Workers’ Needs Vary By Age
Keeping employees engaged in the midst of layoffs, pay cuts and a skittish economy can be difficult. A new study suggests that organizations should adopt policies that address different generations of workers’ needs, rather than attempting one-size-fits-all fixes.
The study, conducted jointly by Boston College’s Sloan Center for Aging and Work and MetLife, examines what engages employees according a number of factors—especially age.
The results show different generations of workers want different things from their jobs, requiring a variety of strategies to engage everyone and boost productivity. For example, Millennials (those under 30) want flexibility, while older Gen Xers (ages 38 to 44) are most engaged in managerial roles with job security.
“Given the downturn, employers are very interested in doing the most they can with the workers continuing with them, and these are low-cost ways of enhancing employee engagement,” said Christina Matz-Costa, a research associate at the Sloan Center and one of the study’s authors.
However, there were some desires that appealed to all age groups such as flexibility; workers want more control over where, when, and how they work.
Photo by tatlici.
Jaclyn on May 19th, 2009 8:13 am
Interesting and very true article. I’m actually surprised that this study was just now done. One would have to just know through common sense that obviously the goals of a 20-30 year old person in the job market is not going to be the same as that of a 30-40 year old and so on. With all the research done on demographics for marketing purposes you would have thought that someone would have realized this concept a long time ago.
Leave a Reply