Abstract
As organizations become more age diverse, some business leaders face challenges managing a multigenerational workforce. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that leaders at a university in Northwest Florida implemented to retain their age-diverse workforce. The targeted population was higher education business managers who had success with retaining an age-diverse staff. The conceptual framework of the study was Herzberg’s 2-factor theory of motivation. A significant tenet of this theory is employees explain satisfying and dissatisfying experiences based on intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to their job functions. The data collection process included face-toface interviews with 4 participants and a review of company documents, including the university’s strategic plan and diversity and inclusion initiatives. Through coding and thematic analysis, 7 themes emerged that could help leaders retain a multigenerational workforce: foster a diversity-friendly workplace culture, implement effective interpersonal communication strategies, employ a formal approach, encourage a healthy work-life balance, value employees and their differences, offer professional growth opportunities, and eliminate negative generational stereotyping. Developing and cultivating retention strategies may contribute to social change by helping managers and leaders enrich retention rates, thereby increasing employment stability, improving productivity, and enhancing organizational and community relations.
Highlights
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore retention strategies business managers use to retain their multigenerational workforce
Leaders of multigenerational staff tend to treat all workers the same, regardless of their cohort classification, instead of focusing on individual characteristics and traits of generational employees and treating them according to their needs (Nelsey & Brownie, 2012)
Establishing a workplace environment that is diversity friendly can encourage innovation and teamwork between generational employees, which could have a positive effect on productivity and retention (Bourne, 2015)
Summary
The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore retention strategies business managers use to retain their multigenerational workforce. The first thematic category, which contains strategies that leaders implement to retain a multigenerational workforce, consists of three themes: (a) fostering a diversity friendly workplace culture, (b) deploying effective interpersonal and communication strategies, (c) and adopting a structured approach for managing diversity. The second thematic category contains the procedures or business practices that managers use to ensure retention of their multigenerational workforce, and includes three themes: (a) encouraging a healthy work-life balance, (b) valuing and appreciating employees and their differences, and (c) offering learning and professional growth opportunities. The third thematic category consists of a common challenge that leaders experience when employing retention strategies, and includes one theme: eliminating negative generational stereotyping. According to Cloutier et al (2015), differences among the four generational cohorts can cause challenges for business leaders to develop successful strategies to retain a multigenerational staff. Establishing a workplace environment that is diversity friendly can encourage innovation and teamwork between generational employees, which could have a positive effect on productivity and retention (Bourne, 2015). Al-Asfour and Lettau (2014)
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