Point of View: Connecting With a Cross-Generational Workforce: It's about Life Stage, Not Age

What's the difference between good decisions-support tools and great ones? Simple. The great ones exceed both employer and employee expectations by delivering valuable, credible information, and great results. How? They take steps to be sure the information and tools delivered are truly relevant to individuals.

This starts with understanding who they are. What do they like? What don't they like? What's their family situation? What choices do they need to make? When do they want advice? How do they shop? What gets them to take action?

The answers to these questions must fit an increasingly cross-generational workforce. The speed of the technology revolution, combined with people living and working longer, is creating an employee mix like no other.

The Millennial (or are they Echo Boomers? Generation Y? Generation Next?) — the twenty-somethings who are beginning to enter the workforce — never knew a world without the Internet or cell phones. They're working side-by-side with Baby Boomers born just after World War II. Growing up, Boomers were happy to have a TV in the house. And then there's Gen X, sandwiched in between. But how different are they?

Take Brad, for example. You walk into his cube at lunch. He's shopping online for some new gear, happily tapping his foot while his favorite tunes play on his iPod®. Brad's 52. What he's buying and what he's listening to may be different than Chris, 26, in the cube next to him. But how he's doing it is the same.

Employers worry about Baby Boomers getting run over on the information superhighway. Guess what? Most of them are cruising down the road, and some are in the passing lane. According to Boomer think-tank consultancy Age Wave, this group is 71 percent as likely as their younger counterparts to try new products and services. Boomers spend more money on computer hardware, software, cell phone services, and other electronics than any other generation.

59% of surveyed employees say they'd like their company to recommend benefits appropriate for their life stage.

Regardless of age, people will use online tools if they make their life easier or better.

Some retirees are even declaring a preference for electronic communication.

The key to reaching across generations is to make resources widely available — and target content based on life stage, not age. Traditional assumptions no longer apply. A 50-year-old employee could still be raising her own family. Or caring for grandchildren and/or her elderly parents. Or putting everyone in some form of day care so she can work full-time and go back to school to earn a degree.

As employees' responsibilities evolve, they want benefits that adapt with their life stage as well as resources that help them make important decisions. Health organizations, benefit administrators, and employers are retooling to meet this need for advice and decision support. With realistic examples based on demographic profile-age, gender, family status, and medical-usage level-employees learn what plans are best for their situation.

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