HR, Technology & The Ever-Changing Workforce

Today's workforce is composed of five different generations and each generation comes with their own ideas and expectations of how technology can help contribute to their success in the workplace.

Due to this ever-changing workforce, Human Resources professionals are always looking for new ideas to help bridge the gap of technical differences between the generations and how to use technology to attract, motivate, and retain employees.

Let's take a look at the different generations currently in the workforce:

• Generation Z: Birth years 1999 and later
• Generation Y(millennials): Birth years 1978-1989
• Generation X: Birth years 1965-1977
• Baby boomers: Birth years 1946-1964
• Silent generation: Birth years before 1946

We should keep in mind that employees’ comfort with technology and their expectations from it, largely depends on how they were exposed to it during their growing years at a workplace. This means we really shouldn't generalize and assume that because an employee is from a certain generation, they will react the same towards technology.

Consider using collaboration tools like chat, video conferencing, content management and project management platforms. These tools can have a big influence on multigenerational teams. They can help older workers document and share their knowledge while giving younger workers an understanding of how they fit into the big picture. Collaboration can be helpful because it fits into business processes and it's not a single person task.

Technology is also important to make a good impression on current and potential employees. Investing in the right technology can help your organization attract quality candidates and retain high performing employees as well. In fact, technology is vital for the success of your hiring, onboarding and training processes. Using tech tools, such as social media, gamification, and a good HRIS and learning management system, will likely keep staff engaged, motivated and happy in their jobs.

Workforce talent are not only interested in good pay and benefits, they also look at what technology tools an organization has in place and how those tools will help them grow, advance and stay relevant in today's highly technological world.