Managing a diverse workforce

The challenge of providing quality care in the workplace rests squarely on a healthy, vibrant workforce. The modern workforce in healthcare has a very diverse range of people, with as many as four generations of staff working together, quite apart from challenges set up by different cultural and language backgrounds. The diversity can make it difficult for managers to motivate each generation and to create successful teams in positive practice environments. A great deal has been written about how the generational differences can set up conflict and difficulty, but the other side of the coin is where a great richness of skills and values and increased creativity can result if the strengths of each generation are harnessed. The interest in understanding the different generations came to the fore in the early 1990s and has gathered pace since that time. It is therefore helpful for managers needing skills to deal with the diversity represented within their team to have an overview of the forces at work, represented by the many generations working together. Today’s healthcare organisation, struggling with matching resources to needs, cannot afford the high cost of generational enmity.1 A recent study undertaken away from the healthcare workplace identified that 40% of older workers believe their younger colleagues teach them skills they previously did not have. The research showed that the first and foremost quality younger workers think their older work colleagues bring is experience (94%), while reliability (66%) and understanding also featured. Nearly two-thirds of the older workers studied were impressed by the younger workers’ ability to learn quickly, be flexible (61%) and give them energy (51%).2 In addition, globalisation and rapid changes in technology are increasingly connecting our world and changing how we communicate. The best performing teams understand that communication is central to using the strengths within those teams. All generations have skills and can contribute to a successful organisation. A multi-generational work team can make for a richer, stronger and more productive organisation, with benefits such as: • A more flexible workplace, as the organisation can tap into a variety of work styles and values. • A more innovative environment, based on opinions and experience from a wide range of age groups. • An ability to meet the needs of a diverse public or customer base.3 To tackle the quality agenda, it is critical that healthcare staff can connect and engage with the diverse workforce strengths in order to create high performing teams. Deloitte recently identified that it is the soft reward issues which motivate generations differently, and which we ignore at our peril.4 It cited the following:

Generation Y - Motivators

• “You can make a valuable contribution here.”