There are currently five generations in the workforce. Only a few short years ago employers who were expecting to be faced with mass retirements are now looking at accommodating workers who cannot afford to retire, or are simply healthy and happy enough they’d like to stay at work. However, the labor force continues to put in hard work and lots of strategy to find the right people to fill vacancies and to be able to serve their customers.

This course examines the history and reality of the generation gap, especially for recruiters and succession planning. In it, we will explore whether defining the actual limits of each generation is most important, or whether the merits of people within the context of employment is the bigger issue. After all, understanding others helps us to understand ourselves and to manage the people that we work with. We will also explore problems, solutions, and strategies to help overcome issues of the generation gap.

Each generation, it seems, has things to say about the other. Compliments, criticisms, judgments, and insights all have their value. But where did the need for a discussion about the generation gap come from?

In this session, we’ll consider the origins of the generation gap, and how things can be unique yet similar.

When you meet someone new, the initial – sometimes awkward – conversation is often an exploration for what you have in common. What do you do for a living? Which part of town do you live in? Where did you go to school?

In this session, we’ll explore finding common ground across the generations, and look at underlying problems.

Definitions help us to speak about new learning with common language. You may not agree entirely with our definitions, or you may use different language among your peers, and that is fine as we develop our own common ground.

In this session, you’ll articulate the boundaries around the different generations and explore some common characteristics.

Recruiting is where we endeavor to find the best people available for the work that we have. In times of unemployment, this task is easier, but when people are employed, it’s a little more work.

In this session, we’ll approach recruiting as an adventure, and look at what people who consider working with us really want.

The pre-assignment is a tool to get you thinking about the topic and preparing for learning. In this case, you were giving some thought to the generation discussion and how things appear within your workplace.

In this session, you’ll review your pre-assignment and consider how that sits alongside what you have learned in this course already.

In the journey for knowledge, often what we really want includes knowing what the real problem is, and then formulating some workable answers. What kind of answers are you already considering?

In this session, you’ll begin defining what people are looking for, and how we can best meet their requests.

Robert Burns once said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” If that’s that case, it’s a good thing we’re all in this together! We know that plans which are well-designed yet flexible are the most valuable.

In this session, you’ll look at succession planning, coaching, and mentoring as tools in closing the generation gap.

Once you’ve got the employees that you want, the trick is to hold onto them. Finding the right person is a lot of work, and losing them costs you time and money. Who are you holding on to?

In this session, you’ll learn about aspects of retention and having the right people working together in the context of your succession planning.

In most organizations, we really want people who can work together well, who are productive, and who add value to our company. If we can’t do all of these things, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to have a productive business.

In this session, you’ll look at the larger picture of the generation gap issue in context of other HR issues and ideas.

Now that you have completed this course on Generation Gap: Closing the Gap in the Workplace, how will you use the things you have learned? Creating a personal action plan can help you to stay on track, and on target. When you take responsibility for yourself and your results, you get things done.

In this session, you will be asked questions to help you plan your short-term and long-term goals. This final exercise is a way for you to synthesize the learning that you have done, and to put it into practice.

Congratulations! You have completed the course "Generation Gap: Closing the Gap in the Workplace."

In this course, we talked about the perception of a gap among generations that can interfere with people working together. We discovered that the gap is a manageable although real issue, but not the great chasm that people sometimes make it out to be.

First, we discussed the history of the concept of a gap, and defined the generations currently identified as being a part of the workforce.

Then, we learned about common ground as a way to approach generational issues, and we examined an essay of how a millennial’s perception could also be similar for people of other generations.

Next, we learned about definitions that could help us speak about the generations, and to consider the major influences common to each group.

Then, we moved on to how recruiting as a process could benefit from what we know about generations, and how no matter what generation you are hiring, people of all ages appreciate certain things.

After that, we discussed the things that people want out of job advertisements and to how that could apply in a recruiting plan. We also learned some essential elements of succession planning and coaching and how having those strategies within the recruiting and human resources function can also help to reduce effects of the generation gap.

Then, we considered elements of retention that could influence people to decide to stay or retire, including at how staying at work or altering their hours could change their pension benefits or life insurance.

The last part of the course was dedicated to an exercise that brought all the information together in a way that reviewed what we learned, and could potentially help us as learners to identify a learning gap we might need to resolve.

You should now feel ready to take on basic elements of a generation gap to help close the generation gap in the workplace.