Managing Cross-Generational Remote Teams

Up until recently, remote working was something a minority of lucky ones (or unlucky ones, depending on your preference) got to properly experience – in the UK, this didn’t exceed 5% of the working population.

Whilst homeworking (and flexible working) was already on a slow rise, a little thing called Covid-19 lead those numbers to explode: by April 2020, around 40.7% of Welsh residents worked from home.

You’ve probably heard a lot about the pros and cons of remote working. But there’s one particular challenge that hasn’t been mentioned much: how do we manage cross-generational teams?

Depending on where you are in life, WFH might look very different. Children versus no children, e-mail versus phone call…these are some of the details that can impact the way we work from home.

*Alexa, play “My Generation” by The Who*

You’ve probably noticed a massive difference in the way your parents, grandparents, kids or young cousins use tech. When those generational preferences manifest at work, they can snowball into frustrations amongst teams.

The first step to understand this is to identify these generations. Here’s a little guide:

• We've got Baby Boomers, who created the concept of “workaholics” (1946–1964)
• The independent, sceptical Generation X, our first work-life balance believers (1965–1980)
• The famous, tech-savvy Millennials (Gen Y), real go-getters who thrive on feedback and gratification (1981–1996)
• And finally, Generation Z, the digital natives (1997–2012)

To call, or not to call. That is the question!

If you’re a Baby Boomer, you might have a natural ease to pick up the phone – nothing better than a direct conversation, right?

On the other hand, Gens Y and Z are known to prefer, well, anything that basically allows them to stay on their computer, usually opting for e-mails or even instant messaging. Because “ain’t nobody got time for that”, right? (And if you didn’t get that reference, you’re either way too young to be reading this, or definitely not a digital native). Point is, these preferences can lead to miscommunications or critical information being missed.

Management style and authority

Beyond communication, different generations respond to management styles differently. Gen X are big on keeping their independence and being trusted to get the job done, whilst Gens Y and Z prefer teamwork and recurrent feedback on their results, rather than someone micromanaging them.

Same goes for boundaries: whilst a Baby Boomer will find an out-of-office hours call or e-mail totally normal, a Millennial might feel like their work-life balance isn’t respected.

Bottom line: we’re all people!

Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to personality and individual social skills. Remember, beyond our generational differences, we’re all human! We all have basic, psychological and self-fulfilment needs, and we should choose to see age diversity as a plus.

The benefits of cross-generational teams

“This youth is addicted to their smartphones! They don’t realise how easy they have it”.

“Ugh, I had to explain memes to my parents the other day. I guess that’s Boomers for you”.

You’ve probably heard these at least once. Instead of viewing each other as stubborn technophobes or spoiled youngsters, there’s an opportunity here to make the most out of these differences.

Younger generations are the most comfortable with depending more on tech. They’re generally also less likely to be “distracted” by family duties at home. Older generations might be better at reassuring others through better structure and routines. They’ll also push digital natives to jump on a phone or Zoom call to share their progress and concerns. It’s all about balance!