Five generations, one message: what 4,067 people told me about being understood at work

By Alastair Greener FPSA, speaker, author and host of Generationally Speaking · 28 September 2026

Guest post. Alastair records his fortnightly podcast, Generationally Speaking, in our podcast studio, and we build and run his website.

Between July and September 2024 we asked 4,067 people across the UK, aged from 8 to over 78, how they like to communicate. A year earlier we had put a different set of questions to British HR managers. Put the two together and the story isn't the one most headlines tell.

Only 6% of the HR managers rated friction between age groups as a major problem. Yet 66% said communication between the generations gets in the way of business efficiency. People aren't falling out. They are talking past each other, usually because the message went out in a form that suits the sender.

It's the line I come back to most: we are framed by our generation, not defined by it. The frame is real, though, and it shows up in three places. The channel you choose, how often you speak, and how you put people in a room together.

Start with what everyone shares

Before the differences, the common ground, because it is bigger than people expect. More than 70% of our respondents said they like to get straight to the point. More than 80% said they like to weigh up alternatives before deciding. That holds across the ages.

So whoever you are talking to, the same two rules apply. Say the thing early, then show the options. A briefing, a training video or a keynote that buries its point under ten minutes of context loses the whole room, not one generation of it.

The channel is where the gaps are

WhatsApp is now the most common way of reaching friends and family for every generation except one. The Silent Generation, those over 78, still pick up the phone first: 47% of them. Across all ages, 80% use WhatsApp.

The phone call divides the middle. A third of Gen X, 32%, told us they only phone if they have to. Among Baby Boomers, 49% enjoy frequent phone calls. And when a call goes unanswered, 53% of Gen Z send a message rather than leave a voicemail, while 49% of the Silent Generation leave the voicemail.

Voice notes are the quiet change. 85% of Gen Z have left one. So have 45% of Baby Boomers. Older doesn't mean offline, either: 89% of Baby Boomers use a smartphone to communicate and 98% send email.

What that means in practice:

• Put anything that matters in more than one place. The joining instructions, the change of room, the new policy. One channel reaches most people, never all of them.
• Don't read silence as agreement. A younger colleague who didn't pick up may already have messaged you. An older one may have left a voicemail you haven't played.
• Match the channel to the job. A message for the facts, a call or a face for anything that needs a conversation.

Rhythm matters as much as channel

Feedback shows the widest gap in the whole study. 45% of Gen Z workers want feedback at least weekly. 17% of Baby Boomers are happy to have it once a year. Across every age group, 41% of workers say they get less feedback than they would like.

That last figure is the one I would pin to a manager's wall. Most of the workforce wants to hear more, more often, whatever their age. Short and regular suits nearly everyone. The annual set piece suits a shrinking few.

The same is true of how organisations talk to their own people. A monthly two-minute video from the boss, a short recorded update, a regular podcast episode: a steady drip of short, real communication does more across the generations than one big polished moment a year.

Putting the generations in one room

Events are where all of this collides, because one agenda has to work for everyone. Our data found 32% of 22 to 27 year olds prefer networking online, while 44% of Baby Boomers favour doing it in person. Neither group is wrong. The format has to give both a way in.

What I recommend to event organisers:

1. Alternate listening and doing. A 25-minute talk followed by a 15-minute table discussion serves the people who came for content and the people who came to take part.
2. Start at 10am and keep the breaks long. Younger workers tend to be in city centres, older ones further out. Travel time is part of the day.
3. Offer three routes into networking. An open reception for the enthusiasts, a structured format with guided questions for the reluctant, and an online channel before the day for those who prefer to connect that way.
4. Make the essentials work without an app. The agenda, the map and the Wi-Fi password should never sit behind a download. Use WhatsApp, which almost everyone already has, before a custom events app nobody will open twice.
5. Hand the floor a microphone. Questions from the audience need to be heard by the whole room and by anyone watching a recording. Keep slides legible and put seats in the networking areas.
6. Book speakers across the ages, and brief every speaker that the room is mixed, so nobody builds a talk on references half the audience won't share.

Framed, not defined

Every one of these figures describes a tendency, not a person. There are Gen Z colleagues who love a phone call and Baby Boomers who live on WhatsApp. The data tells you where to start. The conversation tells you where to go next.

I get to test that every fortnight. On the podcast I talk to guests aged from 15 to 90, and we record it in a studio near Chichester. You can hear every episode, with full transcripts, and read the research in full at generationallyspeaking.co.uk.

From Granary: if you're planning an event or a series of recordings for a mixed-age audience, the podcast studio is where Generationally Speaking is made, and our corporate off-site days are built around a room that can be filmed.

Sources

• Generationally Speaking, research: Communication Habits and Preferences 2024 and Generations in the Workplace 2023, 2024 and 2023 fieldwork
• Generationally Speaking, How to run events for a multigenerational audience, 5 September 2026
• Generationally Speaking, How each generation prefers to communicate, ranked by UK data, 5 September 2026

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