Does having a Multi-generational team have to mean Multi-issues? Or, is this diversity an under utilised source of innovation and productivity?  What challenges and opportunities has having a multigenerational workforce generated in your organisation?

Organisations can now include up to 4 different generations; Veterans, Baby Boomers , Generation X and Generation Y/Millennials. Clearly, with different generations there will be differences in communication styles, differing value systems, disparate approaches to work and interpersonal conflict.
Reward and recognition can be particularly difficult to manage across a multi-generational team – given that the primary purpose of such programs is to evoke desirable behaviour and promote engagement, misguided targeting and undesirable rewards can render your efforts at best ineffective and at worst detrimental to morale and engagement.
The job for life your dad, or maybe your grandad, lusted after, is a thing of the past – both in availability and desirability  – the role that a job and employer play in people’s life’s is rapidly changing, and HR departments have to balance this role across multi generations.
Have you performed a  Benefits, Reward & Recognition audit lately?

• Have you analysed the representation of the different generations across your program?
• Have you included non-monetary rewards?
• Do you provide flexibility like work from home options?
• Do you provide advancement opportunities or do staff have to leave to move upward?
• Does your reward program include rewards your multi generation team actually find rewarding?
• Have you consulted your team and involved them in the program?
• Have you started with a set of organisational goals and objectives off which to measure and reward?

 
In reality, even if you diligently tick off all of the above, it is extremely difficult to find a reward that is both attractive and stimulating whilst maintaining affordability. Even store gift cards which seem to provide ample flexibility can blow up in your face! (have you ever seen the look on a 19 year old hipster who gets a  gift card for a chain of stores she feels represents  all that is wrong with capitalism and  overseas child labour?…)
All this said, organisations have never been better positioned to take advantage of all the opportunities presented by such widely spread generational representation in the workforce.
Those in the know are blending experience and innovation, steadfastness and ambition, attention to detail with blue sky thinking and processes with flexibility.
The successful organisations of the future will be those that create environments which harness and nurture the unique skills and capabilities of multiple generations and cultures.
Rewards Come True provide custom branded corporate gift cards which can be used anywhere eftpos is accepted. When it comes to rewarding a diverse workforce these eftpos gift cards offer more flexibility than any other reward mechanism on the market.