FMA Annual Meeting Recap: Addressing the changing workforce in metal fabrication

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Editor's Note: This is the fourth part of our FMA Annual Meeting Recap blog series. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, and Part 6.

For the first time in 34 years, the baby-boomer generation is no longer the majority in the workforce, having been replaced by Gen Y, also known as the millennials.

As a result, employers are scrambling to learn how to relate with a younger workforce and address declining employee engagement, said Sarah Sladek, CEO of XYZ University and presenter of the 2021 FMA Virtual Annual Meeting session “Leading an inter-generational Workforce.”

Sladek addressed two main questions: How do you manage people in this era and is team building even possible?

The answers to both are complicated, of course, because employers are dealing with work environments that house individuals from four different generations—baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964; Gen X, born between 1965 and 1981; Gen Y, born between 1982 and 1995; and Gen Z, born between 1996 and 2009.

Sladek outlined the events that have shaped individuals from each generation and discussed how that manifests itself in the workplace. While boomers and Gen Xers are the last generations of the industrial era, Gen Y and Z are the first two generations that represent the postindustrial era, or what Sladek refers to as the talent economy.

“When postindustrial-era generations enter a company that is under industrial-era management, there is an immediate disconnect,” Sladek said.

To manage different generations in chaotic times like these, Sladek said, companies must first recognize whether a majority of its workforce falls into the industrial-era or postindustrial/talent economy category.

“You have to think like a postindustrial company because turnover and retirement are imminent,” Sladek said.

Is it possible to promote unity and team building among generations with such different expectations and communication styles?

Sarah Sladek

The answer, according to Sladek, is yes, as long as employers understand the needs of their workforce. Bringing together individuals from different ages, genders, and experience levels can be a wonderful tool to address those needs. It’s never a bad idea to empower teams to take ownership and bring their own ideas to the table. Also, inspiring collaboration between the generations is as simple as relationship building.

“Employee engagement is the outcome of building an organization that is exciting, fulfilling, meaningful, and fun,” she said.

In closing, Sladek remarked that manufacturers worried about attracting talent should lean into what makes this industry great because it’s exactly what the next generation wants in an employer.

“Research shows that Gen Z loves a challenge, they love hands-on learning, and crave an environment that is different. Manufacturing has an opportunity to attract this generation because what it offers closely aligns with what this generation is looking for in a career.”