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Enhancing Engagement In The 5-Generation Workforce

Enhancing Engagement In The 5-Generation Workforce
by Kathryn Moody

Businesses today face a unique challenge: hiring and managing a multigenerational workforce. Engaging employees at various stages of their career can be difficult, and generational differences can make it even more challenging.

What is the value of engagement? Engagement translates into more than happy employees. Employees who are not engaged are costly: one study estimates that one-third of American employees as disengaged from their work at a cost to employers of $450 to $550 billion dollars per year. In addition to low productivity, companies without engaged staffers see higher turnover; Gallup reports 56% of disengaged and 73% of actively disengaged employees look for new jobs. In today’s tight talent market, that much turnover can be highly disruptive.

"The main challenge in engaging employees across generations is that generations differ in the way they approach work/life balance, loyalty, authority, and other issues that affect your organization," according to Diane Belcher, senior director, product management, at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning.

The needs of each generation may be diverse, they may see rewards and recognition differently and they may take a different approach to ownership of the work. But they all have some commonalities that employers can build upon. Whatever the mix in an organization, employees need some of the basics to be engaged.

Read full article on HR Dive.