{"id":167,"date":"2016-07-18T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/employcoblog.wordpress.com\/?p=167"},"modified":"2019-11-13T08:59:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T14:59:59","slug":"generational-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.employco.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/18\/generational-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Generational Workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Wilkey \u2013 Employco Human Resources<\/p>\n

With the average age of retirement slowly increasing \u2013 whether due to financial needs, personal reasons, or simply because the average lifespan is also increasing \u2013 it isn\u2019t uncommon to see organizations employing four to five generations at the same time.\u00a0 Managing and recruiting such an extensive range of age groups can be difficult, but understanding a little bit about the wants and needs of each group can help both employers and employees maintain a cohesive workplace.<\/p>\n

The first step is to understand what defines each generation, and how those generations are formed.\u00a0 Generations are grouped not only because of their age and birth year, but also based on the social and cultural events occurring during their lifetime that ends up shaping their values, concepts, and beliefs.<\/p>\n

For instance, a person in their 50\u2019s who has been working for several decades is unlikely to have the same perspective as someone in their early 20\u2019s who is just entering the workforce.\u00a0 Along those same lines, an individual who lived through the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, or the digital boom, will be influenced by those major cultural events, and those same cultural events will impact how they approach their jobs, co-workers, and the workplace in general.<\/p>\n

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Although some researchers disagree on the exact birth years, it is generally accepted that the following are the five generations currently living and eligible to be in the workforce:<\/p>\n