Menu Silkroad Menu
  • Solutions
    • Solutions
    • Our Solutions
    • Global Client Services
    • Recruiting
    • Onboarding
    • Learning
    • Performance
    • Security & Privacy
    • Integrations
  • Clients
    • Clients
    • Clients
    • Cleveland Clinic
    • NCSoft
    • Cacique
    • View All Clients
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • About Silk Road
    • Careers
    • Locations
    • Leadership
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Brochures
    • Checklist
    • Infographic
    • Video
    • Podcast
    • Webinars
    • Whitepapers / Research
    • Buyers Guide
    • Blog
    • Newsroom
    • Events
    • Partners
  • Login Contact
  • Twitter Icon Facebook Icon LinkedIn Icon
Silkroad Technology
    Silkroad Technology Mobile Logo
    Silkroad Technology Logo
    • Solutions
      HR Solutions
      • Recruiting
      • Onboarding
      • Learning
      • Performance
      • Global Client Services
      Integrations
      Security & Privacy
      Diverse group of people working in a modern office
    • Clients
    • Resources
      • Resource Center +
      • Buyers Guide
      • Blog
      • Newsroom
      • Partners
      • Brochures
      • Checklist
      • Infographic
      • Video
      • Podcast
      • Webinars
      • Whitepapers
      • ROI Guides
      • Ultimate Guides
      View All Resources
      Brochure
      Interview Scheduling in SilkRoad…
      Brochure
      Alumni Relationship Management
      View All Brochures
      Checklist Employee Onboarding Roadmap
      Ultimate Employee Onboarding Roadmap
      Checklist Employee Offboarding Roadmap
      Ultimate Employee Offboarding Roadmap
      View All Checklist
      Infographic man using a mobile phone while working from his home office
      Do Office Workers Feel…
      Infographic
      Value of Onboarding Services
      View All Infographic
      Video
      3 Components of Offboarding
      Video
      Risks to Address During…
      View All Video
      Podcast Workforce 2030 podcast logo
      Workforce 2030 Podcast
      View All Podcast
      Webinar First-time manager addresses her team
      The First-time Manager Experience…
      Webinar two business shaking hands over a table
      The 5 Key Considerations…
      View All Webinars
      Whitepaper / Research woman working from her home office
      Full-time Flexibility: Do employees…
      Whitepaper / Research
      How Can Organizations Achieve…
      View All Whitepapers
      ROI Guide
      Calculating the ROI of…
      ROI Guide
      Calculating the ROI of…
      View All ROI Guides
      Ultimate Guide Two young women working together in modern office
      Ultimate Guide to Talent…
      Ultimate Guide new business team working together after a merger
      Ultimate Guide to Mergers…
      View All Ultimate Guides
      Buyers Guide

      In the process of evaluating onboarding solutions for your organization? This guide can help.

      Onboarding Buyer's Guide
      Featured Post Male first-time manager working from home on laptop
      5 Boxes to Check for…

      Author and workforce futurist Alexandra Levit on the five elements to consider when thinking about engaging first-time managers.

      View All Blog
      Featured Post Female manager working from home
      Caring for Your Managers’ Well-Being
      Featured Post Manager communicating with employee on a laptop
      A Manager’s Role in Employee…
      Featured News Sound waves indicating a news article
      SilkRoad Technology Retains Position as…

      SilkRoad Technology announced its recognition as a Core Leader in the 2022 Fosway 9-GridTM for Talent Acquisition.

      View All Newsroom
      Featured News Sound waves indicating a news article
      SilkRoad Technology Recognized in Built…
      Featured News Sound waves indicating a news article
      David Lundstrom Joins SilkRoad Technology…
      Featured Partner Go1 Logo
      Go1

      Go1 makes it easy for organizations to learn, with the world's most comprehensive online library of learning resources.

      View All Partners
      Featured Partner Jobtarget logo
      JobTarget
    • About Us
      • About SilkRoad
      • Careers
      • Locations
      • Leadership
      About SilkRoad

      SilkRoad Technology enables people to thrive in a changing workplace

      About SilkRoad
      Careers

      Discover a work experience where diverse ideas are met with enthusiasm.

      Working at SilkRoad
      group of people working together in modern office
      Locations

      25M onboarding experiences across 2,000 clients in 90 countries and 28 languages

      Global Locations
      Leadership

      Meet the leadership team - entrepreneurial leaders with a passion for transformation

      Leadership Team
    Login
    Contact
    • All Posts
    • Blog
    Share Article +
    • Twitter Icon
    • Facebook Icon
    • LinkedIn Icon
    How Demographic Shifts Impact Your Workforce
    General Human Resources Articles Workforce Transformation Articles
    June 11, 2019

    How Demographic Shifts Impact Your Workforce

    Article by: Alexandra Levit

    In a recent webinar, we discussed how to manage change associated with workforce disruptions, but we didn’t get into much detail about what these issues might be.

    When people talk about workforce disruptions, they’re usually referring to technology advances or evolving work structures and environments. Rarely does anyone mention demographic changes, even though these are primary drivers of who is available to work and where. Let’s look at the big ones impacting the future of work that are sweeping the globe.

    The Rise and Fall of Fertility

    In many western nations, the birthrate has dropped below replacement levels, meaning that each pair of adults will have fewer than two children, causing the native-born population to decrease. While population may not decrease in industrialized countries due to immigration, the resulting workforce may have different work preferences and abilities – potentially resulting in geographic skills mismatches (i.e. organizations in a given area require skills that are not readily available in their location). At the same time, fertility rates continue to increase in countries like China and India, leading these developing nations to become the leading exporters of skilled talent working in the professional gig economy by the mid-21st century.

    Boomers Exit Stage Right

    The baby boomers, born roughly 1946-63, have taken longer than expected to retire from their traditional, full-time occupations. Two factors are at play here. First, many boomers lost savings in the recession and needed to work more years to support a much longer lifespan. Second, because they are healthy, many want to continue to contribute to the workforce. Rather than allowing this immense amount of institutional knowledge circle the drain, organizations would be smart to leverage boomers in part-time mentoring and consulting roles.

    The Millennials Are In Charge

    Globally, the enormous millennial generation (born 1980-95) became the largest in the workforce a few years ago and its professional members, which include a slight female majority, are entering leadership positions an average of 10 years earlier than prior generations. Why is this happening? I just mentioned baby boomer retirement, and the other factor is the relatively small Generation X (born 1964-79). Because there aren’t enough Gen X-ers to take over for the boomers, as of 2015, nearly half of all working millennials were leaders – defined as having at least two direct reports and decision-making authority in their organizations. The rise of the millennial leader will directly influence the trajectory of your workforce because these young managers do things a bit differently. Specifically, they embrace the transformational style, which involves seeking out new and innovative approaches from novel sources, being open-minded and appreciative of diverse perspectives and feedback, and operating collaboratively instead of hierarchically. And, if any generation is equipped to solve the problems of gender equality and female attrition in the upper ranks, it’s the millennials.

    Generation Z Gets Ahead of Itself

    Although the oldest members of Generation Z (born 1996-2012) just finished their university education last year, due to unprecedented, technology-facilitated access on a global scale, many teens and even kids are active participants in the workforce. They are starting their own online businesses, advising companies on marketing to their age group, and working at corporate internships before they’re out of high school. Incorporating these young employees into your workforce, however, is harder than it looks. They need a lot of supervision, so remote work doesn’t play especially well, and, as they are accustomed to finding answers online and solving problems via the most efficient method, they often have limited patience for complex processes and compliance standards.

    Given these shifts, leaders might want to rethink workforce management and teaming strategies. So, if you missed the change webinar, catch the replay and let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to know!

    Related Articles:

    Blog Article
    Diversity Isn’t a Program
    Blog Article
    Engagement Isn’t the End Variable
    Radar
    Blog Article
    Is Reskilling On Your Radar?
    Get in Touch

    Talk to an Expert

    SilkRoad Technology goes beyond traditional talent management to help our clients attract, retain and align people to their business.

    Talk to an Expert
    Silkroad Technology Footer Logo
    © 2019-2022 SilkRoad Technology
    • Privacy
    • Legal
    • GDPR
    • Meltdown-Spectre Statement
    • Solutions
    • Clients
    • About Us
    • Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    • Twitter Icon
    • Facebook Icon
    • Linkedin Icon
    Website Designed by Blacksmith Agency
    To top

    Choose your region

    Please select your region below to schedule a call with an expert who services your area.

    North America
    EMEA
    APAC
    This site uses cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful, to better understand how they are used and to tailor advertising. You can read more about these practices in our privacy policy.
    Accept
    Read more
    Change Settings
    Cookie Box Settings
    Cookie Box Settings

    Privacy settings

    Decide which cookies you want to allow. You can change these settings at any time. However, this can result in some functions no longer being available. For information on deleting the cookies, please consult your browser’s help function. Learn more about the cookies we use.

    With the slider, you can enable or disable different types of cookies:

    • Block all
    • Essential
    • Functionality
    • Analytics
    • Advertising

    This website will:

    • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
    • Essential: Allow session cookies
    • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
    • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
    • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
    • Essential: Remember language version you selected

    This website won't:

    • Remember your login details
    • Functionality: Remember social media settings
    • Functionality: Remember selected region and country
    • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
    • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
    • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
    • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions
    • Advertising: Tailor information and advertising to your interests based on e.g. the content you have visited before. (Currently we do not use targeting or targeting cookies.
    • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

    This website will:

    • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
    • Essential: Allow session cookies
    • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
    • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
    • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
    • Essential: Remember language version you selected
    • Functionality: Remember social media settings
    • Functionality: Remember selected region and country

    This website won't:

    • Remember your login details
    • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
    • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
    • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
    • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions
    • Advertising: Tailor information and advertising to your interests based on e.g. the content you have visited before. (Currently we do not use targeting or targeting cookies.
    • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

    This website will:

    • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
    • Essential: Allow session cookies
    • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
    • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
    • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
    • Essential: Remember language version you selected
    • Functionality: Remember social media settingsl Functionality: Remember selected region and country
    • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
    • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
    • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
    • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions

    This website won't:

    • Remember your login details
    • Advertising: Use information for tailored advertising with third parties
    • Advertising: Allow you to connect to social sites
    • Advertising: Identify device you are using
    • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

    This website will:

    • Essential: Remember your cookie permission setting
    • Essential: Allow session cookies
    • Essential: Gather information you input into a contact forms, newsletter and other forms across all pages
    • Essential: Keep track of what you input in a shopping cart
    • Essential: Authenticate that you are logged into your user account
    • Essential: Remember language version you selected
    • Functionality: Remember social media settingsl Functionality: Remember selected region and country
    • Analytics: Keep track of your visited pages and interaction taken
    • Analytics: Keep track about your location and region based on your IP number
    • Analytics: Keep track of the time spent on each page
    • Analytics: Increase the data quality of the statistics functions
    • Advertising: Use information for tailored advertising with third parties
    • Advertising: Allow you to connect to social sitesl Advertising: Identify device you are using
    • Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location

    This website won't:

    • Remember your login details
    Save & Close