Diversity can benefit any workplace, and organisations that promote it are some of the most strong and successful. While diversity can include people from different cultural backgrounds or of different genders, this blog post will revolve around how to manage age diversity in the workplace.
It is important for companies to acknowledge that employees of any age can make great contributions to the business. By accepting and managing age diversity, organisations can get a boost that allows them to achieve more goals and become more successful. So, here are some tips on how to manage age diversity:
- Communications networks:
One of the best ways to manage age diversity is to facilitate strong networks of communication. As different generations can have different communication styles, it can become pretty frustrating for employees to communicate their message to colleagues. However, be careful when implementing these communication standards, as if they are too strict they can have negative consequences.
- Teamwork
A great way of reducing the feeling – especially within people lower on the hierarchy in the workplace – of being ruled by someone or having orders placed on them is to form teams and have employee performances depend on each other. The expectations of team work should be very clear, but it allows opportunities for employees to try new things and learn lessons from both successes and mistakes.
- Employee relationships:
Similar to using teamwork, the problem of age diversity can be reduced by creating ways for employees to bond and socialise with each other. This can include team activities, or team lunches or dinners, where employees of all ages are invited and are given the opportunity to form bonds.
- Conflicts
Unfortunately, conflicts can (and probably will) arise in the workplace every now and then. When this happens, Managers need to address them and get to the heart of the issue. By working with employees and helping them to resolve conflicts themselves you can create a healthier work environment, where differences are respected.
Hopefully this blog post has given you an idea of how to manage age diversity in the workplace, and you now feel ready to create a happier and more diverse team! If this means you are about to write some job adverts, check out our free guide: