We at FutureDecisions LLC have been talking about the 4 generations in the workplace for several years now. We have made numerous presentations and written extensively on the subject. Now we are about to move on from our 4 Generations theme, not because multiple generations in the workplace is no longer valid but the landscape has changed considerably since we first broached the subject several years ago.

As individuals have watched their savings evaporate in the economic meltdown we have experienced many people working later in life. What this means is that soon we will have 5 generations in the workplace, not just 4!

According to the World Health Organization, men and women who are healthy at 60 will, on average, be physically capable of working until they are 74 and 77, respectively. Combine these statistics and the newest employees entering the workforce might not be joining their parents or grandparents, they might be joining their great-grandparents.

This translates into a social phenomenon not yet witnessed: five generations are about to be working side by side. They include:

• Traditionalists, born prior to 1946
• Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964
• Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980
• Gen Y, born between 1981 and 1999
• Gen 2020, born after 1999

Around 2015 Baby Boomers will cede the majority of the workforce to Gen Y’s. (Due to their smaller size, Gen X will never have the majority spot in the workplace — and so in essence, we will have skipped an entire generation.) What will this mean for your organization, how will you effectively recruit and retain individuals from 5 different and distinct generations? The challenges are real and the solutions are still being created, FutureDecisions LLC can assist you in creating an environment that maximizes the potential and contributions of all of your employees no matter their age.

We have all read about various workplace related incidents that have been blamed on stress in the workplace but we at FutureDecisions LLC recently saw an article that exceeds anything we had previously run across.

According to an article on the CNN website France Telecom has been experiencing a rash of suicides and attempted suicides. There have been 24 suicides and 13 attempted suicides among France Telecom employees since the beginning of 2008! Much of the angst of France Telecom employees is due to the high level of uncertainty they are experiencing.

Sound familiar? Are your employees experiencing a high level of anxiety due to uncertainty? While their anxiety may not manifest itself in the form of suicide changes at the least they probably less productive than you would like.

What is the number one action you can take to lower the anxiety levels of your employees? Communicate, communicate, communicate! The more information they have the less time and effort they will take making up things about what might be, or not. Even if the news is not good it is better to share than to make them guess.

To read the entire CNN article click here.