The workplace is more or less an ongoing cycle: workers come and go, managers switch out old employees for new ones, innovation takes place and drive the company to a more industrialized, youthful environment. And yet through all this commotion, the four-generation workforce (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials) is still dominantly present. However, as newer generations begin to prosper, younger aged employees are entering the workforce and this begs the question as to whether the four-generation workforce should still be integrated and promoted in modern businesses.
Although many bear the common belief that the older you are the wiser you get, and yet the older you get the slower you get. Businesses are posed with this dilemma as they ask “are we [really] ready for the fourth-generation workforce” (Al-Achrafi, 2015) to be reintegrated into corporations? The answer is, perhaps. According to research, an “age diverse workforce pays dividends in much the same way as gender and ethnic diversity does” (Al-Achrafi, 2015), so then, cost-wise, that isn’t much of an issue. However, the research to which the blogger is responding to, states that businesses must act in a way they believe will increase the attractiveness of their company at a lower cost, meanwhile increasing productivity by increasing working span. After all, compared to the older generation, “increasing life expectancy will inevitably lead to the extension of our working lives” (Al-Achrafi, 2015).
It is clear that there are many advantages and positive labels to being a youth. The source hints on how most business are biased towards youth because youth symbolizes the power of the next generation. Along with the qualities already mentioned, “two-way mentoring is also on the rise, with younger employees teaching older colleagues about social media, for example, and older workers sharing life-skills with their younger colleagues” (Al-Achrafi, 2015). While our beliefs tell us that a main advantage that older generations have over younger ones is their experience, if two-way mentoring is on the rise and younger employees are educating the older ones, wouldn’t the promotion of older generations in the workforce slowly die down?
CEO of Marmalade Fish, Samie Al-Achrafi believes otherwise in his blog. Although research bears many truths and logistics in its reasoning, Al-Achrafi argues that “older employees are often the most enthusiastic adopters of new technology” (Al-Achrafi, 2015), and for this, I agree with Al-Achrafi in that businesses should incorporate not only the four-generations but the working spirit of the older generation as well. They bring experience whether present or past and there is no such thing as too much experience in an organization. It is time to stop such a strong bias that can ultimately “put off older employees from [even] applying for a role” (Al-Achrafi, 2015) and instead treat everyone with equity.
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