Why a Multi-Generational Workforce Brings Diversity and More Opportunities for Business

By Minhaj Zia, Vice President, South East Asia, India & SAARC, Polycom

Minhaj Zia, Vice President, South East Asia, India & SAARC, Polycom

Remember what a typical office environment looked like? It was not too long ago that only the ‘old guys’ were the senior leaders in an organisation? Those who had spent years working their way up to the so called ‘top jobs’ and earned the coveted private office, locked away from the rest of the team. The so-called ‘young ones’ sat in their rows of cubicles, waiting for their own chance to move up the ladder and have a private office of their own.

Fast forward to today, we now work in a far more complex and diverse workplace environment. More open and collaborative with a thriving spirit of innovation that crosses generations from Baby Boomers to millennials. We live and operate in an era that has seen rapid advances in technology, creating new ways of working - agile workforces and mobile workers who are embracing a more ‘work from anywhere’ style of getting the job done, without being confined to any one location or an office.

We have also seen a major demographic shift in the age range of our working population – where we now have talent pools made up of different age groups and generations. Each generation is different in not just their expectations of a job and a work environment, but in how they communicate and interact.

Does Workplace Diversity Create More Opportunities?

For me, it has never been a greater time to be in a leadership role. The South East Asian and Indian talent pool is so rich and diverse, from cultural viewpoints to innovative ideas. Diversity – and not just gender diversity–brings different ideas, backgrounds and assumptions to the table. Having a talent pool made up of different generations means you have a broader perspective and can draw upon a wider range of ideas to make better decisions. Our customers are certainly not all aged in their fifties; or even their twenties, so having senior leaders and employees who act more like our customer base can only be a positive thing.

Organisations which don’t embrace and respect such differences tend to become those that aren’t able to keep up with changing market trends, or think about the problems they face in a new way. Let’s face it, any business that says, “We’re doing just fine the way we are” is missing out and risk being sidelined by the next start-up.

The Pathway To Success Will Be In Asking Ourselves How We Can Leverage The Current Multi-Generational Workforce To Create More Opportunities For Businesses

Just look at what happened to video stores and taxi firms when the likes of Netflix and Uber hit town. And, who knows what online retailers such as Amazon Prime will do to the mix!

Allowing More Technology Choice within the Workplace

New technologies are no longer just for millennials. Most of us have been using laptops, tablets or smartphones as part of our daily lives for over two decades. Naturally, we expect to have the same mobility and flexibility when it comes to our working lives too.

My team is made up of four generations, and perhaps not surprising, each generation has its own preferred hardware and communications preferences, and not just a device-of-choice but also the way how they use it. The Snapchat and Instagram generation, for example, prefer to use their smartphones to communicate with video and visuals. They are not as comfortable sending text or SMS with emojis (which are becoming commonplace), or using the telephone to make a voice call.

I’ve found that by being flexible and adapting my own preferred communication style to suit the team members I’m working with improves workplace communication. I use email, WhatsApp, telephone and video conferencing throughout any day – dependant on what each member is most comfortable with.

Why Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce is not ‘Rocket-Science’

For any leader, the ability to bring a diverse group of people together to achieve a common purpose or business outcome is always enormously satisfying. Managing such a diverse group doesn’t need to involve a shift in major mind set, generational intelligence training, or re-writing the HR ‘playbook’. At the heart of it is the need to focus on our employees as people, regardless of age, gender, lifestyle choice, or work location. It’s also about empowering them with the right tools to get the job done.

We need to make sure that people are collaborating, building relationships, connecting with each other and remaining as productive as possible whether they choose to work in an office or remotely. This means enabling them with access to the right business and communication tools to be successful – an adequate laptop, the ability to dial into audio and video conference calls, and content-sharing platforms so they can hear and be heard.

Understanding Workplaces Differences Leads to Workplace Success

Multi-generational teams provide diversity in thinking. When you think about it, the older generations were not always afforded as much education as the younger generations are today – opting instead to learn on the job. When you see the ideas that come from combining the wisdom and experience of the older workforce with the inquisitive minds of the younger cohort it is great to be a part of. I enjoy leading such a diverse team.

When I look towards the workplace of the future, for me, the pathway to success will be in asking ourselves how we can leverage the current multi-generational workforce to create more opportunities for businesses. It’s about asking how we can look at our differences not as potential problems but as part of a potential strategy that will deliver tangible business benefits for ourselves and our customers. To really succeed in the future, we will all need to question the status quo and think differently about the challenges ahead.