Today’s workforce is the most generationally diverse in history. There are currently six generations reflected in the makeup of many companies and industries, including the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha.
From octogenarians to teenagers, each of these groups of workers has something unique and valuable to contribute to their employers. For example, the older generations have a wealth of invaluable experience and perspectives to share through training and mentorship roles, while younger generations can provide fresh perspectives and skill sets that will appeal to a new wave of clientele, vendors, and internal stakeholders.
So how can companies capitalize on this unique opportunity to work with and learn from a diversity of employees at every level of the generational spectrum? Here are five ways to adapt recruitment processes and practices to appeal to this multigenerational workforce:
Know the Difference Between Generational and Age-Related Differences
A report from HBR reveals a common management mistake: conflating differences in opinion, approach, and skill resulting from a generational divide to those resulting from differences in age and life stage. While age and generation are related concepts, there are also big differences. When recruiting employees at different age levels, managers might need to think primarily about what life stage those employees are in, and what supports and perks they might prioritize based on that. For example, an employee with young children might prioritize staying home with their family, while an empty-nester might be more excited to take on a traveling role.
Generations, on the other hand, are more like cultures than age groups. They grew up in the same era, meaning they have a lot of shared values and belief systems based on what they’ve experienced in global affairs, technological advancements, and cultural phenomena. For example, Boomers and Generation X were fully integrated into the workforce when the Great Recession of 2008 hit, so they were heavily impacted by and still base career-planning decisions on the financial and psychological effects of that time period. Millennials may have felt some of the impact as they aged into the workforce, but Generation Z didn’t experience any professional blowback from the recession so they may not carry as much anxiety or stress regarding career changes as the older generations.
Knowing these differences can help you connect with and cater your recruitment efforts toward the specific needs of the individual or groups you’re targeting.
Lead with Trust, Respect, & Professionalism
It doesn’t matter how old an employee is or when they grew up — everybody wants (and deserves) to be treated with respect. Any recruitment strategy with the core values of trust, respect, and professionalism at its center will appeal to employees in every age group and generational cohort. In creating job descriptions, conducting interviews, submitting offers, and navigating the onboarding process, let these three values guide your decisions and communications. And use those same values as the benchmark for evaluating candidates — expect the same trust, respect, and professionalism from candidates you interview, hire, and train.
Be Authentic — They’ll Know if You’re Not
In any market, but especially one as candidate-driven as ours today, companies aren’t just “buying” employees based on their skills and qualifications — they’re also “selling” the specific opportunity they’re hiring for, and their company in general. And as so much of today’s workforce is part of a “digital native” generation that grew up with a certain level of tech savvy, they’re used to being “sold” to by marketing campaigns across platforms and devices.
What does that mean for companies recruiting today? Authenticity is key — employees have more tools at their disposal than ever before to evaluate whether a company is what they say they are, so companies need to be able to deliver on what they promise. Communicate a strong vision in your marketing, interviewing, and onboarding processes. Offer a glimpse into what it’s like to work for your company through workplace culture videos — keep them short and shareable, and let your employees share their experiences in their own words. After all, we ask candidates to prove their value through measurable, demonstrable success — companies should do the same and offer measurable, demonstrable success in supporting employee growth and offering challenging, meaningful work.
Customize Job Offers to Provide Appealing Work Experiences & Environments
Once your marketing campaigns and interview processes have caught the interest of quality candidates, it’s time to close the deal. When it comes to making a job offer, customization is the key if you want to attract the best available talent. Having a boilerplate offer on file can be a helpful place to start, but look back at the broad range of age-related and generational differences among the six-generation candidate pool companies are dealing with today. Not all of those candidates want or need the same kinds of support and benefits from their careers, so their job offers should reflect their individual wants and needs, at least to a degree.
For example: Millennials and Gen Z are known for being mission-driven and willing to compromise on salaries in order to work in jobs that are meaningful to them and impactful in their communities. In other words, they’re not in it just for the cash. To attract up-and-coming talent, it helps to offer strong career and personal development options, such as multigenerational mentorship programs, to help them develop careers they’re proud of and invested in for the long term. Those same mentorship programs, on the other hand, give Silent Generation and Baby Boomer leaders the opportunity to share their knowledge and assist in developing the next generations of workers, creating appeal for candidates in those cohorts.
While employees who are closer to retirement might be more focused on building up their savings than Gens Z or Alpha, no generation is motivated 100% by salary. So find ways to identify a target employee’s priorities and build a job offer with aspects that are specifically designed for them.
Design Processes & Solutions that Address Everyone’s Needs — It Is Possible
While creating custom accommodations for individual employees’ needs is possible and necessary in some situations, it’s not feasible all the time. Let’s face it: companies have a limited bandwidth and budget for creating totally unique work experiences for every single employee. Fortunately, it is possible to design workplace processes, solutions, and environments that will appeal to candidates from any generation.
Consider the idea of flexible work schedules. This is a hot-button issue in many industries, with many employees listing it among their top employment requests, and others expressing frustration over the perceived entitlement and laziness some associate with working from home. How can companies ensure that all of their employees are satisfied with their flex work policies? The foundation of flexibility is trust, so in order to have a successful flex policy, managers have to hire employees they can trust — and then trust them to do their jobs. If they have a proven track record of success in hybrid or remote work, great! Trust them to succeed and don’t worry about how that success is achieved. Otherwise, consider offering a trial run, with continued flexibility contingent on their success.
For that to work, you have to clearly establish what “success” looks like, by creating, tracking, and enforcing KPIs and benchmarks that all employees must adhere to, whether in the office or remote. By tying flexibility to clearly defined metrics for success, companies leave the flexibility option on the table while creating accountability and hard proof that remote or flex employees are working just as hard as those in the office and having just as much success. Those clear boundaries also help provide necessary structure and support for newer employees who are still learning how to navigate the balance between flexibility and accountability.
Recruiting a multigenerational workforce is a necessary practice for employers today, and it’s also a great strategy for building strong, diverse, resilient, and innovative teams. These five tips can help employers adapt their recruiting practices to succeed in bringing top talent from all generations onto their teams.
