How Can a Multigenerational Workforce Support Younger Employees’ Mental Health?

Writing this piece made me think about a lovely film called The Intern starring Robert De Niro. He returns to work in his 70s and is initially uncool and obsolete but ends up having a positive impact on all the people around him because of the values and culture he brings. His ability to offer advice and help others rise above stressful situations ultimately makes him indispensable.

The reason the film came to mind is that I am at the older end of the multi-generational workforce spectrum at Personal Group. Writing this piece made me wonder how we can all help each other more when it comes to wellbeing.

Mentor mindset: Harnessing the power of experience

As an older employee and manager, I consider myself responsible for the wellbeing of my team at work. That means I should be across their performance in terms of output linked to their pay and reward, but also anything which could affect them in terms of her physical and mental health. If I can create a culture and environment of psychological safety where people are comfortable coming to me or talking with each other about how they feel, I stand a better chance of staying across things. I see this as the pastoral side of my role: I keep channels of communication open and see myself as both a manager and a mentor.

I was delighted when one of the younger members of the team came to me for advice about renting an apartment, something they had not done before and were a bit worried about. I was able to help with my life experiences and, while I would never go as far as offering financial advice, I was able to offer my experience, time and soft skills to help with an important life decision.

Managers: Daily direct support

One area where the older generation can be less empathetic is taking on board the younger workers’ language, style, social media crazes and technology, all of which tends to be bound up in a greater reliance on smartphones. For support in these kinds of areas – and smartphone and social media addiction is a genuine concern in the workplace - I look to the direct management tier who are maybe in their 30s and 40s.

With similar lines of communication, this management tier has a direct responsibility for the younger workers. By reviewing their work for performance purposes and seeking feedback as part of that process they should be able to gauge whether or not a worker is keeping on top of their workload.

By keeping sensible hours, they can also monitor workers’ timekeeping as part of their wellbeing. If someone is always there when they leave, are they staying too late? If they’re always in when they arrive, how early are they getting in? Erratic timekeeping can be down to character but often comes down to external factors like caring responsibilities, crazy travel schedules or other things that might raise red flags in terms of stress and burnout. Sometimes a quick chat can be enough to alleviate concern, or signposting them to any support services or information available through a company EAP.

Colleagues: First line of defence

The final group looking out for our young workers is their direct peers. As companies and leadership groups, if we can create an environment and culture where younger employees feel safe chatting openly and honestly about how they feel at work and in their young lives, we can inspire good hard work, and eradicate the old-school stigmas around stress and sick notes. In shaping their work lives together, younger workers will often help each other and deflect stressful situations simply by sharing their lived experiences.

Through our shared human experiences, stories and connections, we can all extend a hand of friendship to younger workers in different ways. Depending on how many tools and resources a company makes available, we can all also make it our jobs to steer each other to the help and support on offer when we need it.

The Power of Digital

Whether it’s making benefits available in one place, providing high street discount vouchers or allowing colleagues to celebrate their peers through a Recognition scheme, a digital HR smartphone app like HAPI can make all the difference to every generation of worker by switching every employee onto these things, 24/7.

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