Navigating the Gap

Managing the generation gap requires education and diversity programs to change workplace culture as we know it. It also takes a change in approach. "Employers should change their mindset from expecting an employee to adjust to their workplace design, rather than adapting to their expectations," Mok says. "They should be considering how they can match each other's needs."

Employers look to employees for guidance, as much to keep older workers from retiring as to lure younger recruits, two groups that both desire greater autonomy than they have in the past.