Leading The Five-Generation Workforce: From Age Gaps To Advantages

Imagine you’re coaching a sports team. Everyone’s focused on one goal to win. But that’s where the alignment ends.

Veteran players lean on experience and structure. Rookies bring speed and spontaneity. Some play by instinct. Others by the book. Often, they do the opposite of what teammates expect not out of defiance, but because that’s all they’ve known.

Maybe what looks like chaos is simply the early stage of transformation. Maybe what looks like misalignment is actually a roster of strengths waiting to be organized. Maybe this isn’t dysfunction. It’s potential.

A World Economic Forum, AARP and OECD study finds that investing in multigenerational workforces could raise GDP per capita by almost 19% over three decades. A recent report from PwC estimates that encouraging people nearing retirement age to remain in the workforce could add $3.5 trillion to OECD economies.

These numbers are more than stats. They’re strategic imperatives.

Yet recent Gallup research shows how far we still have to go.

Only 9% of employees strongly agree that cross-generational teams enhance collaboration. 34% say it makes no difference. 27% believe generational differences may actually hinder teamwork.

As five generations increasingly share the same workplace and often the same digital platforms, they bring wildly different values, tactics, assumptions and rhythms. Without the right strategy, what could be a competitive advantage can easily become a drag on culture, productivity and innovation.

As a Gen Xer, I’ve seen my generation evolve through disruption from analog to AI. But as a leadership researcher, I’ve also come to deeply respect what each generation brings. When we work in unison, multigenerational teams don’t just get the job done they expand what’s possible.

And you don’t have to look far for proof. Consider the San Antonio Spurs in their record setting 2015–2016 season. A team that combined playoff veterans with young talent, anchored by players like Tim Duncan, who said, “I’m so proud of having played with those guys for so many years and winning so many games, and even playing with the new guys… because of the amazing chemistry, the good times and the good people that you play with and spend time with.”

Generational mix didn’t slow them down it sharpened their edge. Chemistry is built, not assumed.

And it’s not just sports. In the business world, former CEO of BNY Mellon’s Pershing, Ron DeCicco, and his Millennial mentor, Jamilynn Camino, co-developed fireside chats to increase the CEO’s connection with employees. In these chats, which ran for over three years and became the most highly attended company event, DeCicco discussed critical issues and solicited employee feedback. BNY Mellon|Pershing saw a 96% retention rate for the first cohort of Millennial mentors.

The Gaps In Practice

Even with the massive opportunity, there are still large gaps in practice. We see the impact of those low collaboration numbers in practice too. When Gallup asked employees which activities they had participated in at their current employer:

• Only 18% report younger employees teaching older colleagues new advancements or perspectives
• Just 18% had conversations about identifying and communicating similarities across generations
• Only 20% had seen cross-generational expertise celebrated
• Barely 1 in 5 had participated in shared learning and open discussions across age groups
• 36% had been part of development pairings between experienced and newer employees
• 39% had taken part in identifying and sharing coworker strengths

This is a leadership challenge.

A multigenerational workforce won’t align on its own. It needs structure, intention and belief. It needs leaders who can spot the signal in the noise, who see the gaps not as threats but as openings. I’ve seen what happens when these gaps are ignored. And I’ve seen the transformation when they’re bridged. The difference isn’t age. It’s what you choose to do with it.

Three Moves Leaders Can Make

While much is written about the traits of individual generations, far less attention is paid to managing multiple generations at the same time. Every few decades, focus shifts to the newest generation entering the workforce. But the real leadership challenge isn’t about understanding Gen Z or preparing for Gen Alpha. It is about managing the overlap.

Five generations now work side by side. And that convergence isn’t happening in a vacuum. Organizations themselves are undergoing deep shifts in strategy, culture and technology. In times like these, multigenerational leadership cannot be reactive. It needs a coherent strategy.

One that understands the whole, not just its parts. One that addresses the friction of intergenerational dynamics while honoring the needs, hopes and contributions of each generation. Here are three ways to build a multigenerational workforce that works together.

1. Focus On Strengths, Not Stereotypes

See the person, not the generation.

Age doesn’t equal capability. And experience doesn’t always equal expertise. Leadership teams must get better at distinguishing strengths from assumptions.

The question shouldn’t be “Who’s the most senior?” It should be “Who’s best equipped to solve this?”

Each generation brings real value. Seasoned employees carry deep pattern recognition, institutional wisdom and risk-sensing intuition. Younger employees often challenge legacy thinking, test limits and reframe what’s possible. The key is to stop ranking those contributions in order of importance.

That also means challenging casual ageism. Labels like “entitled,” “old-school” or “tech-illiterate” may sound harmless, but they quietly reinforce bias. Even positive descriptors like “digital native,” “recent graduate,” “high energy” can flatten someone’s complexity into a cliché.

If it would feel inappropriate to say about gender or race, pause before saying it about age.

Model what it looks like to bridge difference. Multigenerational synergy won’t happen because the org chart says so. It starts with leaders. When they seek out perspectives different from their own or when they admit what they don’t know and ask others to fill in the gaps, collaboration follows.

2. Redefine Mentoring As Human Exchange

Mentoring flows in every direction.

The traditional top-down model of mentoring still has value. But today, it’s only one part of a much larger picture.

Mentoring should flow peer to peer, team to team, junior to senior and vice versa.

I once coached a team where a 26-year-old analyst taught a 52-year-old director how to build a dashboard. Afterward, the director said it was the most seen he’d felt in years not because of the tool, but because someone younger believed he could still grow.

That’s mentorship. And it doesn’t need a program to begin.

Yet many employees are turning away from their leaders to find clarity elsewhere. Nearly half of Gen Z say ChatGPT gives better advice than their boss. And 64% of all workers say they trust a robot more than their manager.

This should raise concern.

If we want human leadership to matter, we have to keep it human. And mentoring, whether formal or spontaneous, is where belonging gets built.

3. Build Generational Learning Into Daily Work

Respect alone won’t move the needle. Practice matters.

What teams need is shared action across generations.

That means designing more chances to work, learn and build across age lines. Not as a one-off, but as a rhythm.

Pair new hires with employees from different generations during onboarding. Run hackathons that include both new talent and legacy voices. Mix development classrooms intentionally. Recognize intergenerational collaboration, not just tenure or high potential.

Some leaders, like Satya Nadella at Microsoft, have leaned into this intentionally. He rebuilt a culture that honored both experience and reinvention, welcoming legacy and fresh thinking in the same breath. It wasn’t about pleasing everyone. It was about learning from everyone.

When was the last time you paired someone new with someone seasoned for shared discovery?

Aim For Sync, Not Sameness

We spend a lot of time trying to minimize friction in the workplace. But not all friction is bad. Some of it is necessary.

The challenge with multigenerational teams isn’t that they operate differently. It’s that we keep expecting them to operate the same.

And when they don’t, we assume something’s broken.

But as with any great team, what matters isn’t uniformity. It’s unity. It’s not about everyone playing the same role. It’s about everyone playing their role well.

Alignment means honoring difference, not erasing it. That’s what great teams do. That’s what great leaders build, every generation, every time. If you want unity, lead through multigenerational difference.

Disclosure: My day job is focusing on leadership development and strategy research for Gallup.