Workplace Trends: How WorkCare Helps Older Workers and Multi-Generation Teams Thrive

The adult U.S. workforce is an aging, multiple-generation population that requires employers to develop occupational health and safety strategies to resolve immediate challenges and prepare for long-term projections. In any given workplace, there is the potential to have up to five generations represented:

• Traditionalists (born 1922-1945)
• Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
• Generation X (1965-1980)
• Gen Y/Millennials (1981-1996)
• Gen Z (1997-2012)

On one hand, multi-generation team members offer valued experience, diverse backgrounds, and fresh approaches. There are opportunities to teach and learn from each other. On the other hand, perspectives about critical aspects of work – such as job security and longevity, salary and benefits, management authority, adoption of technology, workplace environment, career development, and personal life balance – often vary widely.  

The Significance of Age and Workforce Composition 

Workforce population demographics provide valuable insights when developing and implementing targeted occupational health and safety interventions. Aging of the U.S. population is a noteworthy trend that influences employers’ daily operational decisions.  

About one-third of the American workforce is over 50 years old. In 2023, 66% of people aged 55 to 64 and 27% aged 65 to 74 participated in the civilian labor force, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Older-age-group labor force participation is projected to increase by more than 3.3% and 3.5%, respectively, by 2023. (Refer to the Aug. 1, 2025, BLS Employment Situation Summary for current household and establishment survey data.)   

Americans in the prime-age category for work (25 to 54 years old) still have the highest labor force participation rate. However, the size of the prime-age group has been declining since the mid-1990s, according to a report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) on Trends in Labor Force Participation and Employment of Americans Ages 16 or Older. Meanwhile, lower birth rates are driving declines in both the prime-age pool and among workers who are 16 to 24 years old, a group that is approaching record-low levels as a share of the labor force. The EBRI findings are based on U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey data.  

Trends Affecting Workplace Health and Safety Management

These population trends are particularly consequential in terms of workforce health and safety management: 

1. Older workers are typically injured on the job less often than younger ones, but they are more likely to have underlying medical conditions that can cause complications, longer recovery times, prolonged disability days, and higher claims costs when an injury occurs.  
2. From 2019 to 2023, employees 50 and older made up 41% of the injured employee population, and those 60 and older comprised 16%, an increase of 39% and 13%, respectively, when compared to findings from 2015-2019, according to The Travelers 2025 Injury Impact Report.  
3. The Travelers report, which features an analysis of 2.6 million insurance claims, also found that employees who are 16-24 years old are vulnerable to injury. In their first year on the job, they accounted for approximately 36% of injuries and 34% of overall claims costs over the five-year study period.  
4. Population aging forces employers to fill jobs vacated by older workers with younger workers, increasing pressure to ensure staff are sufficiently trained on situational awareness, injury prevention and response, safety practices, and other protocols. In some cases, younger professionals are supervising older employees as workforce composition changes. 

Helpful Insights for Multi-Generation Workforce Management 

WorkCare follows workforce demographic trends so it can recommend injury prevention and management strategies that are the optimal fit for a specific workplace, geographic location, or type of industry. Here are some related, relevant statistics: 

• The median age of American adults – the age at which half the population is older and the other half younger – is 39 years, representing an increase of 0.6 years from April 2020 to July 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released on June 26, 2025. The median age in 192 metropolitan areas was higher than the national median in 2024.  
• People are working longer than they once did. Factors driving this trend include financial or insurance coverage needs, longer lifespans, the desire to share acquired knowledge and have a sense of purpose, and the availability of remote work and part-time job options. 
• In a 2024 report on key labor trends, the Pew Research Center found that 19% of working U.S. adults (one in five) were born in another country. In 2023, workforce composition was: 
  • 60% White, down from 71% in 2000 
  • 19% Hispanic, up from 12% in 2000 
  • 12% Black, relatively stable 
  • 7% Asian, up from 4% in 2000 
• An Economic Policy Institute study published in 2018 projected that people of color would comprise the majority workers without a bachelor’s degree by 2032. The Pew Research Centers reported that the number of employed adults with a bachelor’s degree increased from 31% in 2020 to 45% in 2023. 
• Relative to gender, women comprise about 47% of the total adult U.S. workforce. Men who are 65 or older comprise a larger share of the labor force when compared to women.   

 “The movement of the Baby Boom generation out of the age groups younger than 65 has made the composition of the older workforce even older. At the same time, the older workforce is becoming more diverse, as a smaller share of white Americans comprise the ages 55 or older population. These are important considerations for employers to understand, as older workers and a more diverse workforce calls for additional or new answers to the optimal design of employee benefit plans.”

–  Craig Copeland, director, Wealth Benefits Research at EBRI 

Employees in All Age Groups Want to Have Hope 

Repeated Gallup surveys show a gradual decline in employee engagement among all age groups. Younger workers (especially those in Gen Z) tend to place a higher value on their autonomy and mental health than older colleagues, who are more inclined to favor behaviors like loyalty to the company and being a team player.  

In Gallup’s mid-year 2025 survey, 32% of respondents in a random sample of 17,660 employed adults, described their workplace as isolated, impersonal, and lacking in conditions that help people feel emotionally connected with their colleagues. For Gen Z workers (44%) and remote employees (41%), the sense of detachment was even greater. Overall, only 28% of respondents felt their opinions count at work.  

The Biggest Leadership Challenges

When Gallup asked 500 senior leaders about their biggest challenges, five themes emerged:  

1. Financial and economic pressures 
2. Complex regulatory and political environment 
3. Volatile customer behavior and shifting marketing conditions 
4. Staffing and recruitment challenges 
5. Integration of infrastructure and emerging technologies.  

Employers who are preoccupied with these pressing concerns may not be focused on nurturing employees at a time when they say the “most important thing they want from leaders is hope, which means having a clear vision of the future and their role in it,” Gallup reports. 

How WorkCare Helps Employers Support Multi-Gen Workforces 

Demographic shifts require employers to attend to employee expectations that are likely to be influenced by their age, gender, ethnic and racial background, education, and environment. WorkCare’s subject matter experts are skilled at evaluating employees’ occupational health needs and attitudes toward work. This involves interviewing senior leaders, supervisors, and front-line employees to make sure they feel heard.  

Workforce interactions are particularly valuable when introducing ergonomic solutions and other injury prevention solutions that require engagement across multi-generation lines to be successful. Examples of guidance offered by WorkCare’s industrial injury prevention specialists include:

• Workstation adjustments
• Modification of tools to fit workers
• Advice on aging-friendly workplace design
• Exercises that demonstrate how to warm up, stretch, and cool down, and how to safely lift and carry materials, climb, reach, and even sit properly

WorkCare’s clinical team also provides health monitoring exams, first aid, and education on underlying chronic conditions, stress management, nutrition, personal fitness, and sleep hygiene. 

Other suggestions for older-worker and multi-generation adaptations include: 

• Offering options for job sharing, and remote, hybrid or part-time roles to help older workers stay engaged while reducing risk for physical overexertion or give younger workers, including parents, more flexibility. 
• Creating mentor-protégé and shadowing programs to give older workers the opportunity to teach younger workers job-related skills and pass on institutional knowledge that would otherwise be lost to retirement. 
• Offering training on new digital applications and other technological advances across all age groups. 
• Supporting intergenerational teams with training in communication and collaboration. 
• Allowing employees to work independently while aligning with team and production goals. 
• Creating an environment where employees feel safe and valued regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, longevity with the company, or job status. 

Contact us to learn about the ways WorkCare uses its total employee health delivery model to help employers reduce incident and injury rates, respond effectively to multi-generation similarities and differences, and prepare for demographic shifts before they occur.