Capitalizing on Age-Related Diversity

by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.
We frequently get questions from organizational leaders about problems that they are experiencing when attempting to integrate younger and older employees.  They know that their older employees are more experienced, but that the younger employees tend to be more knowledgeable about new technology.  They also know that there is often tension between the two groups when change is introduced, with more resistance from older workers to the shift in “the way we have always done it”.  Additionally, younger workers tend to be more risk tolerant than their older counterparts which leads to a higher incident rates among this group.