Interactions between the Oldest and the Youngest Age Groups in the Current Multigenerational Organizations: The Case of Slovakia

Abstract

The present chapter analyzes the interactions and outlines a potential cooperation between the two age groups, usually regarded as extreme sides of the intergenerational spectrum. The oldest group (seniors) includes working people in the age 65+. The youngest group are adults in the age 18–30. Specific generational features of both age groups in Slovakia are characterized and compared with those of their peers in other developed countries. The basic objective of the paper is to show that irrespective of the significant generational differences, the two generations need not be in a conflict. They can be even intrinsically motivated to cooperate. This cooperation can be based on a combination of the younger generation’s energy, digital skills and sense for social and ecological progress with the working experience, patience, understanding of the character of socioeconomic changes and loyalty to employer organizations, typical of seniors. The last part of the chapter is devoted to intergenerational interactions in universities’ environment and tasks of universities in educating graduates corresponding to the labor market requirements.

1. Introduction

Recent demographic trends and some socioeconomic factors led to a situation that the share of older population was increasing, mainly in developed countries. On the other hand, birth rates were different across countries. However, globally, the youngest generation was the largest age group in the world’s workforce [1] and its share will probably grow in the future. The importance of intergenerational interactions is increasing in the society as a whole and becomes a topic for research in different disciplines and for taking policy decisions at different levels. The demand for an “intergenerational fairness” became an important, internationally accepted, issue [2, 3, 4].

From an economic point of view, aging of the population has been traditionally regarded as a burden for fiscal policy, increasing social and healthcare expenditures. Actually, it is also a political and ethical problem. Governments responded to mentioned demographic trends by restructuring pension systems, increasing the official retirement age, drafting labor market policy and enacting legislation protecting equal rights for different age groups. Companies adjusted by increasing the share of older employees in their workforce and multigenerational teams has become the widespread phenomenon. Employers’ awareness of the importance of multigenerational teams in organizations and their effective management is increasing. They understand that for improving economic performance and image of companies, it is important not only for elimination of generational conflicts, but also for purposeful combination of different generations’ skills and talent as a way of increasing the efficiency of their human capital. Simultaneously, this can also improve individual skills of members of the team, their self-confidence, intrinsic motivation and form an organizational culture more responding to recent requirements.

Literature on intergenerational interaction and cooperation has been intensively growing during the last decades for example, [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Special Management discipline (age management) arose as a response to mentioned demographic trends [12]. Most authors deal with cultural differences and interrelations between all age groups involved in current multigenerational organizations (Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, Baby-boomers and eventually still working members of the silent generation.) However, problems of older workers (or potential workers) in the age 55+ are often in the center. Our chapter concentrates on two extreme age groups from this generational spectrum—the oldest group (seniors aged 65+) and the youngest group (millennials and Z generation).

There were several reasons for this choice. One of them was that people in the midcareer age sometimes see in their too young or too old colleagues a “disruptive” factor, not compatible with the established organizational culture, value system, etc. Both seniors and the youngest group are often an object of age discrimination at the labor market and—if they are employed—they often feel that midcareer colleagues are not accepting them. Sometimes, even policy measures not only at the national, but also at local levels, do not respect specific requirements of the two mentioned generational groups. However, on the other hand, some recent local tendencies to motivate young people in taking care of older citizens in the community can be inspiring also for other organizations [13].

Our ambition is to show that the two analyzed age groups need not be in a conflict, their specific cultural features can be mutually supportive and that they can and should cooperate. Their cooperation could be mutually advantageous and can contribute to improving not only the performance of the whole organization but can also be of benefit to the whole society.

The structure of the chapter is as follows: In the second part, we briefly explain research questions and the methodological approach. In the third and fourth parts, the basic characteristic features of the generation of seniors and the youngest generations are described. Common features with other developed countries and some specific features in Slovakia are outlined. In the fifth part, the ways of potential cooperation between the two generations, importance of internal motivation to cooperate and desirable forms of management measures to support this cooperation will be outlined. Finally, the sixth part deals with a type of an organization, where intergenerational interactions have always been important—the university environment. The importance of adjusting university education to recent labor market requirements is characterized also as a way to support young generation employment and professional career.

Qualitative research results—answers to research questions—are summarized in the seventh part of the chapter.

2. Research questions and methodological comments

The present paper tries to answer the following research questions:

1. Are the generational features of the two analyzed age groups in Slovakia to a high degree identical to those in other developed countries? What are the differences?

2. What are the perspectives of intergenerational cooperation between the analyzed age groups in Slovakia? Can they be motivated to cooperate?

3. What is the experience of multigenerational interactions in Slovakia’s university environment and what can be improved?

The purpose of the paper is not to provide an econometric model and give quantitative answers to mentioned questions. A questionnaire-based research mapping the situation in the intergenerational cooperation within a particular organization or a group of companies is not useful for our topic. Seniors in the age 65+ are very dispersed among different organizations and locations and it would be very difficult to find a representative enough sample.

As a basic source of information regarding the oldest age group, interviews with generational peers were used. Most of the respondents were from the academic area.

The generation Z and a significant part of Millenials’ generation are formed basically by students—either daily or very often external students who are simultaneously working. Interviews with these students and recent graduates, with some years of working experience (Millenials), were the basic source of information about the youngest generation’s views.

All interviews were performed before the pandemic, in 2018–2019.

Official statistical data are also used to show the share of individual age groups in the total population in Slovakia and percentage of their employment. However, the classification of age groups in statistics (including EUROSTAT (Statistical Office of the European Union) does not correspond to the theoretical concept of generations.

3. Generation of seniors in Slovakia

Seniors in our paper represent the group of people aged 65+. They actually reached the official retirement age, but a part of them is still working. Mainly the silent generation but also some older Baby-boomers are included in this group. Most members of this group are people born during the war or immediately after the war. The experience from the war or the first years of after-war reconstruction—directly or indirectly—significantly influenced their value system, social and political views, attitude to work, etc.

While the youngest generation today is actually globally oriented and many features are common to young people in all (developed) countries, generational culture of seniors (and actually also of Baby-boomers) differs across countries. A very important factor generating the differences in cultural features of seniors in European countries was the fact that in post-Communist countries these people were 40 years living and working in a totalitarian system. The impact of this system was significant mainly in the attitude to work, ability to independently think and creatively solve the problem, a tolerance to corruption, a tendency to manipulate with others and a respect to authorities—even if commands were connected with negative social consequences.

In Slovakia, the share of people aged 65 + represented in 2021 approximately 17% of the total population [14] and according to forecasts it will grow in the future. Although these seniors are in the retirement age, some of them are still working (Figures 1 and 2). The share of working seniors (including self-employed persons) was 4.9% in 2022 [14].

Figure 1.

Employed seniors can be found mainly in education and healthcare sectors, where the availability of younger specialists is not sufficient.

Figure 2.

However, generational problems of the workforce and age discrimination practices arise also in connection with the age group 60–64 years (older baby-boomers, 15.75% of the population) where the employment rate in the age group was 41% for men and 33% for women [14].

As mentioned above, seniors in Slovakia include mainly members of the silent generation whose characteristic features are described in the literature. Common characteristics can be summarized as follows [15]:

• Traditional values, such as hard work, thriftiness and loyalty.

• Financial prudence—they handle money matters with prudence and discretion. For example, they often repair an item before replacing it.

• Interpersonal respect—positive relationships with colleagues and clients alike.

• Determination—They often still choose to persevere in the face of adversity, large or small.

• Resilience—when they experience challenges, throughout their life they learnt to cope with different stresses and extreme situations.

• Strong work ethic that includes pursuing tasks until they are completed well and working as hard as needed to get a job done.

• Preference to communicate face-to-face and may enjoy working in a physical location rather than remotely.

• Willingness to make sacrifices for causes they believe in.

• Sense of fairness and justice.

• Flexibility in work scheduling, accepting even small tasks or part-time jobs.

• The silent generation is also sometimes referred to as “the builder generation,” representing the memory of the organization.

• Probably, the most important feature of the silent generation, valuable for forming intergenerational teams, is their long-term practical experience, knowledge (mainly tacit knowledge) and professional skills.

• On the other hand, new technology and mainly digital skills are lower in comparison with younger generations.

Practical experience shows that mentioned features are typical also for seniors in Slovakia. Actually almost the same generational features can be relevant not only for the silent generation, but also for older baby-boomers, the age group 60–64 years. Both generations lived and started to work under a totalitarian system. While promoting some positive aspects of the work ethics, the system actually disused some inherited features of employees to fulfill the central plan objectives at any cost and achieve also some political goals. The possibility of independent decision-making, creative problem-solving was limited and career opportunities were biased by political criteria.

In comparison with generational peers in Western Europe and the USA, Slovak seniors are not rich, mostly do not occupy leading positions in the economic and political system and cannot be regarded as a barrier to younger colleagues’ promotion. Due to their financial position, they do not represent a significant proportion in the aggregate consumer demand and their specific requirements are not respected enough by companies, producing and selling too sophisticated products. Lower digital skills are common for seniors in many countries, Slovakia as well.

An important aspect of generational culture is the emotional sensitivity. According to socioemotional sensitivity theory [16] with shrinking time horizons due to age, people become increasingly selective, investing greater resources in emotionally meaningful goals and activities. Younger persons tend to focus on future-oriented and career opportunities. Older people are oriented more on present and emotion-oriented goals that can be achieved by interactions with social partners. This is generally true also for Slovakia.

However, one who is considered as a desirable social partner depends also on the person’s experience from previous activities, his values, life style, etc. For those who are actually dedicated to their professional activity, desirable social partners can be mainly colleagues, even if they are of different ages. This can be a factor supporting their desire to work longer, even in retirement age. Others prefer social contacts with peers in their community, village, free-time activities, etc.

Special role can be played by the family background, which will be mentioned later. Seniors in Slovakia are very strongly oriented on taking care of children and cooperating with young people (not only family members).

For employing organizations, it can be important that many working members of the silent generation continue to work in the same organization (or its successor) where they used to work during their active age. They know the company, know many colleagues, clients, suppliers, etc. This knowledge can be very useful for company’s performance and also for human relations in the organization.

Some previous employees started a business of their own, based on their previous knowledge and skills. In such cases, the company can cooperate with these individual entrepreneurs and need not regard them just as rivals.

While during the years immediately after the Velvet Revolution, inheritance from the past and political motivation were often seen to be barriers to maintain seniors-specialists in the company (they were regarded as “old structures”), but todays’ working seniors are in a different position. They have got several years’ experience of working in a market economy and are familiar with the new ways of doing business. Some of them also improved their knowledge of foreign languages and helped foreign investors to establish in the country. These tendencies increase the value of the human capital represented by skilled, experienced and motivated active seniors and companies can benefit from their further employment.

Of course, each member of the seniors generation is unique, there can be differences due to regional factors, level of education, social status, etc. Even the impact of the totalitarian system was different for individual groups and types of people.

However, in our opinion, the basic factor causing cultural differences among members of the seniors generation today is the condition whether they are working or interested to work even in the retirement age or not. Those, who are fully retired, have changed their life style, concentrated on home activities, worked in the garden and participated in community activities. Their digital skills are limited to some basic needs.

Even if these seniors are not a perspective source of employees for organizations, respecting their rights, specific requirements, improving their social and economic position and supporting different forms of intergenerational understanding are important tasks of today’s society.

4. The youngest adult groups in Slovakia

The actually employed youngest generation in Slovakia is represented mainly by Millennials. The share of the age group 20–29 years in the total population was in 2020 approximately 11%. From this group, 40% of men and 21% of women are fully employed [14]. Adults younger than 20 years form a very low percentage of those taking up employment, with most of them studying or preparing for future work. However, it is surprising that according to EUROSTAT [17], the Bratislava region in Slovakia stands at the second worst place in the European Union (EU), regarding the percentage of people in the age group 15–29 years who are neither employed nor involved in studying activity. This percentage of people is 4.49%. Why is this percentage so high? In our opinion, it is not predominantly a result of age discrimination. An important reason attributed to the youth unemployment can be that the professional structure of graduates does not correspond to labor market requirements. Another explanation put forth can be some proportion of young women who are not employed because they are taking care of small children. However, it is also possible that some young people with permanent address in Slovakia are actually living and working abroad, attracted by higher wages, but are not officially registered.

What members of the age group 20–30 years belong to millennials and what is the Generation Z are difficult to distinguish. In our opinion, in transitional countries, people born in 1980s cannot be regarded as representatives of millennials. Technology development is not the only factor forming their cultural values. The socioeconomic system during the 1980s was significantly different than the system in developed Western economies. People born during late 1980s started their official education in the period when the old cultural values were criticized, but the new ethical standards were not yet clear. They witnessed the rapid enrichment of so-called “wild privatizers” who often achieved their profit by fraud and at the cost of others, who were respecting the rules of business ethics. Millenials in Slovakia are represented mainly by young people born in the 1990s and later and their adolescence is connected with the first steps of forming a market economy system.

Entrepreneurial activities of first privatizers were attractive for the young generation. An interesting phenomenon in Slovakia during the second decade of this century was a significant increase in the number of entrepreneurs from the age group 20 to 30 years. Their share in the total number of individual entrepreneurs in Slovakia increased from 13% in 2007 to 17% in 2016 [18].

Some of them were successful, some failed. It was clear that their experience and skills were not sufficient and some lessons from the field of doing business in a market economy were badly needed. Maybe, the more intensive intergenerational cooperation in the country could reduce a little the rate of failures. However, parents who tried to financially support entrepreneurial activities of their children were often not familiar with market economy rules and risks as well and lost some part of their property.

Not all members of the Millennial generation were interested to start a business of their own. Many Millennials preferred to be employed in established companies. In such cases, well-known problems of managing multigenerational workforce are coming to the fore.

Some basic features of the culture, life style, values, work attitude, etc., of the two youngest age groups are probably common to all countries. Their mapping and updating is exhaustibly provided by Deloitte Gen Z and Millenial Surveys [1]. Characteristics in our paper will be to a high degree based on the results of mentioned reports.

Millenials are usually understood as those young people who passaged into adulthood at the start of a new millennium. Originally, they were characterized as a new generation in America. Later on, the concept has been transferred to other countries and today it is used globally. They are history’s first “always connected” generation steeped in digital technology and social media. They treat their multitasking handheld gadgets almost like a body part ([19], p. 8).

Basic priorities of this generation according to the Pew survey from 2010 [20] were as follows:

• Being a good parent

• Having a successful marriage

• Helping others in need

• Owning a home

• Having a high-paying career

• Having lots of free time.

During the next years, and especially due to the experience with the crisis in 2008–2009, Millenials’ preferences have changed. Family starting plans were postponed, the importance of high payment increased and the work-life balance still remained very important. Other external factors influencing their behavior were the pandemic, new ecological demands and recently, the high inflation.

According to the recent Deloitte Z Gen and Millenials Report [1. 2022], the current views and approaches of the youngest generations can be summarized as follows:

• They are satisfied with their work-life balance (mainly due to more flexible work types during the pandemic).

• They see some improvement in the societal impact of their employers.

• Increasing cost of living is the top concern for both generations (42% of Millenials, 35% of Gen Y).

• They are afraid of unemployment (20% of Millenials, 22% of Gen Z).

• Climate change becomes a top 3 priority for both generations.

• Job fluctuation is a little lower than what it was 2 years ago, but it is still significant. Fifty-five percent of Gen Z and 57% of Millenials admit that they will leave their current job in the period under 2 years.

• Both generations are dissatisfied with their pay and under rising living costs they also try to find side jobs to improve their financial situation.

• Ethical and environmental criteria are important for the youngest generations. Sometimes, they turn down an employer or assignment that does not take into account environmental or ethical issues.

• Work is central to Gen Z’s and Millenials’ identity, but achieving balance is paramount.

• Economic problems hamper these generations’ ability to plan for the future.

• Generation Z and Millenials prefer hybrid and remote work forms. However, as a negative consequence of remote work they mention: connecting with colleagues is more difficult, finding opportunities for sponsorship and mentorship is more difficult, career progression is limited due to physical distance from those that have the power [1 2022, pp. 6-17].

In Slovakia, the basic values and preferences of the current youngest generation are very similar. The similarity starts with their approach to technology. Millenials are the first “digitally native” generation. They grew up with the Net and they almost cannot imagine to live without Net.

They expect that technology will give them instant response to almost everything. They prefer communicating with text messages on smartphones before e-mails. They learn more by using videos or blogs in internet than textbooks.

In Slovakia, Millenials entered the labor market in the 2010s, actually after the crisis of 2008–2009 and they did not feel very much consequences of the crisis. Their expectations from the work often seemed naïve to older generations. They believed in the “omnipotence” of digital technology, hoped that they will be able to make use of their digital skills and knowledge in creative solving of practical problems (practical problems being often identified with independent entrepreneurial activities) and underestimated the actual complexities of economic and social life. They expected that their payment will be sufficient to achieve a relatively good living standard and a desirable work-life balance. All these expectations were connected with an opposition to traditional authorities and some traditional rules.

Although these expectations have been significantly modified by the experience from first years of practical employment, some basic features of Millennial’s work culture still remain. They still believe in unlimited possibilities of the technology, but are more aware of the limitations of their own knowledge and practical experience. Most of them understand the importance of lifelong learning. They wish to be creative and do things that are practically important. However, sometimes they are not able to evaluate whether the task they are supposed to solve is practically important. They are highly team oriented.

They like “pleasant” work environment—with some benefits if possible. They prefer flexible or at least hybrid work schedule. Even if revolting against too strict formal authorities, they are able to accept direction and management support, but require flexibility and autonomy in task achievement. The role of financial motivation is for them very important, probably a little more than for their peers in other developed countries. They often prefer working abroad with higher salaries and better working conditions.

Millenials’ fluctuation rate is high also in Slovakia. If they are not satisfied with the payment or other working conditions, they often change their employer 2–3 times within 3 years. It is a serious problem for employers’ organizations they are not willing to invest money in training people who will leave shortly and may pass to competitors.

Millenials in Slovakia are interested in ecological and sustainability problems, but probably not so much as their peers in the Western world. They are probably also less interested in the societal impact of their employing organizations. However, human relations and general climate in the organization are very important for them.

Emotional features of the youngest age groups and their attitude to older people depend significantly on their family background. In this connection, an important phenomenon in Slovakia pertained to three-generational families. This type of families was widespread mainly in the countryside, but up to 1960s it existed also in cities. A basic reason for their existence was a lack of housing capacities for young families. Young couples (at that time, the average age to start a family was much more lower than that followed today) had to live together with their parents and children had grown in a three-generational environment. Grandparents helped to take care of grandchildren and by these activities actually supported a high rate of women employment in Czechoslovakia.

On the other hand, children accepted grandparents (seniors) as normal members of the family and regarded them not only as tutors or supervisors, but often also as friends and partners for their childhood activities. Seniors had the opportunity to monitor the physical and intellectual development of their grandchildren, compare it with the behavior of children’s friends and understand the life style and values of the young generation.

These close connections between the seniors and the young generation remained often also later, when young families disponed with housing capacities of their own, but grandparents did not live too far.

After including in the organizations’ workforce, Millenials become a part of multigenerational working community. However, multigenerationality character can differ between different types of organizations. Typical digitally based companies are usually hiring mainly young “digitally native” employees and the teams are composed of people in the same age, with similar cultural features, connected together, of course, by the general culture of the corporation. If the manager understands the values and attitudes of his subordinates and makes the tasks for them attractive, there are no problems of generational interactions.

In typical manufacturing companies and some services, the situation is even more complex. Different generations can be differently represented in individual departments, functions, etc. Managers should understand generational differences and assign the tasks according to specific abilities of different generations and motivate employees to cooperate.

5. Perspectives of cooperation between the youngest and oldest generation and some tasks of managing multigenerational teams

Our ambition is to show that the two “marginal” age groups should be intrinsically motivated to cooperate. At first sight, differences between the two age groups are significant, in some cases actually opposite preferences exist. Not all of them are just age depending.

To deal with the reasons of these differences, we’ll use the theory about three overlapping processes influencing these values, known also as the A-P-C analysis [21]. These processes are: (1) life cycle effects (sometimes identified with age effects); (2) period effect; and (3) cohort effects.

Life cycle effects are reflected in those features that change during the life cycle of the generation. An example can be a revolt of young people against established authorities and institutions, which appeared several times in history, and later on was mitigated and the same people actually absorbed the traditional culture. We can see that some original features of Millenials’ culture have been actually modified (stronger identification with work, lower job fluctuations, understanding of lifelong learning and importance of tutorship, etc.). On the other hand, current seniors’ culture represents probably the final stage as a result of the lifelong experience. The understanding of other social groups and tolerance probably deepened with the age.

Period effects are connected with major events, such as wars; social movements; economic downturns; medical, scientific or technological breakthroughs. Recently, relevant factors causing period effects, such as COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation and impact of the war in Ukraine, are the same for both generations. A thriftiness of the old generations can be relevant also for Millenials under current inflation. Work from home used under pandemic was welcomed by the young generations and accepted as the only way out by the old generation. Under lockdowns, both generations had to spend more time at home and were forced to improve some of their technical (manual) skills as a substitute for otherwise bought services. “Do it yourself” activities became more important and experience of the older generation in this field was valuable for young people.

However, technological impact of the digitalization was present and intensifying all the time and the older generations had to improve their digital skills. Sometimes, seniors asked their grandchildren (e.g., to register for the vaccination) for help.

Cohort effects are very strong in the youngest generation, especially among students. However, becoming employed in a particular organization leads to widening contacts with older colleagues and less time remains for contacts with friends of the same age.

For seniors who are still working, the cohort effect is minimal. Contacts with younger colleagues prevail and contacts with peers of the same age are almost occasional.

Due to the three mentioned effects and also due to some other factors (political situation, regional aspect, family conditions), traditional cultural differences are somewhat modified or a little reduced.

Some different features of the two age groups can actually supplement each other and they can be combined to achieve a better performance. Many types of such combinations are mentioned in the literature and are well known from practice. For example, the energy of the young generation can be combined with the patience and tolerance of the old generation who have become mostly tired after years of intensive work. The digital skills of the youngest generation can be combined with the practical experience and knowledge of seniors (mainly tacit knowledge that cannot be learnt from textbooks). Different preferences for work schedules can be even used by managers to increase flexibility of teams and organizations. Willingness to help others, improve ecological trends and assure equal rights for each member of the organization can be common to both age groups.

An important factor supporting the cooperation between the two mentioned generations is the fact that there is no rivalry relation between them regarding career opportunities. Seniors know very well that their time in employment is limited and they cannot aspire for leading positions. Millenials would welcome promotion, but they are aware of the lack of their practical experience. They also know that those who will decide on their promotion are not the oldest colleagues. However, there are examples of young people (under 30 years) who have been appointed to leading positions. In such situations, it is important that the young manager understands and respects older colleagues, identifies their preferences, skills and experience and is able to use them in the needs of the organization. If not, generational conflicts can arise.

For building an effectively working multigenerational organization, one cultural aspect, common to both analyzed generations, is important—the respect to different generational (and also gender, race, etc.) groups and the ability to accept different cultures. For Millenials, it is given by their high DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) preference. For seniors, it is the result of long-term experience of contacts and cooperation with people of different ages, nationalities, cultures, etc. Usually, neither seniors nor Millenials are inclined to provoke intergenerational tensions or conflicts in organizations. However, among some members of the seniors generation in Slovakia (mainly those who are not working), a negative attitude to diversity still exists and it is a serious social and political problem.

Seniors in Slovakia (both working and fully retired) are forced to cooperate with younger persons, because without this help they will not survive in the current digitalized society. They are looking for help either in the family or in the organization they work with (or both). Contact with young generation is for them a source of energy and increases their awareness of the strengths and talents of this generation, which even more motivates them to cooperate. We can say that seniors are intrinsically motivated to cooperate.

The youngest adult generation in Slovakia has never been in such a strong opposition against the old cultural values and their representatives, as it sometimes happens in Western countries. With increasing practical experience they become more aware of different situations where older people can help them. Their motivation to cooperate is also supported by successful intergenerational cooperation in three-generational families. Intensive contacts between seniors and their adult grandchildren often remain, even if the families are not living together. Grandchildren can cooperate with their grandparents in different activities around the house, work in the garden, housekeeping, etc. A lot of valuable skills and tacit knowledge can be transferred within this cooperation. On the other hand, grandchildren can use their digital skills and help grandparents to solve different problems with working on computers and using up-to-date electronic devices. This type of an intergenerational division of labor should not be limited just to families. It can work also in other areas of social life, including employing organizations. The idea of three-generational teams is also involved in the current concept of “intergenerational triads” [22].

We tried to argue that the motivation to cooperate can be given even before the different age groups enter an intergenerational team or organization. However, the management should play an important role in fostering this cooperation and shaping it in such a way as corresponding to particular organization’s objectives.

A precondition for effective age management in organizations is that managers understand cultural features, skills and motivation of different age groups in the team. Then they should create conditions in which all generations feel well and could effectively use their capabilities. These conditions can include different measures—from healthcare improvement, a more ergonomic workplace, through age-specific training courses up to tailor-made motivation tools. The character of required age management tools depends on the type of the organization, size and structure of intergenerational teams.

Most authors emphasize the role of HR departments e.g., [10, 23] in forming the sustainable age-respecting climate in companies and then delegating responsibilities to lower levels of management. Some authors recommend to apply different motivational tools to different age groups in organizations. Others emphasize the importance of age neutral tools—equal rights for all members of the team, irrespective of the age. However, in the case of applying different management methods to different generations, a danger occurs that individual cultural features are not adequately understood, general stereotypes are applied and individual capabilities of older workers are not fully used. It can also demotivate individual workers.

An interesting approach to managing multigenerational workforce represents the Gentelligence’s e recommendations [24]. According to this theory, the starting point to multigenerational management should be the identification of assumptions about generational culture and overcoming false stereotypes. These two actions are especially important in teams experiencing generational conflicts. The next stages are taking advantage of differences and embracing of mutual learning.

In our opinion, the mentioned approach can be especially relevant for forming intergenerational management in Slovakia’s conditions. The first thing actually is to adequately define the capabilities of different members of the team (this is relevant for teams’ management in general) and do not accept stereotypes that may not be relevant in a particular situation. Only then the rational division of labor in the team (assigning tasks to individual members of different ages) can be possible, which can lead to improved performance. This is a difficult task for team managers and HR policy and hiring strategy of the company can help them. However, if the old and young team members know each other from the previous contacts, they can contribute to this endeavor as well.

Practical experience shows that citizens in Slovakia are especially sensitive to equal rights approach and would prefer an equal treatment regarding employees of different ages in organizations. However, some limits exist. Seniors themselves understand that they cannot be promoted to top positions in the organization in the age 75 + .On the other hand, training possibilities are important to all age categories.

In the process of intensifying intergenerational cooperation, different mentorship forms can be used. Traditional forms of mentorship, when older colleagues perform the function of mentoring the younger colleagues, are not new. This has been the crucial form of knowledge and experience transfer between generations. Some companies try to use mentoring even more to support intergenerational cooperation. However, it is important to make the process of mentoring more acceptable for younger employees. This mainly means reducing (or abolishing) the element of manipulation. A feeling of being manipulated provokes an opposition among the younger people. However, seniors often do not realize that their approach can be manipulative and it is difficult to find an optimal solution.

Other form of knowledge transfer between generations can be the so-called reverse mentoring. This is the case when older employees not only learn from their younger colleagues, e.g., how to use new software, solve some technical problems with computers, but also acquire some information about the young people’s requirements regarding new products and services, working conditions, etc. Young people usually do not tend to manipulate older colleagues, but the initiative, ask for an advice, must come from older employees.

However, a precondition to an effective working of this cooperation is a mutual trust and understanding.

A special type of working seniors in Slovakia are self-employed persons (e.g., a high share of doctors) where the crucial role is played by public policy and some regional authority’s measures. Intergenerational interactions are relevant mainly in approaches to clients (patients),

6. The role of universities in the intergenerational context

Universities as a special type of organization are important for theory and practice of intergenerational interactions for two basic reasons:

1. In universities, the interaction of different generations has always been present (of course, in forms reflecting the particular historical conditions) and some classical methods of knowledge transfer between generations are useful also today.

2. Universities can play a significant role in adjusting young generation’s knowledge and skills to the current labor market requirements. Generation Z is sometimes regarded as “the best educated generation in history” and this is undoubtedly the positive effect of world top universities’ activity. However, are the graduates “best prepared” also from the labor market requirements? The answer can be different in different countries.

In Slovakia, there is a tradition of meeting a relatively high level of quality in technology-oriented tertiary education, new study disciplines are introduced and the number of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-oriented graduates is increasing, but it is still not enough to satisfy the demand. A high proportion of graduates prefer employment abroad. This development is mainly not only due to significantly higher salaries there but also due to better other working conditions. On the other hand, there are graduates from other disciplines who are not demanded, so they are forced to accept jobs below their qualification or are unemployed. This phenomenon cannot be regarded as a classical age discrimination. The problem is more in the structure of university graduates, not responding to labor market demand and more deeply in insufficient cooperation between universities and industry, or practice in general. This is a complex problem that cannot be solved here.

In our opinion, an approach from the intergenerational interactions point of view can contribute a little to solving this problem.

Today’s student generation differs from previous generations mainly due to the impact of digital technology and its role in the whole society. They actually represent a typical group Generation Z. Their demands on the quality of teaching and its relevance for practical life are increasing.

Increasing importance of the lifelong learning is reflected in the fact that an ever larger group of students are external students who are simultaneously employed. This brings a new element into the generational structure at universities. External students are of different ages and with different levels of practical experience. Sometimes they are active managers in companies. Their experience can be valuable for the teaching process and can support university-industry cooperation. However, a too strict application of mentoring methods that are useful in dealing with the young generation need not be relevant in cooperating with external students.

Professors and other university teachers are mainly members of older generations, sometimes often seniors. Older teachers have got many years’ experience not only in educating students, but also in cooperating with colleagues of different ages and sometimes also cooperating with businesses. This experience contributed to their understanding of different generations and tolerance to different values and life style. Maybe, a problem in Slovakia is a low representation of practitioners from companies in teaching activities. Salaries of teachers are so low that these posts are not attractive for retired executives, not to speak about managers who are in the middle of their career.

Demands on education and requirements on skills of the teaching staff are significantly increasing. New demands are not limited just to the scientific background of teachers and their Information Technology (IT) literacy, but are oriented also onsome soft skills: ability to educate graduates who are critically thinking, creatively solving problems, effectively communicating and leading people and organizations, able to cooperate with colleagues from different cultures, etc. It is difficult to imagine that teachers who require from students just memorizing of given formulas and definitions, who are not willing to accept different opinions and discuss the pros and cons of different views, who are not able to flexibly communicate with students and to adjust the way of communication to different types of students, will prepare graduates with required skills.

Scientific background of university teachers can grow with their age (of course, there can be exceptions) and be reflected in achieved degrees. Digital skills can be different, usually they are higher among younger teachers. Interpersonal skills can be to a high degree, independent of the age. They depend mainly not only on the personality of a teacher, but can be influenced also by experience from many years of working in a particular organization.

Soft skills required today should be based on intergenerational (and intercultural) cooperation. Within universities, different age groups of teachers (and also PhD candidates) should cooperate on improving the system, based on the best practices achieved in applying innovative methods of working with students and also cooperating with employers. Management system at universities should create conditions supporting this cooperation and assuring a respect and attention to all suggestions, irrespective of the age group from which the proposal comes.

The principle of mutual respect and trust is very important also in the interaction of teachers and students. Authority of a teacher cannot be given just by his/her position in the hierarchy, but it depends also on the ability to respect and discuss other views, give responses to students’ questions in a wider professional and socioeconomic context. Students appreciate such an approach. For them, it is very important to see the practical relevance (and limits) of theoretical concepts.

7. Discussion

In this section, we’ll briefly summarize qualitative results from interviews and try to show how they helped to answer research questions.

1. Interviews with peers from senior’s generation and with students helped to answer the first research question. They have shown that cultural features of the oldest generation in Slovakia are in many aspects similar to those mentioned in the literature and based on the experience from Western countries. The basic difference is that in Slovakia this generation is not rich, does not occupy a leading position in the society, is emotionally very sensitive and prefers taking care of children and contacts with the young generation. Persons in retirement age, who are still working, are motivated to a high degree by their work dedication.

2. The youngest generation is globally oriented and its cultural features are similar to values of their peers in other developed countries. The difference probably is in their even stronger payment motivation, a little lower dedication to societal and ecological issues and a stronger sense for family contacts, including positive attitude to older persons.

3. Cultural differences between the two generations are still significant, but some recent tendencies (changes in external environment—pandemic, high inflation, family background and the pressure of increasing digitalization in the society) seem to increase the understanding of the necessity to cooperate within both age groups. It can be said that intrinsic motivation to cooperate is increasing. However, management activity to support this cooperation is very important. Citizens in Slovakia will probably prefer equal rights (neutral) approach in the treatment of different age groups in organizations. Special role can be played by self-employed seniors (e.g., doctors) where the role of public authorities is very important.

4. Universities should intensify even more intergenerational cooperation with the students and between the faculty member and improve the cooperation with business (and practice in general) to adjust the structure and skills of graduates according to recent labor market requirements.

8. Conclusions

The basic idea of the paper is to show (in the case of Slovakia) that although differences between the two age groups (differences in culture, work attitude, life style, digital literacy, etc.) are significant, they can support or complement each other and can be combined in a way that is beneficial to members of both groups, total organization and the whole society. Such a cooperation can be a practical example of generational equity, intergenerational fairness and can significantly contribute to successful implementation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies in different organizations and countries.

One of the limitations of our approach is that the analysis concentrates just on seniors in the 65+ age group, while other authors include in their research also younger seniors (e.g., 55+). In author’s opinion, the interviews with actually oldest group of seniors can better show some specific values of Slovakia’s seniors and reasons why they are still working.

The basic limitations are given just by the core method used: interviews with randomly chosen respondents from the youngest generation and subjectively selected seniors. Research oriented on all age groups and using up-to-date quantitative methods could increase the relevance of acquired data.

However, at the qualitative level, the presented research provides some interesting information on the generational features of both age groups in Slovakia and perspectives of their motivation to cooperate.

In supporting this cooperation and solving some intergenerational problems (e.g., youth unemployment), the important role can be played by universities and other educational institutions that should adjust professional structure and skills of graduates to the labor market requirements.