Scroll Down

Intergenerational
working at Dyson

Not just a fascinating story of perseverance and entrepreneurship, James Dyson’s career is also an insight into the power of intergenerational working.

His autobiography was, frankly, an inspiration to read. He talks of the need to value the curiosity that new, younger, team members bring and how Dyson combine these fresh perspectives with more experienced employees to keep the company evolving and innovating.

But this isn’t just lip service. Dyson is so passionate about the need to listen to and value young people that he created the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. Here, undergraduates learn and invent alongside more experienced engineers, working on live projects from day one. His aim is:

“to give students wings as well as degree certificates”

What can we learn from this?

As our whitepaper shows, this empowerment is particularly important for companies as they welcome in the next generation. Our research revealed that the single biggest frustration of 16-25 year olds was not feeling trusted or given enough responsibility.

This lack of empowerment poses a huge risk to both engagement and retention. As Deloitte found, under 25s are the most likely age demographic to switch employer, and 35% would be willing to leave their employer without another job to go to.

What can we do?

Intergenerational working is not just about catering for the younger members of our workforce, but about ensuring that all employees feel valued and heard and are open minded enough to learn from each other.

In the same way that the more experienced employees at Dyson help develop their new members of the team, Dyson also speaks of one of his most inventive engineers who maintains “the curiosity of a young boy”

“[he] is in his eighties. He is an indefatigable optimist, challenging everything that needs to be challenged. He is enthusiastic and always willing to try new things.”

So, if the question is: how do we balance experience with fresh challenge in our organisations? Then intergenerational working might just be the answer.