(Expansion) – “Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress”: Mahatma Gandhi.
Companies in Mexico and in the world have faced in recent years a fundamental challenge for the survival of any sector: to successfully achieve the integration of the different generations in the same workplace. Baby boomers , generation “X”, millennials and recently the centennial generation, have the same objectives, but with different abilities typical of the world in which they developed.
As an expert in Project Management, I have confirmed the importance of adapting offices and physical spaces to provide each generation with the conditions they need to fully develop.
To be able to adapt private offices, areas for a secretarial pool, high partitions, characteristics that generations with more experience are used to; With casual, open workstations, coffee areas with remote connections, typical of the new generations, it has been one of the most interesting challenges for which we are dedicated to the consolidation of new office projects.
I insist on the issue of understanding very well the current and future needs of each company and its employees and collaborators, to avoid following trends that could work in some companies, but not in all. There are no absolute truths on this topic.
The boom in workstations at “120 degrees” between 2006 and 2007 comes to mind. Countless companies asked for this change because it was the “ trending topic ” at that time. Nowadays and rather, for practically 10 years, this type of furniture has no longer been installed.
In addition, in this process of adapting spaces, the inclusion of technology in the offices plays a fundamental role. The new generations dominate concepts such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, big data, digital assistants, and these tools must be provided, but always taking care not to invest uncontrollably in equipment or gadgets that in the long run are just an ornament and that will surely result very expensive.
It is important to mention that the health crisis that we are gradually overcoming implied challenges for the interaction between generations. Remote work represented a reengineering of work dynamics, and this could not have been possible without the active collaboration of the new generations. Companies will not go back to the way we knew before the pandemic, but are now using this crisis to reinvent themselves and become more resilient.
Achieving synergies between the different generations living in the same workplace has been key to business success. The more experienced generations have a double commitment in this matter; on the one hand, to be constantly updating and reinventing; but also to provide structure and certainty to the new generations based on our experience.
It is everyone’s job, regardless of the group to which they belong, to row towards the same port: the boost to the world economy through growth and development.
It is true that today there is a generation gap of more than 40 years in offices, but this can be solved with a project with detailed planning and an excellent design that integrates proposals and ideas from all those who must cohabit a common space .
I am fortunate to lead and coordinate work teams and live with collaborators and managers of all generations; but mainly, with the youngest, who inject with their freshness and knowledge, that modernization factor so important to keep any company at the forefront.
I can assure you that far from there being differences, the constant is the coincidences. The workforce is more united than ever in its fight for a change in the way organizations are run in the future.
Editor’s Note: Arturo Bañuelos is Executive Director of the Project Management and Development Division of JLL Mexico. Follow him on. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
