Diversity Network « Age management – Building an inclusive culture »
30 participants attended our Diversity Network on 12th September to exchange around the theme of Age management with an emphasis on Building an inclusive culture, with Linklaters' Global Diversity Manager, Daniel Danso.
According to him, it is a business prerogative to manage talent and thus manage the different generations. Generations all want the same : A good workplace, work/life balance, respect but there is a growing gap between generations through the lens of technology.
If not properly managed, these expectations might impact a company’s capacity to retain these talents and to ensure a social cohesion between generations.
It is therefore important to:
- Work on unconscious bias
- Teach to manage private an professional lives and thus decrease the blur between personal & professional lives. The employer brand doesn’t belong to the employer any longer and can be evaluated through behaviour of employees on social media as well.
- Be aware of the danger of getting desensitized (educate employees differently)
- Tackle the Fear Of Missing Out – increasing social anxiety
- Have in mind that young people do not necessarily have diversity sorted
- Acknowledge the difficulties for older generations to cope with the evolution of technology
There is therefore a need to have a visible leadership on Diversity & Inclusion and to redefine what is “inappropriate” (use of language)
Other examples to put in place an effective age management are:
- Reverse mentoring – board learns what it is like to be a junior
- Innovation Hub: allow all employees to develop and suggest innovative solutions
- Agile working for everyone
- Interventions earlier in career to foster a diversity-awareness
We thank all the participants for their involvement in the success of this event, as well as Linklaters for providing the premises and Daniel Danso for his much appreciated input.
