Designing employee experiences for five generations

Invision SVP Strategy Jon Paul Potts and CultureCon co-founder Zach Blumenfeld explore how to design meaningful employee experiences across five generations in the workplace. From hybrid work to two-way mentorship and brand-aligned culture, discover practical strategies for engaging today’s diverse workforce. 

Transcript

Jon Paul Potts:

Welcome to the Invision Podcast, Inside the Brand Experience, where we discuss trends and approaches to cut through the noise and allow brands to own every moment with their audiences. I'm Jon Paul Potts, I'm the Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Invision, and I'm excited to be joined today by Zach Blumenfeld, the Co-founder of CultureCon. Zach, why don't you introduce yourself?

Zach Blumenfeld:

Thanks for having me. Really excited to be here. My name is Zach, and I'm one of the Co-founders of CultureCon. At CultureCon, we believe that every individual, regardless of role, has the power to make work more meaningful for their selves and their organizations. I think the cool thing about our two companies, very aligned with our missions and our beliefs, so, really excited to be here.

Jon Paul Potts:

Cool. Well, I'm glad to have you here. I love talking about the employee experience, so I'm excited to have you here today. Employee experience is really near and dear to my heart. I had a stretch where the CEO of another agency I worked at told me, "No one cares about employees and what they think," and then COVID happened, and now everybody cares about employees. So, it's something which I'm very passionate about.

Specifically today, we'll be exploring how brands are evolving their engagement strategies to meet the expectations of five generations in the American workplace, which is crazy to think about. But if you think about late-stage boomers, Gen Xers, bitter Gen Xers like me, and then you got the Gen Zs, the Millennials, and even some of the older Gen Alphas and now entering the workforce. So, it's really kind of a unique cultural moment in the workforce. So many generations working at the same time, and these generations often have very different needs from a communication standpoint, from an engagement standpoint.

We also have seen increased workforce diversity. Different age groups and diverse workforces have different needs, different experiences, skills, perspectives, and that can lead to really a mix of challenges, in terms of how you keep those people focused on what they do, keep them understanding what the vision of your organization is, and how they contribute to that organization going forward.

So yeah, I mean, it's an interesting time to be in this business. And Zach, I'd love to hear from you. What are you seeing at CultureCon?

Zach Blumenfeld:

Yeah, I mean, this topic of different generations, multiple generations in the workforce when we get asked to speak is usually what we're speaking on. So, it's definitely a hot topic in our community around the country, around the world. But I don't think it's a new conversation, because I remember when I was first entering the workforce, I'd hear a lot of, "Those damn Millennials," and it's kind of the same thing happening again with Gen Z. So, I think it's different generations who grow up on different technology that helps shape their childhood and how they work and what they want in a job and a career. So, it's just like a cycle that keeps on continuing.

I think also, a lot of times we siphon people or stereotype them by their generation, but different people in different generations might actually want the same thing in a job, in a career. So, trying to understand why people think the way they do and what they want out of a job and an employer, I think helps this overall conversation.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah, it's really interesting because I entered the workforce in 1992, and I like to tell people my high school graduation present was a typewriter from my parents, and they thought, oh, we got you the best typewriter out there. And then I went to college and everything was done in the computer lab and now here we are in 2025 and these kids are all using AI to write their papers and they're using AI as they enter the workforce. So, you really have to be understanding what's happening in the marketplace of talent, what's happening in the terms of the tools and the technology that people are using now. And it's not just obviously the young people, workforces are moving in this direction of these new technologies. And so, everyone who's working for your organization has to be in a learning situation and be constantly updating and evolving how they do what they do for your company.

The other thing I'd like to say is we're in the age of experience. We at Invision, we talk about owning every moment, that we are a brand experience agency. And what I like to tell people is that at Invision when we talk about employee engagement, we talk about experience, not engagement. Engagement is, I sent an email or I posted something on the website. Experience is, you're giving people multiple avenues into the story you're trying to tell them. And it's incredibly important, I think, in this time of different people in the workforce with different communication styles and different life experiences. You need to provide those multiple paths to understand what your corporate vision is and how you're trying to move your organization forward. So, this topic I think is incredibly important right now for people entering the workforce and for your current makeup of your organization.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Definitely, and I think also understanding not only what motivates different generations, but also what helps shape them. So, going back to your example of typewriter to computer to AI, I think about my own childhood and I'm thinking about my dad would take me to Blockbuster and we'd get a VHS that said, "Please be kind, rewind," on it, and now we're streaming everything, and different social markers that help shape our childhood.

One of my social markers for millennials in my generation was 9/11, and that whole thing happening and that being really a core memory for us. And I remember just a couple months ago I was talking to my sister Becca, she's six years younger than me, so we're still pretty close in age and right on the edge of the generation, and she doesn't remember 9/11 happening. I think her earliest memory is some pop star, one of the Jonas Brothers that announced he has diabetes, and that was her social marker she was telling me. So a lot different than mine, but just that little difference in our social markers, technology that shape us. It helps understand how we were shaped and what motivates us and the different stereotypes that we talked about that go along with generations.

I think if we reframe it to think about the life stages and needs, not just the birth years. Think about first time managers, think about people that are caregiving for their parents, late career mentors, things like that. I think it will help shape the whole conversation when we talk about this with other generations in our own workplaces.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah, it's really interesting because for me, when I think of generations, it's an easy trap to fall into. It's an easy trap to say, "Well, you know what? Our workforce is this and we're going to communicate to these people this way and these people that way." And the fact of the matter is, you may have someone who's me, 55 years old, who's quite adept at understanding how to communicate in all these digital channels.

And then there's a movement, I have four kids and my kids are older teenagers and in the early 20s, and there's a movement now among my daughter's friends to not be so digital. And so, it's an interesting time where there's a little bit of a backlash coming where kids are saying, "I want experience, I want human contact." And a lot of that, obviously they've been shaped by COVID, and COVID and the isolation of COVID, and so now they want that connection with humans. And so I think you really, the generational thing can be a trap and you need to find ways that you're offering people the typical stereotypical way to connect, but then you're also inviting them to connect in the way that feels most comfortable for them, to your vision.

And the thing is, in the end of the day, what you're trying to accomplish with employee engagement is you're trying to give people line of sight between what they do every day and where you're trying to take your organization. And that's something that's a communication challenge, but experiential can help a lot in guiding that.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Definitely, and I think there's other things, like that sit around that employee experience. Right now we hear a lot of mandates like returning to work, but maybe flexible working environments, hybrid approaches can help with this overall conversation of blending different generations of the workforce together. And I like to treat hybrid almost like a product. So there's clear norms, there's meaningful time together between not only different generations, but just everyone at the workforce.

I think younger talent wants connection, they want flexibility, but that's something across the spectrum of generations. We as humans want connection, we want autonomy, and I think those go, play into each other. Autonomy is going to create trust between employee and employee or employee and manager. It's going to help create, that trust is going to help create connection, and that connection is going to create that awesome employee experience that we all want and need and crave as humans.

And I think also leveraging the power of different life experiences. As a millennial, I may look up to a baby boomer or someone older than me, but they might also learn something from a Gen Z or now a Gen Alpha. And there's a lot we can learn almost like a two-way mentoring street where we can learn from other generations. It's not just looking to our elders for their experience, but also helping learn more about new AI technologies or new technology that maybe I didn't have early in my career and I need help with. So, it's a two-way street, but I think mentorship programs and more of partnerships between people in different departments will help break down silos and help with that employee experience and connection.

Jon Paul Potts:

Absolutely, absolutely. What I always try to think about when it comes to employee engagement is giving people that ability to both be constantly learning, but also be a source of experiential learning for others as well. So I tell people a lot in our industry, "If you're not learning something new every day, you're not doing it right." So you got to offer people that invitation to learn something new, to be learning a new part of your business, to be learning about your industry, learning about a new customer. And then create those connection points where people can be sharing what they're learning. That's not driven by generation, that's just driven by people. You want people who are curious, people who want to learn more and bring that learning to how they solve problems in the workplace. So, that can be something that old baby, a late-stage baby boomer does, it could be something that a Gen Alpha does.

So, I think this generational thing can be a trap. It can be an aid to help you understand how to communicate and to create those different pathways, but it can also be a trap you need to avoid.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Definitely, and I think also when we talk about the whole experience and experiential, we need to design for that. And so, it's things like town halls, ask me anythings. I've also seen a lot of innovation or micro workshops happen, whether that's virtual, hybrid, in-person, to help bring people together, especially from different departments and co-create something new for an organization. Demo days, where maybe it is someone, a younger Gen Z that is very up to speed with AI and can give a demo on how this new AI technology is helping them be more efficient and effective in their job. I think what people do together, it beats with the leadership and it helps bring people together and co-create things that any generation can use. And I've seen a lot of those kind of demo days and workshops work very well together.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah. We also, when we work with clients on employee experience, we also encourage them to look beyond the email and think about, how do you create networking opportunities within the office? How do you create digital experiences? How do you create dining experiences where people can come together around food and then form connection? So, I think it's important that you don't settle on an email and a website, a link to a website. Think about all the different channels that are available to us. Think about when you market, you create a marketing campaign for your customers, you're going to think your employees as customers as well because they're learning about and ingesting your brand as you go and they're ultimately going to be the first line talking to your customers about your brand. So they need to have a visceral understanding, and they all have different learning styles. So, you need to create those multiple ways for them to understand what you do and how you talk to your customers.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Yeah, totally. And this is so timely, I was just listening to a podcast this morning and it was talking about designing work experiences for your employees like you do for your customers. You wouldn't give a customer an employee handbook where 99 of the 100 pages are telling the customer what not to do with the product, it's how to use the product. And so, same thing for your employees. How do I succeed in my job? How do I succeed in my department, my organization as a whole in crafting that entire experience, even with starting with the handbook of how do I find success in my role?

And I think a cool thing that you mentioned is food brings us together and other kind of flexible perks and benefits. I've seen a lot more like you have your essentials, the health, dental, vision, but then you have these cool perks that maybe it is like a meal credit or you're doing something like an activity team building together, but this flexible kind of pick your own career path kind of thing, where some of those benefits may be tied to your own development. And maybe it's a skill that's new that moves you to different department, but it builds your tool set and you as a person that helps you succeed not only in work but in life as well.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah, absolutely. Another thing to think about is, how do you create opportunities for people to be connecting to your brand purpose, right? Because nowadays, especially among the younger generations, one of the things that came out of COVID is people realized they wanted to be connecting and working for customers and also buying from organizations that share their own values. So, how you express your values to your workforce is incredibly important, because people need to know that they're working for an organization that they can believe in and then they'll give you more discretionary effort. And it turns out that when you have high levels of employee engagement, that's directly correlated to the value and the performance of your organization. When you get people who are invested, who are performing at a high level, who are doing more than just the bare minimum, that leads to business success. So, this idea of employee experience and employee engagement is not just a luxury, it's something which has direct benefits to your business as well, which I think sometimes gets lost because people think, oh, it's just about lunch and emails, but no, it's about your business performance.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Definitely, definitely. And I think one thing I've seen recently more and more of which I love to see, is that I think historically culture and people, employee experience, employee engagement has lived under HR, but marketing plays such a huge part in that. And a lot of times in organizations, especially bigger ones, they're completely siloed. And I think if you can get those two organizations or departments or types of people in the same room and working together, you have so many different ideas and creativity flowing, and then it's not as much of like, let's have this cool employee experience idea through marketing that needs to get approved by HR or vice versa, to make sure our brand colors are correct. It's like, let's build this experience together and it's mixing the best of both worlds.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah. One of the coolest projects, employee experience projects I ever worked on was for a large, huge multinational company, and they were relaunching their brand. And it's funny, because no one thought about the employees until one day I was in a meeting and I said, "How are you going to train and educate your employees about this new brand?" Because it was a market departure from what that company had been going to market as. And I asked the CMO and the CMO was like, "Yeah, this is just as important as what we're doing externally," because there was such a big change for the organization.

And I ended up working with the CMO and the head of HR, and together the three of us created a really unique opportunity for people to connect to the story that they were going to be telling in the marketplace. How did it live internally for the employees and how did it change or suggest change to how they behaved in the workplace? And it was very successful, but it came from the CMO, and then eventually it involved HR. So, I think there's a misnomer sometimes that this stuff comes from HR, but it's often coming from the brand. And so, you need to think about how your brand is being expressed both internally and also externally, because your internal expression of your brand is going to lead to your external expression as well.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Definitely, and like you said, I think you almost have to build things for your employees and your customers together. Sure, your employees are internal facing, but the same kind of marketing piece could be internal comms, it could be external comms, and a lot of times your employees are your customers and your customers also become your employees. So, it makes sense to have the same cohesive language and experience for both kind of subsets of those people.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great point, that's a great point. Well, I mean, we started this talking about generational differences, and I'm curious, Zach, if in your work or at CultureCon, are there specific strategies that you leverage when you're talking to a boomer who's still working versus in a Gen Alpha like my son who's 18 and now entering the workforce? How do you work in between that wide range of age and experience?

Zach Blumenfeld:

Yeah, I mean, I think like we've mentioned a couple of times here, it's like, let's not get hung up on generational differences but let's use those generational insights as a starting point rather than a stereotype.

And I think if you have everyone in a room and you start with that as a baseline, it brings people down instead of gets some heightened like, I'm a millennial, I don't want to be stereotyped, I'm a Gen Z, or I don't want to be considered lazy. Let's just bring it down as a starting point and use those insights instead of stereotypes, see each other as individuals, and then mapping programs to moments that matter in their career and life stage. I think that goes along with that point as well of not a stereotype but let's look at their career path. If I'm a boomer, I probably have more experience than a Gen Z, so I may be higher up and I can share a lot of those insights. And I think that's really how you're going to turn this five generation challenge into more of a multiplier for engagement and using those cohesive moments together to bring people together.

And I think understanding people as humans, like we talked about earlier too, I may be a caretaker for my parents now that I'm a little bit older and they're getting older. Giving me a little flexibility in my days so I can go check in on my mom if she's in a nursing home. If I'm younger, maybe I like autonomy and I don't want to be bothered all the time. So it's really just knowing how that person works and shifting your working day around them. And I think that adaptability and flexibility is huge no matter what generation you're in.

Jon Paul Potts:

Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself. Well, I think this is great information. There's lots more underneath this that we would love to explore, but we're trying to keep this pretty tight for people to listen to on their train ride to work or whatever the case may be.

But Zach, I wanted to thank you for joining us today and thank you for all the listeners to Inside the Brand Experience podcast. If you have an employee experience opportunity, feel free to reach out, we'd love to talk to you about it. I have been an employee experience guy for 25 years and I still love it, even though some people think it's passe, but I love it. And I know Zach does as well, that's what his organization is about. So feel free to reach out and would love to talk to you about what's going on in your workplace. So, Zach, thank you for your time today, this has been great, and look forward to further conversations.

Zach Blumenfeld:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me, and thanks for the great conversation.

Jon Paul Potts:

Awesome. Thank you, Zach.