It’s no surprise that with today’s social media ‘craze’, an icon’s death hits platforms such as Twitter and Facebook rapidly – However how many of today’s youngsters recognise these icons that were prominent in the 80’s?
Image displaying age diversity within the workplace.
During a ‘productive’ team briefing this week, the conversation somehow landed upon the sad news regarding the death of David Bowie.
Perhaps not in the way you would have expected though…
‘I don’t know why the radio stations are playing so much of his music’ was the statement which triggered the initial discussion.
As you can imagine, this led to a somewhat heated debate surrounding the legacy of David Bowie and a few other names such as Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall. Would you believe the 90’s generation in the office were clueless!
This resulted in a few minutes of almost ‘ping pong’ like reactions from one end of the room to another. The conversation went a little something like this…
*One end of the room*
‘How can you say that?! He was a genius’
‘His music influenced so much of my youth and I am grateful for his influence’
‘He was brilliant’
*The other end of the room*
‘Who was he?’
‘No. I don’t really know his music’
‘What did he sing?’
I guess the reality which struck the office was really around the ‘age diversity’ within the workplace and how this results in varied views and opinions…
Recent predictions have highlighted the increase in employees working post 65 – moving forward how are WE as employers, able to adapt to the needs of both the older and younger generation?
I often see our role as employers becoming more ‘pastoral’, shaping and instilling core values, coping mechanisms and a sense of unity to name a few.
So the next time you come across someone who does not recognise iconic names such as David Bowie, Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston, ask yourself the question – What are you doing to bridge the gap between diversity?
Login