Four generations in companies. Nobody prepared for this scenario
Today, there are very different groups on the labor market – people looking for their first mentor, parents of small children and experienced employees who want to remain professionally active for years to come. Each of them has different expectations, work pace and support needs.
Polish companies still design the work environment for one, quite narrow stage of life. They clearly understand the needs of young parents and employees in the middle of their careers – hence the rooms for mothers, benefits and support programs. They cope much worse with the reality in which four generations function in one organization at the same time.
Just a dozen or so years ago this was not a big challenge. Careers were more predictable and development paths were similar. Today we work longer hours, change professions more often and less often fit into one pattern. Yet many companies still operate as if their employees are at the same stage of life, and diversity exists mainly in ESG reporting.
“We want to employ experienced employees, but…”
The topic of the invisibility of older candidates returns like a boomerang. Companies declare that they need experience, but in practice, people with extensive professional experience often encounter difficulties before a job interview.
Discrimination rarely takes an open form today. Much more often it manifests itself in silence, lack of response to the sent CV and lack of invitation to an interview.
Read also: Foundations and offices join forces. They want to demystify the 45+ labor market
Job seekers also pay attention to the language of advertisements and established beliefs about age. The director of the Warsaw Labor Office, Monika Fedorczuk, emphasizes that she is regularly contacted by employers who complain that they would like to employ experienced people, but they do not come forward. Meanwhile, as he explains, the problem is often ATS systems, which can reproduce human biases and screen out such candidates already in the first recruitment screen.
Employees also point out that solutions designed to protect people approaching retirement, in practice, become a trap that makes it difficult for them to find a new job. How the protective age affects the situation of people 50+ on the labor market, we wrote in more detail here.
Read also: She is 50 years old and has sent 100 CVs. No effect. Until she found a job where no one asked about her age
Who doesn't want training? The reality of Polish companies
During the conference, there were voices that many employers still perceive experienced candidates as less flexible, less willing to change or less comfortable with new technologies. This unfounded belief provides a convenient justification for companies to steer older workers away from development investments. Meanwhile, the data shows the opposite.
According to the study “Diagnosis of the professional situation of people aged 50-64 on the Polish labor market” by SourcingNOW, as much as 59 percent respondents declare interest in artificial intelligence training.
Unfortunately, this enthusiasm is rarely followed by employers' actions. The data shows that only 11 percent employees 50+ have ever taken advantage of courses or training co-financed from public funds, and as many as 88 percent has never encountered such programs.
What's more, until 37 percent The organization does not offer or plan dedicated development programs for people with 20 years of experienceand in 17 percent companies, employees 50+ do not participate in training at all.
Experts explain this mechanism the ruthless logic of “low rate of return” — companies assume in advance that an employee with fewer years of professional activity ahead of him will not recoup the costs of investment in development. The problem is that similar logic can lead to a loss of competence that cannot be easily recreated later.
Read also: Here they welcome people over 50 with a kiss. There is one catch
Unfortunately, that's where the bad news ends – on the other side of the demographic chart, the situation looks surprisingly similar. Companies tempt young people by promising them perspectives and learning alongside the best specialists, and then leave them with nothing.
Young people are promised development. Then everyone wonders about the turnover
Young employees are also disappointed with the promises made during recruitment. They expect mentoring, support and learning opportunities. Instead, they often end up in an environment where they are expected to be completely independent from day one.
This was perfectly illustrated during the conference by 20-year-old Jan Zajko, founder of the Wyciskarka Potencjału foundation. When he accepted the job offer, he heard a lot about development opportunities, learning from experts and acquiring new competences. The reality turned out to be much less attractive.
— I did not receive the support I was promised. I was expected to know things I had yet to learn, he said during a panel discussion. He added that he founded the foundation to create conditions for his own development.
Organizations complain about the demanding nature and high turnover of Generation Z, forgetting that it is a system of communicating vessels. — When young people see how long-term employees are treated, it is hardly surprising that they leave, noted Agnieszka Operhalska, co-founder of the Heart & Mind – Wisdom of Generations Foundation.
Everyone talks about mentoring. Hardly anyone implements it
In theory, knowledge exchange programs between generations could solve many of these problems. Creating intergenerational teams can not only improve the work of both groups of employees, but also affect the productivity and innovation of the entire organization.
As experts have repeatedly emphasized, young people have a fresh perspective, experienced people bring a context that the former often lack.
Research shows that the potential is huge. The report “Silver sector. Potential for the labor market” shows that 82 percent people want to learn from younger colleagues, and 75 percent declares readiness to share his knowledge and experience.
The problem is that employers rarely create mechanisms that actually support this development. Only 36 percent companies run classic mentoring programsand only 12 percent — reverse mentoring.
Similar conclusions come from the sourcingNOW report. Yes, experienced employees often act as mentors, but most often it happens informally.
Organization for the “universal employee”
There is no talk at all about what the work environment should look like for people who have three decades of professional experience and more years of activity ahead of them.
How to support their health? How to design workplaces? How to help with retraining? How to plan the second half of your professional career? These questions are becoming more and more relevant. Demographics leave no doubts – people live longer, so they remain professionally active. Unfortunately, few organizations seek answers to them.
Read also: Labor market. In developed countries, these workers are invisible
Instead, everyone is trying to fit into a universal mold. In the sourcingNOW study as much as 74 percent organization declared that employees with over 20 years of experience have exactly the same development opportunities as others. It has separate career planning programs for this group only 15 percent companies.
Apparent savings and organizational memory loss
The paradox is that employers are perfectly aware of the advantages and benefits of employing experienced staff. Research conducted among companies employing people 50+ shows that their greatest advantages are: professional experience (67 percent of responses), practical knowledge (58%) and responsibility (46%). What's more, as much as 84 percent employers who recognize the value of experience treat it as a particularly valuable resource for the entire organization.
Despite these declarations, in many places people 50+ are still treated as a potential cost and threat, not an investment. According to Jarosław Stawarz, an expert in research and analysis in the project “Silver Sector. Potential for the labor market” of the Association of Employers and Entrepreneurs, these savings are only apparent.
— By losing experienced employees, we lose the memory of the organization. We are losing competences and experience, the restoration of which carries a real financial cost and is not possible in a short time – argues the expert.
It is this diagnosis that is to become the foundation of one of the three packages of recommendations prepared by ZPP in the subsequent stages of the project. The organization wants to speak to companies in the hard language of business, making employers aware of the cost of losing experienced specialists and the competence gap that may arise.
Read also: Fired after a decade in one company. I have a strong suspicion that it has to do with my age
Changing the perspective within the organization is all the more urgent because – as was often repeated on the sidelines of the Wisdom of Work conference – you cannot count on quick systemic support. There are still no proposals for specific tools to support and encourage employers to invest in diverse teams. The topic of raising the retirement age is a taboo in Poland and no party has the courage to tackle it. Responsibility for the shape of the labor market in the coming years rests in the hands of business itself.
