Four generations working side by side – new perspectives on generations are reshaping workplace learning
When scheduling shifts in healthcare workplaces, the goal is not only to ensure sufficient staffing. Shifts are also planned to include employees of different ages – from recent graduates to seasoned professionals. The aim is to combine diverse experience and expertise to improve patient care.
This ensures that even the most unexpected and challenging situations can be managed, says Professor of Adult Education Kaija Collin from the University of Jyväskylä.
Her research focuses on generations in working life – how different generations learn together and what kinds of differences exist between age groups in their attitudes toward learning requirements.
This perspective is particularly relevant right now.
At workplaces, there are currently a record number of generations working side by side – and learning from one another.
Four or five generations,” says Collin, “there have never been this many before.”
As age cohorts become smaller, multiple generations are needed and have an increasingly important role in working life.
Information on generations needed for decision-making
Collin explores generations in working life from the perspective of multigenerational learning at work.
This perspective is still relatively new. Over time, it will complement existing knowledge about generations from fields such as age management, organisational psychology, and gerontology.
Knowledge about generations is valuable when considering ways to support work engagement and coping at work.
The growing demand for continuous learning adds further pressure. This makes it important to understand how different generations learn together, from one another, and about one another.
Research-based knowledge is also emerging from engineering alongside healthcare, and in the coming years from Sweden and Denmark as well. Collin is looking to neighbouring countries for answers to questions that have not yet been resolved:
“Can we, for example, talk about a shared Nordic model for workplace learning in healthcare? Or is Finland living in a bubble when it comes to this? Are there cultural differences or differences in employees’ competence levels in the healthcare sector?”
These factors influence how people learn at work.
Learning at work across generations
Research shows that different generations approach learning in different ways. In a healthcare workplace, Collin and her research group have identified four “generational groups” related to workplace learning.
1. Newcomers to working life – enthusiastic people entering the workforce and newcomers and students who set their own boundaries
2. Those strengthening their expertise – experienced active learners and developers
3. Established experts – recognise the need for further training and continuous development
4. Seasoned professionals – deeply skilled experts with long careers who may find ongoing workplace changes partly exhausting
The groups have different guidance responsibilities and different views on learning.
"The youngest employees tend to see learning as a way of gaining experience. More experienced generations, in turn, may recognise the need for further training, while some may even be critical of new ways of working that younger employees are eager to embrace.”
“People of different ages have different attitudes towards learning, especially when it comes to new technology. It was often left to younger employees to learn because learning new operating systems and instructions was considered easier for those representing younger generations, and they were also the most enthusiastic about it.”
In care work, everyone aims to do what is “best for the patient”. Views on how to achieve this can vary significantly between different groups.
“Patients are also of different ages, and employees from younger generations may find it easier to relate to the life situations of younger patients and to explain and justify, for example, the need for treatment to them.”
Workplaces also have different generations of learners
A word of caution: workplace learning cannot be explained by generations alone.
Workplace learning is not determined solely by age, but also by factors such as the type of education an employee has received and the kind of work they have learned to do.
Along with generation, attitudes toward learning are influenced by factors such as the employee’s gender, personality, cultural background, and the quality of their work experience.
It also matters when the employee received their education, what stage of life they are in, and where they are in their career.
These factors create generations of learners within working life,” explains Collin.
In the healthcare sector, the timing of employees’ education is a significant factor, and workplaces often include different “educational generations”.
“Research findings are constantly changing work practices, for example, through new care guidelines related to pain management and medication. These changes are reflected in education and are brought into workplaces through new employees.”
Career changes are also becoming increasingly common in today’s job market. In such situations, employees may see themselves as newcomers regardless of their age or previous work experience.
Work-related challenges are discussed more openly today
What will happen to mutual understanding between generations in the future?
As working life changes, there is a growing need for dialogue. Without open discussion in the workplace, information, technological expertise, and experience-based knowledge are not shared between employees.
Work is managed better when differences between generations and the generations of learners present in workplaces are recognised.
"Discussion in working life is increasing, and we have come to understand better that we all have something to learn from one another,” says Kaija Collin. “One could say that dialogue is a prerequisite for workplace wellbeing. Supervisors play an important role in maintaining that dialogue.”
Collin reminds us that each new generation brings new ways of communicating.
Do people discuss different topics in workplaces today than they did before?
“People now feel more comfortable talking openly in the workplace about work-related challenges and other aspects of their lives,” says Collin.
Do different generations seem to understand each other better than they did in the past?
“Open dialogue helps build stronger connections between people from different generations, even though differences in personality, experience, expertise, and workplace roles still exist.”
A useful tip for everyone: approach learning with an open mind
In healthcare, the need for dialogue has been recognised. Communication and guidance are at the core of the work. The work also requires a particularly high level of trust among colleagues. Collin says that emotions are – and should be – part of the workplace.
Employees need to know each other to trust one another in every work situation.”
Overall, there are some useful rules of thumb for multigenerational learning at work that can benefit workplaces and employees. How can you, as an employee or supervisor, create good conditions for multigenerational learning? This is how Professor Kaija Collin summarises it:
- Create a safe, equitable, and trusting environment that encourages open discussion
- Listen, hear, support, help and give feedback to your colleagues
- Do not make assumptions about your colleagues based solely on their age
