In 1987 the Brundtland Committee Report had defined Sustainable Development as one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

It was around three-and-a-half decades back that the millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) were just going to kindergarten and as they grew they experienced a technology boom.

They watched live as the many disasters of our time, mostly man-made — famine, wars, migration, climate change deforestation — hit them through the television cameras’ lens and affected their thinking forever.

Today, there have been a raft of studies about how millennials and some Generation Z exponents look at their prospective employers and what they hope to get out of them. Almost inevitably, in the West some aspect of social consciousness, purpose and values figure in approximately 80 per cent of responses.

They speak about salary and perks but they are quite certain that a sense of purpose and meaning will be baked into the employee value proposition.

Millennials form the largest part of the workforce now. The older millennials have turned out to be key decision-makers and influencers in many corporations today.

In India, those companies that are the Indian arms of MNCs follow their social responsibility to get listed or to get awards in India. Other groups or companies which follow the dictum of social responsibility do so out of a personal sense of commitment to a larger set of causes.

What is interesting is how combative and hostile millennials seem to be when talking about their prospective employers, while in the West or in India. While some are understated and diplomatic in their responses, others are blunt, often saying that they would call out their employers if they didn’t keep their social promises.

For their part, this zeal is met with much cynicism by the employers. They believe that if it weren’t for the money, the millennials wouldn’t be in those jobs at all. As one employer said “ the concern is nothing more than a veneer, it’s just holier than thou puritanism.” This mutual mistrust and discomfort must be entrusted by CEOs to their HR departments to see that the many strengths of intergenerational diversity are brought to bear for the good of the company.

Working together

HR should call for inclusion of diverse generational groups. It should acknowledge that the older generation needs to partner first. The HR division should first map the number of diverse groups in the company and get down to the brasstacks of this diversity — it is not just visible diversity that matters like race or colour but what is called cognitive diversity: diversity of opinions, viewpoints.

The older generation should take the lead by having crucial and critical conversations; being good coaches and letting the newcomers work with a democratic style of leadership. Unconscious and conscious bias with the older generations can be explored. Employers have strongly held biases about what employees really want.

A joint workshop with the millennials on how to work together will help. These workshops can be rooted in the principles of negotiation theory and practice. A workshop on how to unlearn past knowledge even if it stood them in good stead is important.

The millennials on the other hand need to be trained in different forms of dialogue. Many good managers realise that the best way to work with good newcomers is to give them broad direction and let them figure how to get things done. The two biggest hurdles in intergenerational diversity and inclusion issues are sharing of power between the two generations and unconscious biases kicking in. HR must organise workshops where people continue to unlearn and relearn skills which will help businesses build partnerships in unique ways, amongst them in the social responsibility space.

The writer has over 20 years of experience in HR , Diversity and CSR

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