By 2023, Australia’s retirement age will rise to 67 years old. The change will mean managers in Australian workplaces will have to find new ways of ensuring the right fit between employees from the baby boomer generation to generation Z.
In Melbourne, bowls and entertainment centre Wyncity is already grappling with the changing workplace dynamic.
Year 12 student Dion Warne is among the employees overseeing younger school children who are taking part in the ten-pin bowling, laser tag rooms and glowing mini-golf.
Dion Warne says mutual respect keeps him working at Wyncity. Source: SBS
He said there is one thing that keeps him working for the business.
“Mutual respect,” he said. “You want to get along with who you work with.”
Behind the scenes, 65-year-old Rudy Treiguts keeps the wheels turning as a part-time technician and handyman.
He said he has no plans to retire.
“I was working here on my birthday. And things were going ‘crash’, and I enjoyed myself.
“I like the adrenaline of fixing things straightaway.”
Rising retirement age driving change to workplace demographics
But for many older Australians, there will be no choice to put off retirement.
The current age pension eligibility age of 65.5 is set to rise by six months every two years, reaching age 67 by 2023.
The new policy will mean for the first time, Australian workplaces could see up to five generations co-existing in the one business - with differing skill sets, values and attitudes to work.
So-called traditionalists - born up to 1945 - are associated with stability, loyalty and hard work.
Baby boomers are characterised as collaborative, even grateful to have their jobs.
Generation Xers - those born between 1965 and 1976 – are as seen as more individualistic as well as flexible.
Millennials or generation Y - born roughly between 1977 and 1995 - are more entrepreneurial and innovative.
Generation Z - born after 1996 – are viewed as seeking meaning, enjoyment and personal branding from their work.
Demographer Claire Madden said the youngest generation have a different mindset and values.
“They’re the ones with shorter attention spans, due to constant connectivity,” said Ms Madden, author of Hello Gen Z: Engaging the Generation of Post-Millennials.
“[They are] empowered, aware of their options, but [they are] also feeling anxious, like they’re always ‘on’.”
Wyncity credits training programs with workplace harmony
Wyncity’s Managing Director Edi de Pellegrin is a 56-year-old baby boomer.
She said the training and development programs have resulted in a great team, but she admits that the new recruits can be testing.
She adds that the image of an ‘entitled’ Gen Z may be close to the mark.
“(When I started work) we never asked what the pay rate was going to be, whether I got penalties, what my working conditions were.
Edi de Pellegrin says managing the five generations of workers has been a learning curve. Source: SBS
“In some respects it’s a good thing these children are taught to ask these questions, but it becomes more important than the job at times. Now, it’s almost like the kids are doing you a favour by working for you.”
In contrast, the head of the country’s peak employer group suggests new young professionals are not so concerned about salary and conditions.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s chief executive, James Pearson, said company culture is often a primary consideration.
“I spoke to a graduating Masters of Business Administration course recently and it was very clear that what mattered most to them was the values and culture of the company they went to work for, rather more than what pay they would be offered, or the opportunities for advancement,” he said.
“And that’s a real difference between that generation and older generations.”
Call for more workplace flexibility
James Pearson said not enough has been done to help managers in Australian companies better manage their multi-generational workforces.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been trying to make some headway with a recent series of national events called “NextGen in Business”.
Demographer Claire Madden. Source: SBS
But the calls for change span the generations.
Advocates of positive ageing say more firms should set up mentoring structures, and ensure that the staff members who are transitioning to retirement are granted as much flexibility as students or working mothers.
‘Beware of intergenerational conflicts’
Demographer Claire Madden said managers should instil a ‘lifelong learning’ attitude in all staff - while being sensitive to potential intergenerational conflicts.
“Gen Z comes in very empowered, often more agile and adaptive with technology. They have skills central to today’s workplace, meaning they can be promoted at a faster rate.
“There certainly can be a sense of conflict, a sense of being overlooked for some of the older generations.”
For Edi de Pellegrin, managing teenagers at Wyncity entertainment centre, it has been a learning curve.
“I’ve had to learn to communicate and deliver my messages a lot better, to define what I mean and not be so broad.
“To work with these young people I need to talk their language, which is the language of technology.”
