Depending on your industry, you may have as many as five generations in your workforce: the Silent Generation, Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. With the Silent Generation, technology remains somewhat foreign, while Generation Z was born with an iPhone in their hands. How can you engage workers with such divergent motivations and skills?

While it may appear to be a difficult problem to manage, a multigenerational workforce offers remarkable benefits in terms of creative business problem solving and capitalizing on a range of experiences within the ranks. It’s important to be sensitive to the varying workstyles and needs and their preferred communication styles. But doing so creates a winning solution to staffing issues. Here are three ideas to bridge the generation gap in the workplace:

1. Communicate important messages through various channels. While younger generations may prefer to receive information digitally, older workers may be more accustomed to printed materials or face-to-face meetings. 

2. Benefits are important to all generations, but the types of benefits desired can vary greatly. It may be difficult, particularly for small companies, to offer a menu of benefits that offers something for everyone, but many brokers offer voluntary offerings that can be more inclusive for your workforce.

3. Take advantage of the knowledge and experiences of older workers. Creating a mentoring program or having senior team members engaged in training younger ones is a win-win.

There is definitely one commonality among all the generations: the desire to feel respected and valued. Building a company culture that includes everyone, considers everyone to be valuable, and encourages open communication will find that all generations are engaged and contributing their best work.