Workforce to get multi-generational

MUMBAI: Future workforce will be vastly different from what they are today, in age, aspirations as well as attitudes. The workers will be more youthful as they start taking up their first jobs much earlier in life.

As a result, they will be less skilled and companies will have to learn to groom and harness their potential. The workforce will also become more diverse with more women and many more nationals working together. It will also be multi-generational with a mix of almost four generations.

They are matures (1909-1945), boomers (1946-1964), Gen X (1965-1979) and Gen Y (1980-2004). “All of them with very different attitudes and needs,” Regan Taikitsadaporn, regional vice-president, Asia Pacific (HR) JW Marriott said. While the Matures work ‘on their own terms’, the boomers tend to be more participative in nature.

The Gen X demands to be told as compared to Gen Y which needs more guidance. For companies, it will be a challenge to manage such a diverse set of people with different needs and mindset.

Workplaces are going to be virtual, on-the-go and global in nature as corporations become more global, distributed and networked. “I sit next to my pool, with a mug of beer and that becomes my workplace,” T Hari, senior vice- president of Global Human Resources at Satyam. Global teams, global workers are fast becoming the norm.