Jason DunstoneManaging Director

March 2009

The Generation Gap

The story starts here …

In the second half of 2007, Square Holes worked with the Australian Institute of Management of South Australia and SA Great to conduct research into the attitudes and needs of younger workers [aged under 40].

Then what?

AIM SA and Square Holes were interested in understanding

employees beyond Gen X & Y.

Objective

“Explore broader issues in relation to the needs of differing groups of workers. The particular relevance of this study is the ageing workforce.”

So what did we do?

1. Focus groups

2. Survey

3. Cluster analysis

4. Reporting

An online survey was conducted from the 19th of February to the 5th of March 2009 using the AIM database to administer an insightful study of workplace culture.

Key insights

They typically disputed the idea that differing age groups have

issues working together.

The Generation GapM

yth

Blunt messagesfrom the research

1.Not all employees are the same, yet it’s not about age

1. Dynamo

2. Gimme

2. Plodders

3. Made it

2.Management should

stop shiftingthe blame

What employees seek

1. Trust and respect in your abilities

2. Respectful management

3. Trustworthy management

4. Strong communications skills

5. Management has reasonable standards for output and workload

Person work best with

3.Communication

with staffis a weakness

4.Job satisfaction does

not equal loyalty

One in twenty employees are extremely happy & extremely likely to be with their

employer in 3 years time

5.Older staff are not

that different

Staff aged 60+ appear to be the least loyal, although this could at least partly be attributed

to a lower level of perceived job security.

Most have an enthusiastic attitude to workand are not dissimilar to younger employees.

They are often seeking professional development and challenges as are other employees.

For many, they now have an invigorated relationship to work and may be seeking a second, third or subsequent career change.

There is generally an eagerness to work within a team of differing ages. They prefer managers aged 38-60.

Challenges for employers

1. Focus on psychographics not demographics

2. Understand staff segments

3. Hire, train and guide strong managers

4. Maximize satisfaction and loyalty

5. Be inclusive irrespective of age

A copy of the 2009 report can be downloaded from [Friday] ...

http://www.aimsa.com.au