Employee Perceptions of Peers and Employees Older and Younger than Themselves

SURVEY

PURPOSE

The success of any program which aims to encourage and assist older employees to remain in the workplace instead of retiring at the first opportunity, will depend, in part, on:

·         The perceptions each generation of employees has of the capacity, ability, competence and attitudes of other generations.

·         The implementation of strategies to address any differences in work related attitudes between generations which could undermine the development of harmonious, cooperative and trusting relationships between different generations of employees in the workplace

The questionnaire aims to identify generational differences in work-related attitudes of employees in the same workplace as a precursor to providing a foundation on which appropriate Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies and policies can be developed and implemented.

STRUCTURE

It is assumed that employees in a workplace are able to categorize other employees in one of three terms: older, younger or in the same age group as themselves. Employee perceptions of the work related characteristics of other employees may vary according to how they are positioned according to this age dimension. The survey seeks to test those perceptions by inviting employees to make judgments about the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of others in the workplace based on whether they are older or younger than, or in the same age group as the respondent.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Employees will be asked to think about their dealings with people of different age groupings in their workplace and to report their observations across a wide range of issues such as :

They will be asked to report how often (from “always” to “never”) they perceive particular age related groups demonstrating particular behaviours.

OUTCOMES

The questionnaire will provide an indication of:

·         Any stereotypes held by members of a particular workforce about other employees they see as belonging to specific age-based categories.

·         The extent to which these stereotypes are consistent across or differ between age-based categories.

·         Positive perceptions which can be used to improve integration between generations in the workplace.

·         Real or perceived barriers which must broken down if improved integration is to be achieved.

APPLICATION

It is anticipated that the data will be used to:

1.       Structure appropriate training and development programs to meet perceived shortcomings in skills or abilities.

2.       Develop communication programs to correct/shape incorrect or inappropriate perceptions and spread the word.

3.       Develop appropriate HRM policies to ensure equal opportunity for young and old and to create a sense of win/win in all groups.

Communication of the results of the questionnaire will provide a vehicle for introducing the issues associated with the ageing of the Australian population to individual organisations and workplaces.

WORK IN PROGRESS

A draft (beta) version of the Questionnaire is available below. The instrument is in active testing at the present time and further revisions can be expected. At present the instrument contains over fifty items and this will need refinement.

With this qualification organisations are invited to make use of the survey. Attribution as to source is requested. We would appreciate access to the raw data to assist with the refinement of the instrument.

Download the Survey (available here in MS Word 2000 format)