For the first time in Europe’s corporate history, up to five generations are working together: People who started their careers with typewriters alongside digital natives who’ve never known a world without smartphones. (World Economic Forum, 2025)
Europe’s workforce is also getting older, fast. By 2050, the OECD projects that more than 40% of workers in advanced economies will be over 50. Combine that with the trend towards later retirements, and you get teams that are more age-diverse than ever.
Leaders can make a subtle shift to leverage this potential: Stop managing different age groups, and start treating generational diversity as an asset.
Drawn from our work inside leading companies, here are six practical insights to turn generational friction into fuel.
“Boomers don’t get tech.” “Gen Z won’t commit.” Generational labels are handy shorthand, but they also pigeonhole people into stereotypes that often don’t hold up.
Research backs this up. Take Bobby Duffy’s findings in ‘The Generation Myth’: The differences within each generation are far greater than those between them. What often gets framed as a “generation gap” usually boils down to life stage, career phase, or bigger societal shifts that affect us all.
Reducing people to these boxes overlooks individual potential and can stall collaboration. Instead, focus on unique strengths, skills, experiences, and the actual value people bring to the team.
Moving beyond labels doesn’t mean pretending differences don’t exist. Multigenerational teams thrive when their differences are named, valued, and worked with intentionally.
One powerful but simple tool we’ve seen in action is the Manual of Me. Each team member creates a short guide to their values, goals, communication style, strengths, and quirks. By sharing these manuals with each other, team members build empathy and uncover complementary strengths.
Multigenerational teams bring a richer set of problem-solving approaches to the table – if they're equipped to deal with differences. The backbone of collaboration across age groups is empathy and psychological safety.
Younger employees need room to challenge outdated thinking. Older employees need the safety to say, “I don’t get this tech – yet.”
What we’ve learned from working with our partners: Structured mentoring programs can be a powerful lever. When junior and senior employees are paired intentionally, two-way learning takes place: New approaches meet strategic depth.
Generational bias training can also play a critical role. It helps teams recognize unconscious age-related bias and equips them to identify – and challenge – assumptions in both directions.
Leaders play a crucial role as translators. Between team members, across all perspectives, toward a shared vision. Of course, communication preferences vary (not only along generational lines).
The challenge is not simply to inform, but to ensure the message lands. Alignment requires language and formats that offer clarity, flexibility, and accessibility across the board.In a digital environment shaped by shrinking attention spans and content overload, three principles increasingly define what works across all generations:
Front-load what’s important: If the relevance of your message isn’t clear immediately, the message risks being ignored entirely.
Make it personal: Authentic, human, peer-style voices beat slick corporate announcements.
Experiment with new formats: Different people process information in different ways. Quick, mobile-first, visual formats can also work in corporate settings.
In corporate speak, the word “flexibility” is now practically synonymous with Gen Z working from a beach. In swimwear, cocktail nearby.
But the real story runs deeper. What’s behind the demands for flexibility is often a desire for autonomy.
Many employees want the freedom to choose how they approach tasks, set priorities, and contribute creatively. They’re not anti-structure; they’re anti-micromanagement.
And this isn’t just a youth phenomenon. Studies proof that flexibility in schedule, workspace, or ways of working boosts engagement and satisfaction across all age groups. It’s about working with trust, clarity, and ownership.
When teams get this right, structure becomes a support, not a constraint:
- Project guardrails instead of rigid timelines.
- Clear roles and responsibilities, not step-by-step instructions.
- Defined goals, with freedom to choose the methods.
Companies with strong learning cultures outperform on innovation, collaboration, and retention. But too often, “learning” is code for “young people.”
According to the OECD, older, lower-skilled, and part-time workers are far less likely to receive training despite being a growing segment of the workforce. Organizations that embrace cross-generational learning are already seeing the payoff: A 20% boost in collaboration and a 15% rise in productivity (HBR, 2020).
Sidenote: Age-inclusive upskilling is your best defense against the looming loss of institutional knowledge
In Germany alone, around 13 million baby boomers are expected to reach retirement age by 2036 (Federal Statistics Office, 2022). Younger age groups will not replace the older generation in equal numbers.
“If you want knowledge transfer, you can’t wait until someone’s retiring,” says The DO’s Alexander Kiesel, who works with multigenerational teams in Germany's social insurance sector. “You have to build overlap into your teams years in advance. Ideally, by learning or working side by side on something that matters.”
Our recommendation? Upskilling programs rooted in real-world business challenges to enable real-time knowledge sharing – and help employees of all ages build the practical know-how to drive change.
