Roundtable participants
- Niki Turner-Harding, senior vice-president & country head, Adecco
- Jorge Aisa Dreyfus, executive vice-president of talent, capability & culture, Sage
- Theresa Palmer, global head of diversity, equity & inclusion at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence
- Anna Purchas, vice-chair and London office senior partner, KPMG UK
- Mark Wilson, group people director of talent acquisition, Babcock
- Anna Wisniowski, people business partnering director, Tesco
The modern workforce has been transformed by the intersection of shifting demographics, decreasing birth rates, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Great Resignation, digital transformation, geopolitical uncertainty, large-scale migration, and other continually evolving socioeconomic factors. Consequently, for the first time in history, workers now span five generations – bookended by generation Z at the bottom end and the silent generation, born between 1928 and 1945, at the other – each with unique needs and expectations. Accommodating everyone is a complex challenge, but one worth solving to improve performance today and tomorrow. Moreover, against a backdrop of talent scarcity, businesses must get this right.
Talent advisory and solutions company Adecco’s Global Workforce of the Future research explores the main reasons employees will either stay with or leave their employer, with generational differences evident in their findings.
Niki Turner-Harding, Adecco’s senior vice-president and UK country head, emphasises how much the workplace has changed since we exited the pandemic. Yet while the workforce has evolved, Niki argues that “managers have not been equipped with the skills needed to address the individual and diverse needs of each generation”.
Jorge Aisa Dreyfus, executive vice-president of talent, capability and culture at finance, HR and payroll software firm Sage, views the multigenerational workforce as an opportunity to tackle talent challenges. He cites the example of a 57 year-old apprentice at Sage embarking on his third career, this time in tech. However, Aisa Dreyfus also stresses the importance of being “a nice human being” and providing feedback, guidance and a sense of purpose, which transcend generational boundaries.
The challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce are not to be underestimated. According to research from the London School of Economics, published in January, generational tensions are linked to lower workplace productivity in the United Kingdom and the United States. Workers with managers over 12 years their senior are nearly 1.5 times as likely to report low productivity. The study also found that older employees often struggle with younger managers. These findings highlight the need for effective communication and understanding across generations.
Turner-Harding says Adecco has provided managers with toolkits and brought in subject matter experts to facilitate workshops. She says the most crucial aspect is fostering mentorship and reverse mentorship to encourage conversations and build confidence in approaching these discussions. “In some cases, they’re not easy conversations,” she says. “They talk freely to their own generation or the generation directly next door, but not wider.”
Creating a sense of belonging
People business partnering director at Tesco, Anna Wisniowski, notes that 36% of Tesco’s UK workforce is comprised of gen X – after baby boomers and before millennials – surpassing the proportion of gen Z (23%). She says there is a growing importance placed on flexibility for all generations, with gen X colleagues seeking part-time arrangements and gen Z prioritising work-life balance and hybrid working. Tesco has responded by offering digital upskilling for its core workforce and reskilling opportunities across different departments. “For that gen X cohort, we could be doing so much more as a country to help with their skills and future within the workforce,” she says.
How do you best focus on a sense of belonging across your organisation so that people of different generations feel they belong, and everybody is confident to share their views?
Anna Purchas, vice-chair and London office senior partner at KPMG UK, underscores the value of experience in navigating uncharted waters. With an average age of 27 at KPMG, many employees have never weathered an economic downturn. Little wonder Adecco data finds 62% of large employers are trying to persuade older people back to work.
Purchas advocates for cross-generational knowledge sharing and nurturing a sense of belonging in the modern workplace. “Yet in a hybrid world, that is hard because you’re not always all sitting around a table together.” Purchas asks: “How do you best focus on a sense of belonging across your organisation so that people of different generations feel they belong, and everybody is confident to share their views?”
Theresa Palmer, global head of diversity, equity and inclusion at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, argues that the answer lies in how a company engages with a new recruit. A question she typically uses is: “Tell me how you work best”. She adds: “We always listen to our people. We use our employee resource groups to discover intersectionality.”
Flexibility has emerged as a vital consideration for employees across the generational spectrum. Palmer points out that the definition of flexibility varies among companies and roles. Further, flexibility is about where work is performed and how companies interact with their employees. “Communication styles are completely different across the generations,” she says. “Very few organisations have got it right. It’s still a work in progress for many, even down to the employee benefits offered.”
Wisniowski points out that Tesco has developed a two-way communication platform that enables colleagues to engage with the business and each other in real-time, using video posts and local-level interactions. The internal channel boasts an impressive Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 31, higher than that of Instagram and Facebook, and has been a transformation for Tesco. With over 200,000 colleagues using the platform, it has become a crucial engagement tool across the organisation.
What workers want
Mark Wilson, group people director of talent acquisition at Babcock, highlights flexibility limitations in industries such as manufacturing and logistics, where work must be performed on-site and in coordination with others. He also raises concerns about the impact of the UK’s housing crisis on workforce mobility and the feasibility of remote work for new entrants.
“The opportunities for flexible working for the 3,500 people that we have building warships are minimal because you can’t take that work home,” Wilson says. “Yet knowledge workers within the projects definitely have the opportunities for flexibility because the work can be digitally shared.” He adds: “The real opportunity sits from an internal mobility piece.”
Palmer agrees, voicing fears that this situation could unwittingly create a two-tier workforce. “I work with digital intelligence, where we have a lot of software engineers and data analysts, but the wider organisation traditionally has a lot of electrical and mechanical engineers, so we have very different workforce populations to cater for,” she says. “That’s why workforce mobility has to be more available. There have to be other paths made available; otherwise, job satisfaction will be low.”
Purpose power
Purpose is one of Adecco’s five megatrends, and its research shows that job satisfaction is increasingly important, as 20% of employees are looking to change jobs in the next 12 months because they don’t find their work meaningful. In an era of heightened visibility and polarised views, leaders must be authentic, value-driven, and comfortable with change, says Purchas.
The onus is on those at the top to create “a sense of belonging and ensure that everyone feels like a true colleague”. She underlines the importance of believing in the organisation’s purpose, giving colleagues time to explore its meaning, and for leaders to be willing to apologise when mistakes are made.
The road ahead may be challenging, but by embracing the imperatives of flexibility, skills, purpose and authentic leadership, organisations can unlock the full potential of their multigenerational workforce and thrive in the face of uncertainty.
Read more about the trends impacting the UK Labour Market in Adecco’s Labour Market Outlook research
