When it comes to making decisions at work, are you open to hearing the viewpoints of someone decades older or younger than you? Or does it feel more comfortable to get opinions from colleagues closer to your own age?
You may be forgiven for wondering whether experienced 50- or 60-somethings are as agile and tech-savvy as those born in the smartphone era. After all, they were well into middle-age before the iPhone came along.
If you’re a leader who falls into the Millennial, Gen X or Boomer categories, you may already be dealing with a huge range of abilities and attitudes among your teams.
And if you’re in the older groups, you may be reporting to a younger manager with a vastly different approach to work. Either way, we may all be guilty of making unfair assumptions about the value that each group can bring.
Handling ageism in the workplace
The headlines remind us that, like it or not, ageism is alive and well at work – not just for Gen X-ers and Boomers, but also for Gen Zs making the climb into middle management. Various workplace studies in 2024 highlight pervasive bias in decision-making and a lack of inclusivity at both ends of the working-age spectrum.
Of course, it’s not all about tech, although AI-happy workplaces are regularly grabbing the headlines.
The problem is equally about our everyday communication styles, expectations, and empathy (or lack of it) for the viewpoints of people who grew up in different ‘eras’.
Changing values and expectations of different generations can create tension
In larger organisations with diverse workforces, most employees will find themselves working alongside colleagues with various backgrounds, who hold different values, beliefs, and attitudes to work.
The burnout and overtime culture may have felt normal for those of 45 and up, but it’s increasingly rejected by balance-driven, purpose-led Gen Zs and self-assured Millennials on the lookout for a new opportunity.
All of this can put significant strain on how we communicate, solve problems, and relate to each other.
A more harmonious workforce would help organisations better accept and embrace disruption and change, especially when the much-anticipated rollout of AI will see more significant change than ever.
The multigenerational challenge for leadership
Yet managing four or even five generations (over 70s = the ‘Traditionalists’) in one place remains one of the trickiest challenges for organisational leaders.
Only six per cent of organisations strongly agreed that their leaders know how to manage intergenerational teams effectively, when asked in a report by Deloitte in 2020.
The shift to remote working during the pandemic made matters worse, greatly reducing opportunities for people of different age groups to make meaningful connections at work.
2024 research from LinkedIn found that only one in five people from Gen Z have spoken to someone over the age of 50 at work in the past year, while 44% of over-55s have ‘avoided conversations with the youngest generation’.
This isn’t just about ageism in recruitment. It’s about respecting and making the most of who’s already showing up for work every day, actively connecting different groups, recognising other people’s values, rejecting bias and learning to uncover what makes us similar, rather than what separates us.
Putting in the work to understand different perspectives
Can we, as leaders and team managers, adapt our thinking and behaviour?
As well as offer inclusive leadership training, we must work to challenge stereotypes.
People need to be hired, trained and developed in a way that allows for intergenerational inclusion. We might also consider reverse mentoring – schemes that encourage skill-sharing, for example pairing seasoned workers with entry-level employees.
In France, the IÉSEG school of management has introduced ‘intergenerational workshops’ as part of its executive programme in human development and change management. The sessions explore how different generations find meaning in relationships at work, how they relate to hierarchy and work environments, and how they communicate.
Taking ownership of how we speak … and listen to each generation
And that’s the part we can all improve. We may not be able to change an inherently ageist workplace culture overnight, but we can improve how we communicate with people from different generations. We can revisit how we choose to talk to each other and resist making assumptions.
If we’re honest, how much do we tolerate or respect opinions, perspectives and behavioural traits vastly different from our own? Do we actively include interpersonal skills in our learning and development programmes?
This is where self-awareness and other-awareness comes in.
We may naturally gravitate towards like-minded thinkers, but diversity of thought is important for so many reasons, not least because it stretches and enriches us. Unconscious bias has a lot to answer for, as do pre-judgements about colleagues who aren’t from our peer group.
Looking at different workplace generations with awareness
We need to consider our language, our pre-conceived ideas about people born in different decades and our level of understanding about values and why others act the way they do.
For example, seasoned mid-career workers may criticise much younger people for not working ‘hard’, but for 20-something employees, it’s not about working less hard, it’s about a healthier view of how work fits into life, not the other way round. Generation Z tend to be more wary of corporate culture, less influenced by authority figures they don’t yet trust, have healthier boundaries and are less likely to welcome being asked at the last minute to attend a 5pm meeting. Quite simply, their values are different.
Whereas Gen X and Boomers may have seen saying yes to out-of-hours requests as the only way to stay in the running for promotion, the corporate ladder is not valued or revered in the same way by younger entrepreneurial workers.
This doesn’t mean they’re ‘shirking’. (And yes, lazy language plays a huge role here too!) Most employers and studies report that Gen Z is highly motivated by professional development, mentoring and training, placing high value on learning new skills to ensure their future employability.
Gen Z communication tips for entering the workplace
Navigating a new workplace can be daunting for any age group, and especially if you’re a Gen Z starting your first office job. Here are a few tips to help you get settled in.
- Ask about mentoring programmes. Your company should pair you with someone sympathetic who will listen to your concerns and guide you smoothly through your onboarding.
- Look after your mental health. Self-care is important. Find out about what health benefits the company provides and take advantage of them. Speak up if you’re struggling.
- Keep learning. Ask about any development training programmes the company offers where you can build your confidence and learn skills that may come in useful for your future career.
Make meaningful connections. Build good working relationships with people from all age groups. Just because someone is from an older generation doesn’t mean they don’t share your values.
Which brings us back to intergenerational values...
When our values are ignored, we feel threatened, defensive and off-balance. For many, they are the non-negotiable, deeply held principles that guide our choices.
So it follows that understanding our colleagues’ values and beliefs, even if we don’t agree with them, can help to communicate and solve challenges in a way that’s meaningful to the other person.
In Insights language, we talk about values in terms of colour energies (Cool Blue, Earth Green, Sunshine Yellow and Fiery Red) based on Jung’s theory of personality types.
Introduced through workshops, this common colour-language is already used around the globe by thousands of employees in hundreds of organisations.
It helps colleagues of all generations appreciate why the people they work with are motivated by different beliefs, and how this affects their behaviour and preference for a particular working style. The language of colour energies focuses on personality styles rather than age, empowering people to transcend ageist beliefs that may hold them back from appreciating each other.
Let’s embrace the reality & challenge of different generations in the workplace
Every human brings a unique perspective and rich set of ideas and experiences to the workplace, so it seems hard to believe that in 2025 we still face widespread ageism at work.
We need to be as human as possible about this. (Even in this AI era, machines can’t empathise like we can!). It goes without saying that if employees of any age feel that their needs are consistently misunderstood and unmet, they’ll take their talent elsewhere. Gen Z certainly will.
And as retirement ages rise, people live longer, and the increased cost of living delays retirement plans, working with colleagues older than us is as much a workplace reality as trying to meet the needs of Gen Z.
The proportion of the workforce aged 50 and over is set to grow, so there’s an increasing urgency for organisations to communicate more effectively across the generations and, crucially, about the generations.
Phoenix Group even made the decision recently to phase out the unhelpful term, ‘older workers’.
The workplace is one of the most common places where people mix across generations, so it makes sense to leverage that vast diversity of thought.
By genuinely welcoming different perspectives and learning to communicate better with colleagues born in different decades, we can improve our business outcomes and employee wellbeing.
And most importantly, we gift ourselves more opportunities to become more open-minded, flexible, articulate, empathetic human beings, and with that, remain more employable ourselves…
Insights Discovery is an L&D training system that creates high-performing teams by enhancing awareness and workplace relationships. Using a memorable four-colour model to illustrate different behavioural styles, it creates a common language that connects colleagues across geographical and cultural boundaries, fostering collaboration, driving productivity and transforming workplaces.
