Managing an Age Diverse Workforce

Citation

Kuron, L.K.J. (2012), "Managing an Age Diverse Workforce", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 690-691. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151211263568

As the large‐scale retirement of Baby Boomers around the world looms larger, organizations must do their part to manage an aging workforce while still meeting the needs of their younger employees. Such age diversity in the workplace brings about a host of new challenges for organizations, making Managing an Age Diverse Workforce by Emma Parry and Shaun Tyson a timely addition to the bookshelves of academics, managers, and practitioners worldwide.

Managing an Age Diverse Workforce takes a multi‐faceted approach in providing a broad overview of the importance of managing age‐diversity management, as well as the issues inherent with the topic. In doing so, the book is able to appeal to a wide range of readers: managers and practitioners will be compelled to read the book for its informative summary and interpretation on the otherwise dull and tedious legal issues that managers face. Coupled with empirical evidence on various age‐related issues, including satisfaction with opportunities for learning and development, the book offers several suggestions on how managers can better utilize and manage employees of all ages. For the academic audience, the book tackles the complex interactions of age‐diversity alongside of other variables, including gender, thus highlighting several streams of research which demand further attention for diversity management scholars. At the same time, the book challenges researchers to consider the importance of context when studying age diversity, with a specific focus on differences in management practices and perceptions across international contexts.

Age diversity is a complex phenomenon affecting several different aspects of the workplace, including legal issues, training, retention, knowledge transfer, and career progression. Parry and Tyson help their readers navigate these multi‐faceted issues by logically partitioning their book in to five parts, beginning with two chapters that highlight the importance of age diversity from both a business case and legal perspective; followed by chapters which explore age and age diversity alongside of diversity management, gender, and generational differences. Next, both employee and employer perspectives are considered, which highlight additional challenges and opportunities of age diversity in the workplace. Finally, the book concludes by offering viewpoints of managing age diversity from four different countries. By tackling these multifaceted issues in conjunction with age diversity and breaking them down in to manageable chapters, Parry and Tyson help the reader appreciate the intricacies of age diversity and the need for a book which offers practical and actionable advice for managers around the globe.

A key strength of the book is the acknowledgement that age diversity is but one dimension that must be considered when managing individuals. For example, the relationship between age and gender is explored in greater detail in Chapter 5. This chapter reveals how older women may be more susceptible to age discrimination than men, and focusses on specific challenges that older women may face in the workplace (e.g. work‐life balance issues, social exclusion). Another critical feature is how the authors disentangle age diversity from closely related concepts (e.g. ageism) and the need to address age diversity beyond the reaches of Equal Opportunities legislation. Indeed, in Chapter 4, it is argued that organizations that simply follow government‐enacted legislation may fall short of managing diversity. In fact, organizational culture, practices, and policies also influence the way that employees think and act toward older workers. This influence is highlighted by an example wherein an organization offered only its older employees a three‐month unpaid leave. Though the organization enacted the policy with good intentions – believing that it would meet the flexibility needs of the older employees – it also, unintentionally, fed in to the belief that older workers deserve special treatment because they are different than other members of the workforce, thus perpetuating stereotypes and ageism in the workplace. This simple example is just one demonstration within the book that reveals how complicated age‐diversity management can be, and the need to consider multiple perspectives before policies are enacted.

The current employment context, which is highlighted in the book's introduction, help draws the reader in as it emphasizes the changing nature of the workplace. While the timeliness and relevance of the book piques the readers’ interests from the start, the book continues to engage the reader throughout. Of particular interest were parts three and four of the book, which discuss employee and employer perceptions of age diversity, respectively. The chapters within these sections demonstrate how employers and employees often have conflicting views of similar phenomenon, and the need for managers to consider the employee's perspective when implementing new diversity‐management policies and procedures.

Another timely issue, the nature of generational differences, discussed in a chapter within Part two of the book, helps the reader fully appreciate just how difficult the task of managing an age diverse workplace can be. Through a thoughtful consideration of why and how the generations are different from one another, the readers are briefly introduced to a topic which I would have liked to read more about. While most of the remaining chapters highlight age diversity with a particular focus on older workers, the chapter on generational differences takes a wider perspective by examining employees of all ages. I felt that the book would be more complete by further exploring the challenges and difficulties inherent in managing young and middle‐aged employees who are at the start or middle of their careers. Doing so would have offered an interesting contrast between the younger and older members of the workforce, thus further elucidating the similarities and differences of an age diverse workforce. That said, I believe the authors and editors did a tremendous job of synthesizing such a diverse literature on a multi‐faceted and complex topic in an easy to read and manageable book.

Overall, at $110 for the 240 page hardcover version, the book succeeds in its goal to offer a comprehensive overview and further the understanding of several types of readers on an otherwise complex topic and is an affordable investment for those interested in the topic. As such, the book is an excellent resource for academics and practitioners, and if used with experiential exercises and case studies, could also be a valuable resource for students.