It used to be that when you turned 65, your company threw you a retirement party and gave you a gold pen as a token of their appreciation. Today, that’s not usually the case as, for many, retirement is happening later than ever.
In fact, the Pew Research Center reported that more than 9 million Americans over the age of 65 said they were still working in 2016, which is more than twice the number recorded in 2000.
This larger contingency of older Americans is often working shoulder-to-shoulder with younger generations that continue to enter the labor force, an eventuality that forces both employers and employees to contend with a sometimes tricky age divide in the workplace. In particular, this trend has forced HR departments to adapt to the growing age gap and to figure out ways to cater to the drastically different needs of employees of all ages.
We spoke to Christine Park, senior vice president of people operations at BOLD, about the challenges of the growing age gap in the workplace and how mentorship programs might be a way to bridge the divide.
Today, it’s not unusual to see a 21-year-old working alongside someone in their late 60s or even in their 70s. What challenges does this workplace shift pose to HR professionals?
It definitely poses a challenge to have a multi-generational workplace because the differences between a millennial and someone over 65 are huge. Their experiences and expectations and needs are different. When you are sitting people with big age differences side by side, it definitely creates challenges in terms of keeping everyone engaged and satisfied at work.
When you are working to create a workplace where everyone feels welcome, the challenge for HR is to figure out what motivates people. Somebody in their 60s, for example, has very different motivators than does someone who is, say, 23. Take health insurance, for example. People in their 60s are going to value good health benefits very much, while someone in their 20s might not care that you have top-shelf PPO health insurance. They might be more interested in flex time instead because they are driven by different things. HR programs have to be designed with everyone in mind, which can be very difficult.
What should HR department do to make employees comfortable regardless of age?
When HR creates programs, it’s very hard to appeal to everyone. You can’t always do it. So, it’s about balancing our human capital resources so that we can accommodate everyone in some way. I think the best way to accommodate a multigenerational workforce is to create a learning culture. I believe that when you create a true learning and growth culture, you can actually bring the 20-something people on your staff together with the 60-something people on your staff. The younger people will be able to learn from the older employees and, I believe, older employees benefit by constantly learning and growing and becoming accustomed to the changes in their work environment.
How do you define a learning culture?
I define it as an environment that promotes learning and personal growth in its employees. It’s not just a promotional culture – one that drives its employees by the possibility of advancement within the company – but one where you are learning culturally and professionally and as a person. BOLD, for example, will be launching a robust L&D program in 2017 to really create that learning and growth culture to help our employees grow as people. It’s designed to help everyone become the leader within, versus teaching positional leadership. So even as a senior staff member, learning continues. It’s about having self-efficacy. I think if we all become a leader, then everyone wins.
How is it possible for everyone in an organization to be a leader?
I’d like to redefine what we call a leader. In corporate America, when we talk about leaders we resort to defining people by positional power, and I don’t believe in that. I believe in a “leader within” philosophy, where all 500 BOLD employees become leaders in their own right.
So, for example, the leader within me is able to positively impact and influence the people that I deal with directly each day. Let’s say I’m an Executive Assistant. I have direct contact with a people in my sphere. If I am a leader, then I can positively impact every colleague I touch. And that’s how you transform a workplace. You can’t do it overnight… but true leaders transform and impact people’s lives, and great managers can execute and get things done, even if their title doesn’t have the word manager in it. A “leader within” philosophy isn’t about defining people by their titles and positions within the company, it’s about tapping into a culture in which we all feel empowered to transform the work lives of our colleagues.
How can mentorship help employees feel empowered?
Mentorship is a critical component to a learning culture. While I don’t necessarily believe in formal mentorship programs, I believe that when you foster a culture of learning and growth, mentorship is naturally born. Many large corporations have formal mentorship programs, but in my opinion, they rarely work because people wind up just going through the motions. They go through the protocol of the program, checking things off their lists. But in a culture of learning and growing, mentorship becomes an organic, fluid part of the organization. Mentorship has several benefits, and one of those is that it bridges the age gap. Because the mentor is also learning from the mentee, mentorship is capable of bridging diversity issues and generational issues alike.
Can you tell me what the mentorship guidelines for BOLD’s 2017 L&D program will look like?
For Leadership and Development and to further learning, we recommend all executive leaders – VP and up – take on a mentee. The role of a boss is to supervise, manage and coach, so I believe mentoring works best when it’s not with a direct report. To create a culture of growth and to assist them in developing others, leaders will be provided with the training and tools needed for successful mentorship while supporting and promoting its value and importance. We would also encourage our executives to seek out a mentor for themselves.
While the mentor/mentee relationship has obvious benefits for the person being mentored, the benefits for the mentor seems less clear. Given this point, how would you encourage a senior employee to become a mentor to a younger staff member?
I read once that, more and more, we have become a culture that subsists on ‘resume virtue’ versus ‘eulogy virtue,’ meaning that we judge our accomplishments by the items on our resumes rather than the less tangible contributions we have made in life. I would emphasize to senior employees that mentorship is one way that they can really make a lasting impact on people’s lives. I have been there, so I know how valuable mentorship can be.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founder and CEO of the Center for Talent Innovation, believes mentorship relationships can become “mini-me” situations, where executives and managers choose to mentor someone who has similarities to themselves, such as the school they attended. How important is diversity in the mentorship dynamic?
This is one reason I think there need to be general guidelines for mentorship programs; this does happen sometimes when programs are too fluid. You know the saying, ‘Birds of a feather flock together.’ I’ve seen it in mentorship relationships, and it’s not always healthy. I’ve seen situations where there is basically an alumni club in organizations where all the guys who went to the same school wind up supporting one another.
That said, there is usually a quality about another person or struggle you identify with that draws you to them, and usually that’s fine. For me, when I joined a management training program in the 80s, the COO was a Korean woman. She was about 25 years older than me, and she immediately took me under her wing; mainly I think because she had such a hardship as an Asian woman climbing to her position. There was a natural affinity, I’m sure, but she was really tough on me. So, it happens, but it should happen in healthy ways.
Have you had any other experiences with mentorship?
I have always had mentors. Even now that I am an executive, I have an advisory board that is made up of executives from other departments. I also have people at BOLD that I go to to share ideas. Many of them are very young and nothing like me, and I purposefully seek that out because they don’t think like me. I want a contrarian. I run HR ideas past them, and often they say, ‘That sucks.’ But I need to hear it. So, in a way, they are my mentors, too. For my part, I help them navigate workplace situations and gain corporate maturity.