Managing the needs of different generations of workers is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today. To help them navigate the challenges ahead, Steve Butler, CEO at Punter Southall Aspire announces the publication of his first book, Manage the Gap: Achieving success with intergenerational teams, which is available at Waterstones and Amazon.

The book offers insight into how managers can engage and motivate younger people, effectively manage workers who are older than them, develop a management style fit for all generations, structure business processes, benefits and communications that work for all and successfully support a multigenerational workforce to do their best work.

A Government report[i] earlier this year said that employers are failing to anticipate the implications of an ageing workforce. The Office for National Statistics[ii] projects that more than 24% of people living in the UK will be aged 65 or older by 2042, up from 18% in 2016. Furthermore, organisations are increasingly seeing multi-generations working together, from employees in their 20s and 30s through to those in their 70s and even 80s.

Steve Butler, CEO, Punter Southall Aspire says,

Over the last few years, businesses have had to navigate a technology revolution that has utterly transformed the workplace. Now another revolution is under way: a demographic one. Dealing with these changes presents significant challenges. Different generations bring with them different skills and attitudes towards work.

“One of the key messages in the book is if you’re going to manage an age diverse workforce and get the very most out of them, then you need to acknowledge how the mindsets and life experiences of different generations affect the way they approach their work and understand how to manage the process of them collaborating.

“As a manager, it’s not just about being there as a hand on someone’s shoulders when things go awry, but anticipating the potential for discord, proactively working out what each employee needs and treating them as individuals. Within any workforce there are Baby Boomers through to Generation Z team members to worry about – all of them with different needs and expectations, and the potential to cause friction with other employees.”

Steve Butler is a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. He gained his Master’s in Business Administration from Southampton, Solent University and is currently researching for his Doctorate in Business Administration at Winchester University, Centre for Responsible Management. He is a regular writer and speaker on intergenerational working, retirement and older worker business management issues.

Manage the Gap consolidates the learnings of Steve Butler’s blog, which is read by several thousand HR directors, finance directors and business leaders each week. The blog provides helpful examples, management tips, anecdotes and case studies to help business managers and HR leaders build an age diverse workplace helping to eliminate age discrimination and allowing employees to work into later life.

The book builds on this readership with the aim of taking the learnings to a wider audience to help address the UK Government’s concerns about ageism in the workplace.

Manage the Gap is available through Amazon and Waterstones priced at £14.99.