In an article published on the Harvard Business site last Friday, Jeanne C. Meister and Karie Willyerd suggested that we will soon be working in a 5-generation workforce. Change is already galloping ahead of us; are we going into overdrive?

It seems to me that many organizations are still struggling to cope with 4 generations in the workplace. I work in a small business that employs 4 generations – we are mostly Boomers and Gen-X, however, our oldest was born in 1942, and our youngest was born in 1985.  Every single day I witness conversations that exemplify the generation gap.

Many people are delaying retirement. Not only have they lost much of their savings in the economic downturn, but we continue to advance healthcare so that our aging Baby Boomers and Traditionalists are healthier than ever. Additionally, advances in workplace thinking have created environments that foster greater fulfillment. It’s hard to want to retire when you love your job.

My mom said last night that retirement is for the people who no longer have the flexibility to cope with a transforming work environment. If that is so, then as learning & performance professionals, we have a responsibility to help our coworkers deal with that change, and the multiple generations that are bringing it. When you consider the numbers, that means adapting — not to four, but five generations of workers.

Generation 2020 turns 18 in six years. Will your organization be ready? Read more here:

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/10/are_you_ready_to_manage_five_g.html

Tags: generational issues, Learning & Performance, managing people, strategic planning, succession planning, Talent Management

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 9:51 am and is filed under Learning & Performance, WLP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.