There are solutions to bridge the inter-generational gap in the workplace in 2024 where younger and ... [+]
According to Deloitte, 3 in 10 of Gen Zs and Millennials say they don’t feel financially secure, and roughly 6 in 10 live paycheck to paycheck. A total of 35% of Gen Zs and 28% of Millennials feel mentally distanced and cynical about their work due to poor management practices. With 32% of the global workforce now comprised of Gen Z, there’s an inter-generational divide, highlighting the need for a transformation in engagement strategies. Bridging this generational gap between Gen Z and older generations is crucial in order to sustain workplace engagement and productivity.
The Divide Between Gen Z and Older Workers
Gen Z’s desire for immediate feedback and flexible work environments often clashes with traditional practices, further exacerbating workplace tension and reducing overall productivity. Many managers, promoted for technical skills rather than people management, default to a "command-and-control" style of leadership. Without proper training, they often micromanage, stifling the autonomy and innovative thinking that younger workers crave.
According to Dr. Anne Snyder, curriculum lead manager at Praxis Labs, we’re charting new territory with the diversity of generations in the workforce. “In a single workplace, there could be up to five generations. However, we propose reframing from ‘solving the problem of generational gaps’ to ‘unlocking the opportunity and benefit of a multi-generational workforce,’” she told me by email. “Each generation brings different experiences, ideas and norms to the workplace, all of them valuable. It is not the case that older generations create a ‘backbone’ that later generations build on. The reality is we do not only stand on the shoulders of older generations, but there is a great deal of mutual learning at every stage of a career, and across generations that everyone, including businesses, can benefit from.”
Taylor Blake, senior vice president of new initiatives at Degreed, also spoke with me by email, explaining that employees need to know what the AI tools are capable of, and they need to be experimenting. He told me that many companies want their employees to adopt this technology, adding that many workers are left wondering if AI will take their jobs in the next two years.
“In this new reality, companies should be helping their employees navigate where they can best apply their skills and develop new ones simultaneously,” Blake points out. “Many of us have the mindset that learning is something we do early in our careers, but we need to shift that to a mindset of being lifelong learners. Learning is the new competitive advantage in today’s AI-powered job market.”
How AI Can Bridge The Generational Divide
According to Anne Snyder, companies can use AI-powered training and learning technology to bridge the generational divide and improve workplace collaboration and culture by creating personalized feedback systems, enhancing communication platforms and fostering inquiry-led leadership development.
1- Technology can create feedback systems that cater to different generational preferences and evaluation styles, Snyder notes. “New technologies like AI and immersive learning enable new ways to learn, practice and assess different methods of providing and receiving feedback.”
She gives the example of leveraging immersive simulations to role-play feedback conversations and receive coaching, all in a safe space to try and fail. “Every person—across generations—may have different preferences in giving and receiving feedback, and practicing in immersive simulations with a wide variety of responses—from emotional to defensive to surprised—can help us understand, prepare and navigate this in real-life.”
Snyder underscores an additional technology that provides predictive analytics that can help gather information on points where people of each generation may especially benefit from more feedback, allowing leaders to target those areas earlier on to provide extra training and support and prevent problems.
2- Technology can help develop a more emotionally intelligent workforce, promoting empathy between employees with varying backgrounds, Snyder explains. “Research has shown that one of the greatest ways to address misunderstanding and conflicts is by finding points of connection and commonality. Technology allows us to do this at a scale. In particular, immersive learning where the learner takes the perspective of others has been shown to develop empathy.”
Even in simulations that are not focused on perspective-taking, she emphasizes that practicing in a role-play can help learners better understand and navigate difficult conversations with empathy and care. She cites research that suggests under controlled settings, repeated exposure to these challenges can help learners regulate stress and anxiety and create space for inclusion and empathy.
“It’s too common that serious and impactful conversations—like giving feedback, navigating divisive topics or managing performance—is a new manager's first experience,” Snyder says. “By leveraging simulations, learners have the opportunity to practice, develop essential inclusive leadership skills and try and fail in a psychologically safe space. The opportunity to pause and replay interactions enables individuals to reflect on their responses and refine their skills in a safe and repeatable way, before ever entering a high-stakes conversation in real life.”
3- Managers can be taught imperative skills that help them adapt as technology, markets and external factors continue to upend traditional work settings, Snyder insists. She emphasizes that in such a polarizing and divisive moment when there is unprecedented organizational and technological change, human—or durable skills—are important now more than ever. She cites that 89% of HR leaders believe leading with empathy is essential in a modern, hybrid workforce. Yet, only 42% of managers believe their organization doesn't help them become successful leaders.
According to Snyder, traditional manager effectiveness training doesn't stick—people leaders and managers want to go beyond the definition of a skill. She insists that they want access to real, concrete and practical application of a skill. She points out that combining AI and immersive simulations, managers can learn from the ability to imitate real-world scenarios in a safe space, so there isn’t a fear of failure.
“With real-time feedback and actionable coaching, learners are able to iteratively refine and practice their skills on-demand wherever learners feel most safe and comfortable,” she notes. “This approach builds confidence in how to handle an experience or situation and creates the context to learn and retain a new skill, while also providing a design that has been shown to be more effective in boosting memory. In short, learners will walk away learning more, remembering more, and being able to apply more with an immersive approach rather than more traditional, static training.”
Snyder indicates that AI technology also enables measurement of transfer learning directly in simulations. “Instead of relying on self-reported ‘confidence’ levels or high level engagement or satisfaction metrics, technology can directly measure a learner’s skill application while in a simulation,” she concludes. “Managers can then identify their own strengths and opportunity areas across a wide variety of contexts within an inclusive leadership skill set and HR and L&D leaders can access deeper insights on how to support managers across skills in their organization.”
