Changes in the Workplace Reveal New Realities for Multigenerational Workforce

World at Work
May 27, 2008

There is increasing debate about the changing economy, shifting workforce demographics and, of course, over the reality of a future skilled worker shortage.

Randstad USA’s annual 2008 World of Work survey, however, uncovers a critical factor that will contribute to a very real talent shortage. According to Randstad, the four generations of workers that comprise the U.S. workforce, Gen X, Gen Y, Baby Boomers and Matures, rarely interact with one another and often do not recognize each other’s skills or work ethic.

As a result, U.S. businesses risk a shortage of skilled labor — not because of the lack of manpower in the wake of retiring Baby Boomers, but because of the limited transfer of knowledge. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gen Ys in today’s workforce (79.8 million) outnumber Boomers (78.5 million) who are perceived as retaining the bulk of working America’s institutional brain trust.

With this pending generational shift in the workplace, businesses need to focus on building professional relationships with their employees while developing employees’ skills, something Randstad calls “employership.” Central to successful employership is encouraging employee collaboration to achieve company goals, which relies, in part, on employers recognizing employee value, cultivating mutual respect and generating trust throughout the organization. Randstad’s 2008 World of Work survey suggests that companies which maintain an ongoing focus on employership, regardless of demographic or economic changes that impact the workplace, are better able to successfully meet employee expectations and achieve business goals.

Generational Divide

Although Boomers and Matures have much to offer Gen Y in regard to knowledge and experience, 51% of Boomers and 66% of Matures report little to no interaction with their Gen Y colleagues. And three of the four generations say they have little to no interaction with the most experienced workers – Matures (Gen Y, 71%; Gen X, 67%; Boomers, 58%).

“The workplace is on the verge of real change,” said Eric Buntin, managing director, marketing and operations for Randstad USA. “At Randstad, we believe companies that enact a culture of ‘employership’ can successfully navigate the changing workplace, regardless of economic and demographic shifts. By focusing on and encouraging the professional contributions of all employees, employers can help close the knowledge gap by instituting ways for each generation to recognize their strengths and value to all colleagues.”

Softening Expectations

Despite being perceived as the overly demanding generation, Gen Y, along with all employees, is lowering expectations. Specifically, Gen Y is establishing more realistic views of the workplace, and their once idealistic job expectations are maturing. “The declines among Gen Y’s expectations regarding hard and soft benefits are, on average, more dramatic than among employees as a whole, perhaps because Gen Y’s expectations started out higher and more out of reach,” Buntin said. “In fact, Gen X and Boomers are actually somewhat more interested in soft benefits than younger generations.”

According to the survey, when it comes to staying in current jobs, employees from each generation associate varying levels of importance toward soft benefits.

Closing the Gap

The survey shows that each generation sees itself as playing a distinct role in the workplace and, for the most part, employees describe the personality of coworkers’ in their same generation with fondness. It is their view of colleagues’ work ethic and abilities that is in question. For example, traits such as makes personal friends at work (49%), sociable (48%) and friendly (35%) are among those which Gen Y workers are most likely to use to describe coworkers in their generation. However, only 29% of Gen Y workers rate their generation as competent.

Gen X workers describe co-workers in their cohort as capable of interacting well with all age groups. “Based on their self-described generation personality, Gen X has the potential to bridge the generational gap between the youngest and oldest generations of workers,” Buntin said. “Leveraging this knowledge about generational strengths and value is part of employership, and something employers should act on to be a great place to work.”

This survey was conducted online within the United States on behalf of Randstad USA between Dec. 14, 2007, and Jan. 16, 2008, among 3,494 U.S. adults (age 18 and older), among whom 1,295 were employers and 2,199 were employees.