to take practical evidence-based action.  And that’s what we’re all about … yes, all year-round.  

Let’s start by looking at how can you demonstrate an always-on commitment to supporting your people. 

One of the most impactful things you can do is create a check in culture within your organisation. 

What is a check in culture

At a high level, a check in culture is one where people are able to safely make space for each other and ask, “Are you OK?”, and be able to respond, “I need support”, without fear of judgement, or negative action.  

The challenge is in creating dedicated practices that are widely accepted, known and applied throughout your entire organisation, so that everyone is aware of the check in culture and empowered to act within it.  

How do you get started?

Encourage connection

It’s important to remember that we all spend a lot of time at work. In fact, for many of us our work colleagues can be one of our key social networks. At an organisational level, it’s important to accept and acknowledge this. You want to encourage professional friendships to form, not discourage them.  

As human beings, we benefit enormously from social support. Research suggests social connections can help support physical and psychological health and wellbeing as well as promote resilience and help us cope with stress. According to a recent ABC News piece, while we’ve never been more digitally connected, one-third of Australians still feel lonely.  

Encourage people to ask, “Are you OK?” 

Many people are not going to feel equipped with the skills to ask someone if they’re OK. They may shy away from it. This year’s R U OK Day theme is “Here to Hear”, which captures the message here. Remind people that they don’t need to be counsellors to listen. Sometimes being heard is all someone really needs. And we’re all capable of listening. 

You may also want to think about how you can equip everyone in your organisation with the information they need if someone reaches out to them, and needs to take further steps. You can start by looking at R U OK’s How to ask section, and sharing any organisational supports – like your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – with all staff.   

Remember, there are different types of support – emotional, practical and information. Nobody needs to be all three. You can read more about how to have a supportive conversation in our piece for R U OK Day 2022.  

Don’t make check-ins hierarchical 

It can be really easy to fall into the trap of ticking the ‘check-in’ box via weekly meetings between a manager and an employee. And, while these check-ins are incredibly valuable for many reasons, it’s important not to rely on them to lead your check-in-culture (they can, of course, be part of it).  

Think about how you can create time and space for individuals to check in peer-to-peer, or even employee to manager, or even manager’s manager to employee. That means having a safe space for people to have these conversations, and also allowing these interactions to take place.  

Be intentional about checking in 

One of the many things R U OK Day does well, is highlight that it’s always a good time to ask, “Are you ok?”. Yes, there are signs you can and should be looking out for, but it’s also about acknowledging that sometimes people can seem OK, when they’re not. 

Think about how you can create practices to encourage check-ins throughout the year. You might want to have dedicated meetings, reminders, get-togethers or even just print collateral to put in the office, or in a dedicated check-in space. How you implement a check in culture is entirely up you, but the benefit to your people and your organisation is enormous.  

As Simon Sinek said, “Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything – for better or worse.” We think you can take this further, “How everyone treats each other impacts everything – for better or worse.” 

So let’s commit to be better together.  

Every single day of the year everyone in the workplace has a duty of care to make sure that they and other people are safe. 

Creating a check in culture is just one step you can take to building a culture of care, all year-round.  

In line with this year’s theme, “I’m here to hear”, our ‘Check in Culture’ workshop, part of our Being Well @ Work series unpacks how to ask someone if they’re OK, and how to respond, no matter what the answer is.  
 
If you’d like to get in touch about how Transitioning Well can support your R U OK activities contact us now. Hurry, space is limited. 

Want more inspiration to check in? We recommend reading this piece about how a stranger reaching out helped our own Head of Growth & Innovation, Mark Leopold.  

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