MANAGING THE GENERATION MIX

The workplace revolution of the last decade has been profound, but now there are powerful demographic forces underway that will cement the Generational Shift in numbers, norms and values. Four generations are jostling for position as we work together through the most profound changes since the Industrial Revolution.

The oldest most experienced workers (the 7% of the workforce born before 1946) is beginning their gradual exit from the workforce. They take with them vast amounts of skill, knowledge, and wisdom, as two experienced workers exit the workforce for every new one over the next ten years. Meanwhile, the Baby Boomers (the 42% born 1946-1964) are becoming the aging workforce; every day 8-10,000 Baby Boomers turn 60 years of age. Soon huge cadres of aging workers (many with significant power in organizations) will reach advanced life stages, at which they will need and demand more flexible work conditions. As the Boomers reinvent aging and retirement, they will add their own spin to the “free agent” mindset pioneered by Generation X (the 29% born 1965-1977). Generation X and Generation Y will become the dominant players in the prime age workforce.  As they do, they will usher out the last vestiges of the old-fashioned workplace values and norms and finish the workplace revolution. As Generation Y (the 22% born after 1977) emerges in the workplace in force, they are demonstrating that they have no attachment to the old-fashioned career path and work patterns. Generation Y is turning out to be the most high maintenance workforce in the history of the world; they are like Generation X on steroids.

What does the generation mix look like in your organization? And what does it mean for the future of your organization? Understand the four generations in the workplace today--each at different life stages, each with conflicting perspectives, expectations, and needs. Learn best practices to foster understanding, leverage strengths, avoid clashes, improve productivity, and maximize teamwork. Turn age diversity into a strategic advantage for your organization.

Bruce Tulgan is widely recognized as the leading expert on generational differences in the workforce. Drawing on ongoing research conducted since 1993, Bruce has written numerous books and articles on the subject. He is world-renowned for helping business leaders understand and maximize age diversity in their organizations and for teaching managers at all levels how to become the kind of highly engaged “great bosses” that employees need.

1. Where is each generation coming from and where are they going?
2. How can you use age diversity as a lens through which to see the future?
3. What are the human capital management issues presented by age diversity in today’s economy? And what are the best practices addressing those issues? What can you do to prevent a talent drain among your aging workforce? How will you deal with the mid-level leadership gap? How can you manage the coming shortage of “prime working-age” employees? 
4. Why is it getting so much harder to manage people? And how can managers take a hands-on-transactional (HOT) approach to drive employee performance AND meet the needs of workers of all ages?
5. What can leaders and managers do to recruit, select, train, manage, and retain the best workers of every age?
6. New research about the under-management epidemic afflicting so many organizations and how to avoid/cure it.
7. Strategies for building a high performance workplace by focusing on the greatest point of leverage---supervisory relationships.
8. Ideas for getting your leaders, at all levels, to take responsibility for being a better manager and have the guts to take charge.

Based On the Book: Managing the Generation Mix: From Urgency to Opportunity (Expanded Second Edition) by Bruce Tulgan and Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D. (235pp / Paperback)