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Managing five generations in the workplace: a practical guide

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Alastair Greener FPSA Generational communication expert, author and President of the PSA UK and Ireland 2026 Published 5 September 2026 · 12 min read

Five generations now share the UK workplace, from the Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945) to Generation Z (1997 to 2012). In our 2023 survey of British HR managers, 66% said communication between generations poses challenges for business efficiency, yet only 6% rated age friction a major challenge. This guide sets out what the UK data shows about where generations differ at work, where they do not, and nine practices for managing a multigenerational workforce.

For the first time, five generations can share a workplace. Most guides to managing them start from stereotypes. This one starts from two pieces of UK research: our Generations in the Workplace Study 2023, a survey of British HR managers, and our Communication Habits and Preferences 2024 survey of 4,067 people aged 8 to over 78. The short version: the generations differ less than the headlines suggest, but in specific, predictable ways a manager can plan for.

66%of HR managers say communication between generations poses challenges for business efficiencyGenerations in the Workplace Study 2023
70%of experienced HR managers say the role is harder than it was five years agoGenerations in the Workplace Study 2023
75%of UK workers say the way people think and behave at work varies with ageCommunication Habits and Preferences 2024
6%of HR managers rate friction between age groups as a major challengeGenerations in the Workplace Study 2023

Which generations are in the workplace now?

Five generations are working in the UK in 2026: the Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945), Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964), Generation X (1965 to 1980), Millennials (1981 to 1996) and Generation Z (1997 to 2012). Generation Alpha, born from 2013, arrives towards the end of the decade.

These birth years follow the Pew Research Center cut-offs, which our 2024 survey's age bands line up with; the boundaries are conventions, and someone born in 1996 or 1997 is a "cusper". Our guide to the generations has the detail.

Generation Born Age in 2026 Presence in the UK workforce
Silent Generation 1928 to 1945 81 to 98 A small minority, mostly self-employed or on boards. 95% of Silent Generation respondents to our 2024 survey were retired.
Baby Boomers 1946 to 1964 62 to 80 Leaving but far from gone: 15% worked full time and 11% part time, 68% retired.
Generation X 1965 to 1980 46 to 61 Mid to late career: 56% full time, 19% part time, 5% retired.
Millennials (Gen Y) 1981 to 1996 30 to 45 The most fully employed (65% full time) and most likely to manage other people (48%).
Generation Z 1997 to 2012 14 to 29 Entering and establishing: 38% of adult Gen Z worked full time, 21% part time, 27% were students.
Generation Alpha 2013 to 2024 2 to 13 Not yet working. The oldest turn 13 in 2026.

The generation doing most of the managing is not the oldest: 48% of Millennials and 47% of 22 to 27 year old Gen Z manage other people, against 39% of workers overall. Much cross-generational management is done by people under 45 managing colleagues older than themselves.

What do HR managers actually say?

British HR managers find age diversity enjoyable but demanding. In our Generations in the Workplace Study 2023, 88% said they enjoy managing an age-diverse workforce, yet 66% said communication with and between generations poses challenges for business efficiency, and 70% of those in the role for more than five years said the job is harder than it was.

Respondents were not told the study was about generations, so nothing was prompted. Age friction came bottom of their list of business problems: only 6% rated it a major challenge, behind attracting the right new talent (32%), filling vacancies (28%) and staff retention (26%). Yet 55% see clear age differences in expectations of working hours, 53% in expectations of well-being support, 51% in preferred management style and 42% in the ability to communicate within a team.

The study also asked which age groups are easiest to manage on four measures.

Age band Recruitment easier Retention easier Performance easier Commitment easier
Under 25 31% 10% 15% 13%
26 to 40 34% 27% 33% 18%
41 to 60 24% 51% 38% 52%
Over 60 9% 33% 18% 35%

Source: Generations in the Workplace Study 2023.

Young people are the easiest to recruit and the hardest to keep: only 10% of HR managers find retention easier among under 25s and 13% find commitment easier. The 41 to 60 group is where retention (51%) and commitment (52%) come easiest. The over 60s are quietly underrated on both counts.

The finding to act on is this. 51% of HR managers agreed there is a need for better cross-generational communication in their organisation. But only 38% said their organisation had consciously adapted to different generations, while 52% said they personally had. Individual managers are adapting; organisations largely are not. Full results are on the Generations in the Workplace Study 2023 page.

Where do the generations really differ at work?

Our 2024 survey of 4,067 UK people found the clearest generational differences at work in feedback, contact channels, video calls, networking, home-working productivity and ambition. 75% of workers said the way people think and behave at work varies with age, and communication style was the difference most often named (51%), ahead of work ethic (43%) and attitudes to work-life balance (41%).

Feedback. 45% of Gen Z workers would like feedback on their performance at least weekly (15% as often as possible, 8% daily, 22% weekly). Among Baby Boomers, 17% want it only once a year. Across the whole sample, 41% of workers get feedback less often than they would like and 19% more often.

Contacting a colleague. Phone or audio call (50%) and email (49%) remain the most common preferred ways to get hold of a colleague, and 38% would rather go and see them, rising to 42% among Gen X and older. Younger workers add channels rather than abandon old ones: 36% of Gen Z and Millennials prefer a messaging app, and 29% of Millennials prefer a company platform.

Video calls. The stereotype runs backwards. 63% of Millennials use video calls for work, against 47% of Baby Boomers, but among those who do, older workers enjoy them more: 40% of Baby Boomers like video calls and do them a lot, compared with 18% of 18 to 21 year olds, 38% of whom only do them if they have to.

Networking. 61% of 22 to 27 year olds have jobs that involve networking in person, the highest of any group, and 32% of them would prefer to do it online. 44% of Baby Boomers quite like it.

Working from home. Only 34% of 18 to 21 year old workers ever work from home, against 56% of 22 to 27 year olds. Asked where they feel more productive, 55% of 22 to 27 year old home workers said at work, the highest of any group; 18 to 21 year olds split evenly (45% home, 45% work); 55% of Baby Boomers said it makes no difference. The idea that Gen Z is uniformly desperate to stay at home does not survive the data. See Why won't Gen Z work in the office?

Ambition and procedures. 81% of 18 to 21 year old workers and 82% of 22 to 27 year olds are ambitious to move up in their career, falling to 33% of Gen X and 20% of Baby Boomers. 55% of 18 to 21 year olds believe formal procedures and policies restrict people, against 32% of Baby Boomers. And 61% of 18 to 21 year olds prefer to work by themselves, compared with 41% of Baby Boomers. So much for the lazy, needy snowflake.

Where do the generations not differ?

On the things that matter most for working together, the generations agree. Between 71% and 78% of every generation like to get straight to the point in discussions, at least 71% of every generation are interested to find out what other people think, and 80% or more of every generation like to reach decisions carefully after weighing up alternatives.

Most workplace friction is attributed to values when it is really about method. A Gen Z colleague who messages and a Baby Boomer who phones both want a clear answer, quickly, from someone who listens.

One genuine difference of temperament is worth knowing. 71% of Gen Z agree they find it easier to communicate and connect with people closer to their own age, compared with 54% of Millennials, 39% of Gen X and 36% of Baby Boomers. Younger workers are not hostile to older colleagues; they have had less practice. Mixed-age teams are how they get it.

What is the cost of getting it wrong?

The bill for poor intergenerational management arrives as turnover and disengagement. Staff retention was the third biggest major challenge named by HR managers in 2023 (26%), and only 10% of them found retention easier among under 25s. Gallup's State of the Global Workplace reports UK engagement around 10%.

The retention cost sits at the young end, and 41% of HR managers agreed that most managers in their organisation are ill-equipped to handle the needs and expectations of younger generations. That is a comment on management training, not on young people.

Engagement is the quieter cost. 42% of HR managers agreed that bridging generational differences in work values and attitudes hinders productivity and collaboration, and when 41% of workers get less feedback than they want, low engagement is no surprise. Patrick Quinton-Smith put it plainly on the podcast: the real cost of ignoring Gen Z at work is paid in retention, performance and engagement.

Nine practices that work

Managing a multigenerational workforce well comes down to making defaults visible and letting people choose. These nine practices draw on our two studies, on 44 podcast conversations with guests aged from 15 to 90, and on my own 16 years leading teams of 90 to 100 people at sea, where every generation shared one ship.

  1. Agree a team communication charter. Write down, as a team, which channel is for what: urgent means phone, needs a record means email, quick question means message. Most arguments about "the right way to communicate" end when the right way is written down. Our generational communication guide has the data to inform it.

  2. Set feedback cadence by preference, not age. Ask every direct report how often they want feedback and in what form, then diarise it. 45% of Gen Z want it at least weekly and 17% of Baby Boomers want it once a year, but every generation has outliers.

  3. Run reverse mentoring properly. Pair a junior colleague with a senior one so knowledge flows both ways: how younger customers communicate in one direction, how the organisation actually works in the other. Give it a schedule and a purpose, or it becomes a coffee.

  4. Build mixed-age project teams on purpose. 71% of Gen Z find it easier to connect with people their own age, so teams left to themselves cluster by generation. Assign people across generations and the gap shrinks.

  5. Teach channel etiquette in both directions. A full stop at the end of a message reads as neutral to a Baby Boomer and as cold to a Gen Z reader; an unannounced call reads as normal to one and as an ambush to the other. Neither is wrong. Explain both.

  6. Onboard across every channel. Farzana Parkar, an HR consultant, told the podcast that robust onboarding is where the gap between what recruitment promises and what employees experience first opens. Put the essentials in writing, on video, in person and in the messaging tool.

  7. Make hybrid policy flexible rather than one-size. 55% of 22 to 27 year old home workers feel more productive at work; 55% of Baby Boomers feel no difference. A single rule will be wrong for most of the room. Set principles for when the team must be together and let teams work out the rest.

  8. Train managers, not just staff. 41% of HR managers say most managers are ill-equipped for younger generations and 36% say most struggle with older ones. Training built on data rather than caricature is what our consulting and workshops are for.

  9. Measure it. Ask the questions we asked: does communication between generations affect efficiency here, how often do you get feedback and how often would you like it? Repeat every year. What gets measured stops being a generation problem.

Common mistakes

  • Managing to the stereotype. "Gen Z want to work from home" (55% of 22 to 27 year old home workers feel more productive at work). "Baby Boomers hate video calls" (40% of those who use them like them a lot). Check the data first.
  • Treating age friction as the problem. Only 6% of HR managers rate it a major challenge. The real problem is usually a communication mismatch.
  • Generation bashing in either direction. Alison Blackler, a neuroscience-informed coach, told the podcast that generational friction may feel personal but usually isn't.
  • Ignoring the over 60s. 35% of HR managers find commitment easier among over 60s and 33% retention; only 9% find them easier to recruit. That is a hiring pool most organisations walk past.
  • Comparing rather than accepting. "When I was your age" is not management. Curiosity, listening, non-judgement, avoiding comparison and accepting difference are the five principles I recommend to every organisation.

Frequently asked questions

How many generations are in the workplace?

Five: the Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945), Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964), Generation X (1965 to 1980), Millennials (1981 to 1996) and Generation Z (1997 to 2012). In practice most organisations have four, since 95% of Silent Generation respondents to our 2024 survey were retired. Generation Alpha, born from 2013, arrives towards the end of the decade.

What are the challenges of a multigenerational workforce?

Communication, mainly. 66% of HR managers in our 2023 study said communication between generations poses challenges for business efficiency, and 75% of workers in our 2024 survey said behaviour at work varies with age, naming communication style (51%) as the biggest difference. Open friction is rare: only 6% of HR managers call it a major challenge.

What are the benefits of a multigenerational workforce?

Range. 45% of Gen Z and 44% of Millennials say they are among the first to try new things, while 86% of Baby Boomers reach decisions carefully after weighing alternatives; a team with both has early adopters and a brake. Older workers bring stability: HR managers find retention and commitment easiest among 41 to 60 year olds. 88% of HR managers enjoy managing an age-diverse workforce.

How do you manage a multigenerational team?

Make defaults visible and let people choose. Agree a team charter for which channel is used for what, ask each person how often they want feedback rather than guessing from their age, build mixed-age project teams deliberately, and train managers with data rather than stereotypes. 52% of HR managers have adapted their own style; only 38% of organisations have.

Why do generations clash at work?

Over method, not values. Every generation wants to get straight to the point (71% to 78%) and to decide carefully (80% or more), but they use different channels and expect feedback at different rates: 45% of Gen Z want it at least weekly, 17% of Baby Boomers once a year. Small misreadings of tone then become "generational" rows.

What is reverse mentoring?

Reverse mentoring pairs a junior employee with a senior one so that learning flows in both directions. The senior colleague gains first-hand insight into how younger customers and colleagues communicate and use technology; the junior colleague learns how the organisation and its decisions really work. It works best with a fixed schedule, an agreed purpose and a manager who checks it is happening.

Want manager training and workshops built on UK data rather than stereotypes? Alastair works with HR teams and leaders on managing a multigenerational workforce.

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