Promoting intergenerational integration

“Young people have lost the taste for effort”; “People over the age of 50 are digital dinosaurs”… Even though we generally recognize their exaggerated nature, age-related stereotypes permeate our perceptions of the working world. However, they do not hold up well when tested against the facts. Studies show that attachment to the value of work remains broadly stable from one generation to the next, and that the digital divide has more to do with access to training and tools than with age. Even certain broad generational trends need to be qualified: while Gen Z is often described as the most engaged with environmental issues, a recent report from the Institut Montaigne think tank shows that this concern is actually shared to a similar extent across all age groups.

Generational discourse is not particularly new—nor is the critical view cast upon such discourse. As early as the 1920s, sociologist Karl Mannheim showed that the formation of a generational consciousness is not determined solely by a simple age bracket, but depends strongly on social, economic, and cultural contexts. Yet these representations remain tenacious—and sometimes influence our interactions to the point of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. An employee perceived as being “too young to be credible” will be less likely to speak up in a strategy meeting. Likewise, an employee nearing the end of their career, who is no longer assigned innovative projects, risk internalizing this image and willingly taking a back seat.

These biases are harmful in more ways than one. By presupposing limitations based on age, we not only deprive ourselves from leveraging each person’s potential, but we also tend to segment roles according to age. This can result in a form of compartmentalization that deprives us of the complementarity of perspectives linked to different experiences.

Deconstructing these stereotypes is not only an issue of inclusion, but also one of performance. This requires taking action at several levels: helping people to gain perspective on age-related labels; giving managers keys to encourage collaboration between generations; and taking care not to unintentionally create unnecessary silos.

In this synopsis:
– Generational labels: some necessary fact-checking
– Building a collective in which each generation contributes its own value
– Turning digital inclusion into a bridge between generations