Learn how to attract, lead and retain employees in your multi-generational startup

Bridging gaps in the workplace 

A multigenerational workforce is made up of employees from different generations: millennials working with baby boomers, or Generation X working with Generation Z. A startup hiring across generations is confronted with different expectations from each in salary, benefits and work style. Learn how to manage each efficiently and understand what your employees are looking for in an ideal workplace. 

Understanding who they are and what they expect

Baby Boomers

Born between 1946 and 1964

Tend to have a robust work ethic, are not tech or digital savvy but pragmatic. Are used to face-to-face interactions, enjoy recognition and achievements. They aren’t job hopping and tend to share their knowledge with others. Baby boomers are focused on retirement savings and looking for a balance between work and home.

X Generation

Born between 1965 and 1980

Self-reliant and independent, they usually want to work individually. They may be looking for stock options, mortgage services and monetary gifts as benefits.

Y Generation, “Millennials”

Born between 1981 and 1995

Millennials make up the largest generation currently employed. They are comfortable working digitally, easily adopt new trends and tend to work well remotely. They are looking for an established working culture and a deeper sense of purpose, and they care about performance.

Z Generation

Born between 1995 and 2010

Gen Z employees want a strong digital brand and are eager to work in a collaborative environment with a common mission. They want help with their student debt or tuition reimbursement, training opportunities and a decent salary.

Alfa Generation

Born in 2010 onwards

Although not your employees yet, this generation will most likely take interest in the tech world and bring new digital ideas into the workforce as their reliance on tech platforms will only increase. They will likely focus on mental health issues and largely disregard retirement or family benefits.

Creating a multi-generational workforce 

Harmonising the corporate environment involves knowledge sharing between different social backgrounds. Build trust with common thinking and cooperation in meetings. Stay up to date with technological advances and social factors that will influence your employees.

Understand what their preferred incentives are. Previous generations are focused on family values, retirement savings; the younger generations are focused on learning new skills. In meetings, set shared expectations for success with joint goal settings; find common ground and listen. 

Be a communicator

In general, talking to one another, both professionally and informally, gives you an insight into each other’s perceptions. There’s always something to learn. You can clarify and reiterate expectations, collect feedback and create learning opportunities in your workforce. 

Try to see things in their eyes. For instance, Generation Z may be considered the most informed generation. They may also seem individualistic partly due to the increase of social media. Instagram and Tiktok may encourage vanity, but the younger generations want to make a visible social imprint and look for companies who share the same values.