The Growth of Multigenerational Teams Places New Demands on Skills Training

As their popularity rises, managers need to assess the skills development needs of multigenerational teams

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Multigenerational teams are on the rise, with managers and workers embracing benefits. Yet employers need to recognise that diverse teams can present new and different demands on skills training.

A recent survey found a significant majority (76 per cent) of employees want to work in diverse teams.¹ Over four out of five (83 per cent) global business leaders recognise multigenerational teams are the key to growth and long-term success.²

Questionmark, the online assessment provider, is calling for employers to design training programmes that unlock the potential of every member of those teams by addressing individual needs.

For example, a recent Forrester study³ found data literacy has become the most sought-after skill for entry-level candidates. Yet barely half (48 per cent) of academic institutions currently teach data skills. On the other hand, early-career workers may need less training in the use of cloud-based productivity tools. In a survey, over half (51 per cent) of millennials born after 1980 said they use such tools. By contrast, only one third (33 per cent) of Baby Boomers and Generation X (born between 1946 and 1980) do so.⁴

John Kleeman, Founder of Questionmark, said: “Employers and employees see the value of multigenerational teams. But they mean employers need to tailor training and certification programmes to reflect the diverse experience. Skills training is the great leveller that makes multigenerational teams possible. Employers can use testing and assessment to design more individualised programs.”

Questionmark has identified a number of benefits to employers of supporting multigenerational teams:

• Research suggests age-diverse teams can come up with more innovative ideas⁵
• Expanding the age diversity of a team grows the talent pipeline, both from inside and outside the organisation
• Multigenerational teams encourage modern practices such as reverse mentoring⁶
• Choosing reskilling over redundancy can retain valuable institutional knowledge

www.questionmark.com

Notes to editors

About Questionmark

Questionmark unlocks performance through reliable and secure online assessments.

Questionmark provides a secure enterprise-grade assessment platform and professional services to leading organizations around the world, delivered with care and unequalled expertise. Its full-service online assessment tool and professional services help customers to improve their performance and meet their compliance requirements. Questionmark enables organizations to unlock their potential by delivering assessments which are valid, reliable, fair and defensible.

Questionmark offers secure powerful integration with other LMS, LRS and proctoring services making it easy to bring everything together in one place. Questionmark's cloud-based assessment management platform offers rapid deployment, scalability for high-volume test delivery, 24/7 support, and the peace-of-mind of secure, audited U.S., Australian and European-based data centres.

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¹ https://b2b-assets.glassdoor.com/glassdoor-diversity-inclusion-workplace-survey.pdf
² https://www.aarpinternational.org/resources/global-employer-survey
³ https://www.tableau.com/sites/default/files/2021-06/Tableau_Data_Literacy_Report.pdf
⁴ https://connect.comptia.org/content/research/managing-the-multigenerational-workforce-2018
⁵ https://www.randstad.com.sg/about-us/news/singapore-employees-prefer-their-managers-to-be-of-the-same-age-or-older-randstad-workmonitor-research/
⁶ https://hbr.org/2019/10/why-reverse-mentoring-works-and-how-to-do-it-right