Darbuotojų amžiaus įvairovės valdymas

Abstract

Worldwide demographic changes affect the various parts of workforce. Today’s labor force consists of four main age groups which are working side by side. Each generation is characterized by its own features, which are affected by economic, political or cultural changes. These differences are described by authors such as: S. A. Murphy (2007), B. P. Haynes (2011), J. Notter (2002) and others. According to them, people born in 1946 and before are named as the Veterans. They distinguish for their organizational loyalty, hard working, strong work ethic, discipline. Baby boomer is generation born between 1946 and 1964. This generation tends to have strong team orientation, good communication Skills so prefers a consensual leadership style. The third generation named Generation X born between 1965 and 1980. Generation X values flexibility and tends to avoid corporate politics. The youngest working age group is Generation Y . Workers of this generation prefer self-leadership; they love challenges and want to work with creative people. So we can see that these four generations have different values, attitude, work ethic, career goals and so on. Human life expectancy is continuously raising so difference between working age groups become more visible. Faced with these new challenges human resource managers need to pay more attention to age diversity management. Age diversity management is an important part of the human resources management so it shouldbe associated with organization’s strategic goals. According to C. Rosado (2006) age diversity could be understood as a comprehensive, holistic process for managing these differences that people brings for the productive well being of all, especially the firm and its mission. The aim of this article is to analyze the main characteristics of age diversity management. Objectives of this study are to analize the population structure and its changes; discuss the characteristics of generations; analyze good age diversity management practice. As a theoretical analysis shown, if organizations want to effectively manage age diversity they need to concentrate in such areas as: • Workplace improvement . It is very important to ensure ergonomic workplace. According B. P. Haynes (2011), organizations which are designing new workplace should think about office location, workspace, physical ergonomics and environmental issues. • Effective communication and conflict management ensuring . As analysis of four generations shown, there are a lot of differences between these age groups, so employees need to know in what way each generation is unique and also understand that they have some common characteristics (Notter, 2002). • Employee’s training development . Organizations should provide equal learning opportunities to various age groups. In order to get the most effective results it is necessary to select appropriate learning methods for each age group (Pillinger, 2008). • A knowledge transfer ensuring . According B. P. Haynes (2011) it is very important to ensure knowledge transfer so organizations should prepare mentoring programs and encourage older workers to learn new generations. • Flexible working conditions development . Different age groups have different expectations so organizations should analyze their employee’s requirements and give them flexible work conditions • Health and well being program incentive . It is recommended to suggest well being programs that could be useful for all age groups. Organizations could initiate health check programs, organize stress management courses (Murphy, 2007). In summary, these changes could help effectively manage age diversity and would benefit not only to the older generation but also to younger workers.