This is the first time in American history that we have four generations working in the workplace. At work, generational differences can affect everything, including recruiting, building teams, dealing with change, motivating, managing, and maintaining and increasing productivity. Let’s just think of how generational differences, relative to how people communicate, might affect misunderstandings, high employee turnover, difficulty in attracting employees and gaining employee commitment. It is important that we recognize and bridge generational gaps for a more powerful competitive advantage in our Agencies. It is time that we dissolve the boundaries between generations and adapt to the new workplace because the skills, talents, and expertise of every generation are needed more than ever to rebuild an economy that has been on a roller coaster ride for nearly two decades. In an unstable, unpredictable world, Agencies must turn diversity into a strength and become fluid and flexible to meet workload demands.

We all know people are living a lot longer and working longer leading to this new reality in the workplace. The significance is in terms of types of workforce behaviors, what motivates employee engagement, and the tools and practices they need to interact. It this mixed, multi-generational environment is a new diversity challenge. We have a responsibility to understand and engage everyone’s talents and skills to collaborate on getting the best work done every day. (See the chart below)

Federally Employed Women (FEW) promotes diversity in the workplace, not only for women but for all generations. We commitment ourselves to a well-informed and skilled workforce on all issues dealing with legislative, compliance and diversity. It is vital that we utilize our difference to excel our Agencies missions and get the job done well. Science has proved that the generation gap is real. Workplace harmony is not always easy because of these generational gaps. In the chart below we define the outlooks and differences. Most times we never discuss our co-workers generational differences.  It’s time we bring awareness to the diversity of our workforce and the unspoken generational gaps.