Global Intergenerational Week

What is Global Intergenerational Week?

Global Intergenerational Week is an annual campaign celebrating all things intergenerational and is an opportunity for workplaces to celebrate good inclusive intergenerational practices.

When does the campaign take place?

This year Global Intergenerational Week takes place on Wednesday 24^th – Tuesday 30^th April.

Why is this intergenerational celebration needed?

Global Intergenerational Week was initially set up during the pandemic to help bridge the gap between generations. The founders felt that several societal changes, such as older generations having less involvement in younger generations and vice versa, negatively impacted all generations. This wedge between generations can cause negative stereotypes, attitudes, and biases to form. Having Global Intergenerational Week helps to promote and foster an inclusive attitude and remove challenges that exist between the generations.

With the Flexible Working Act being updated in April 2024, the UK sets to see people over 50 encouraged back into the workplace with schemes such as “returnships”. This means that organisations will likely employ people from over five generations.

Evidence proves that inclusive leaders are likelier to enable greater team collaboration, see better quality decision making and increase team performance. Making inclusive leadership key to successfully managing an intergenerational workforce.

Facts to know about this week

Here are a few quick facts to know about Global Intergenerational Week:

• The campaign is led by an Executive Team involving Generations Working Together, Linking Generations Northern Ireland, Bridging the Generations, and The Beth Johnson Foundation.
• Global Intergenerational Week has several aims, including increased understanding and respect; inclusive intergenerational practice can help to raise awareness and respect between different generations and can help to reduce negative stereotypes and prejudices.
• You can get involved in the Global Intergenerational Week campaign by signing up here

How to support an intergenerational workforce

There are many ways to support an intergenerational workforce and recognise Global Intergenerational Week:

• Encourage opportunities for cross-generation mentoring.
• Focus on continuous development. Learn from one another and how one can continuously develop new skills.
• Embrace flexible work arrangements, including remote work or flexible schedules. This can help to accommodate the different needs and preferences of employees from different age groups.
• Foster a culture of respect and open communication by creating an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and perspectives, regardless of their age or position within the organisation. Encourage employees to listen to each other and to seek to understand different viewpoints.
• Help different generations navigate the workplace.
• Members can use our Multigenerational/Intergenerational workforce factsheet
• Organise Intergenerational Workplace training for your organisation
• Read our blog to improve your understanding of How to Manage Generational Differences and Ageism at work: What employers need to know
• Encourage leaders to undertake inclusive leadership training

If you’re an Inclusive Employers member and would like more support to understand and embed intergenerational inclusion, please get in with your account manager.

If you’re not a member we would still love to talk to you about intergenerational inclusion in your workplace. You can use the form below to send us message and outline how you would like support.