According to the Pew Research Center, while Millennials make up the majority of today’s workforce at about 35%, Gen X and Baby Boomers are still strongly represented at 33% and 25% respectively. Considering the generational breakdown of today’s workforce, embracing the diversity of professionals of all ages is vital to not only cultivating belonging in the workplace, but to fostering innovative thinking and performance, as well.
While it is crucial for talent retention and engagement that professionals of all ages feel valued at work, this month we focus on the importance of embracing younger generations in the workplace and how formal programs, like reverse mentorships, can be implemented to embrace young leaders, as well as how more traditional mentorship programs can offer similar opportunities to build cross-generational relationships.
Reverse mentorships provide a unique spin on traditional mentorships by creating relationships between executives and younger professionals in which the latter leads the relationship and offers valuable perspectives on topics ranging from modern leadership to cultural competence. Reverse mentorship programs have been shown to yield increased retention of millennial talent, heightened digital literacy for more senior colleagues, progressive cultural shifts in the workplace, and a stronger emphasis on diversity, not just across generations, but also across race, sexual orientation, and more.
What’s more is that companies that leverage a wide range of perspectives have been shown to attain a competitive advantage from a business perspective, too — diversity of thought can lead to innovative strategies, which ultimately contributes to business growth.
While creating formal reverse mentorships can be challenging, framing existing mentorship programs as a two-way street for learning opportunities can serve a similarly meaningful purpose. The Chamber’s Pay It Forward program, a traditional mentorship offering, pairs young professionals with executives from Chamber member companies. While not a reverse mentorship program, Pay It Forward offers the opportunity for executives to connect with a younger generation of leaders.
Julia Thompson-Calio, Senior Manager, People Solutions, Baker Tilly, who served as a mentor in this year’s program, explains how her mentee revealed some of the unique challenges for young professionals entering the workforce today:
“My mentee has taught me to think differently about organizational and team dynamics. … I’ve been able to better understand how these appear to someone who recently entered the workforce. I had forgotten how confusing all of the corporate structures, team dynamics, and jargon can be when you’re new to an organization. I’ve taken the lessons I’ve learned through my conversations with her and applied them back to my own job – ensuring that new team members are supported as they transition into the organization and assisting in creating an internal mentorship program to help team members of color navigate corporate culture and dynamics, which can often be complex and unclear to the new professional.”
Mentors can learn just as much from their mentees as their mentees intend to learn from them. Oftentimes, simply entering into dialogue with another colleague can reveal new ways of thinking that can lead to personal and business growth at your organization.
Take Action
Putting a reverse mentorship program in place is just one approach to building a generationally inclusive workplace. Employers can also begin by:
- Including a learning segment on ageism and generational bias in your organization’s next diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
- Age-proofing your recruiting processes by removing possible age indicators, like graduation year, from applications and ensuring age diversity within your hiring teams.
- Embracing varying working and learning styles to the extent possible. Studies have shown that younger generations, specifically Generation Z and Millennials, value flexible work options. (Although, post-pandemic, those numbers are rising for Baby Boomers and older generations, as well.)
- Encourage informal mentorships between colleagues and casual shared learning.
Another mentor from this year’s Pay It Forward cohort, Veronica McKee, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Haverford Trust, shared a look into Haverford’s Insights program, an internal series where leaders answer questions in a casual environment to help other colleagues gain perspective in their own careers and lives — an offering that has been shown to help break down generational barriers, both real and perceived.
The Chamber will open applications for Pay It Forward mentors this fall, those that are interested should reach out to the Chamber’s Tom Levy for more details.
Whether creating a program geared specifically at combatting age bias, or intentionally embedding generational inclusion into existing offerings, employers can begin to take the necessary steps to ensure professionals of all ages feel heard and valued in the workplace.
As the Chamber continues our longstanding commitment to the fight for equality, we’re highlighting ways our business community can meaningfully increase diversity, equity, and inclusion to bring about lasting change in the workplace.
Through our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, we work to drive economic competitiveness, highlight diverse employee populations, and promote inclusive growth throughout our region.
