An office with employees spanning three to four generations is becoming the norm—and it’s introducing a host of work style, communication and expectation challenges.

But there’s a serious silver lining to maintaining a multigenerational workforce.

Kevin Stipe, president of Reagan Consulting, says a multigenerational staff can create healthy conflict. “You have a wide variety of perceptions and life experiences,” he says. “Baby boomers don’t see the world the same way millennials do. I don’t think I want an organization with just one or the other. Having the three different perspectives of those three different generations is helpful and youthful.”

Consider millennials, who are predicted to comprise more than 50% of the workforce by 2026. Gen Y is where independent agencies are starting to focus their hiring efforts, which in turn gives them insight into today’s technology, consumers and work culture.

“To ignore that group and not have salespeople in that age cohort, you’re going to put yourself out of business,” says Jim Caragher, managing partner at CIB Group Services LLC. “I think there’s an incredible need to bring in people in their 20s and 30s into this business in the producer role, and it’s a great opportunity. They are well-educated and more diverse, and the digital proficiency can be very helpful in prospecting and developing business.”

Helping younger generations move beyond the perceived stigma of insurance as “boring” and into your agency is the first hurdle. But once they’re in and you’ve created a balanced multi-generational workforce [see the cover story in September IA for strategies on how to do this], you can leverage the opportunity to share experiences and gain fresh perspectives.

“There’s a dual mentorship—a mentorship top-down and bottom-up that you have to understand if you can achieve that balance,” says Quincy Branch, president & CEO of Branch Benefits Consulting in Las Vegas. “Older producers do have something to give to the younger producers, but at the same time, older producers can glean something from those younger producers as well.”

Independent agency M3 Insurance Services trains and educates staff about potential multigenerational conflicts and differences. “Our people are generally aware of the generational differences,” says Tim Cleary, director of sales in property and casualty. “We’ve taken our time to make sure our people are educated about it. They’ve adapted well to multiple generations in the workforce and understand why we distribute across the generations.”

Employees who are respectful, aware and open to learning will adapt to—and potentially enjoy—a work environment with a multitude of proficiencies. Avoiding harmful conflict, then, ultimately comes down to individuals. Consider a producer and a customer service representative: one relies highly on the other.

“You don’t want to be disrespectful to people inside the firm who are critical to you being successful as a producer, so you better get them on your team,” Caragher says. “If you actually have a respect for them and they see you’re going to try and help them do their job more effectively, they’ll go out of their way to make it successful. They’ll find markets for you, they’ll work hard to get the right proposals to your prospects. That’s just human relations. I don’t think that’s generational.”

Some sort of conflict is inevitable. Michael Ross, president & CEO of INSURICA, says that among his 26 branches, he’s experienced communication, dress code and interaction challenges in both directions: from millennials to boomers and boomers to millennials. But handling conflict effectively can ultimately lead to a healthier working environment and happier employees.

“We’ve tried to recognize that millennials enjoy and are accustomed to being recognized, awarded, patted on the back and shown where their career may be taking them, whereas boomers have historically had a ‘leave me alone’ mentality,” Ross says. “It’s about trying to recognize that we need to go out of our way to appreciate the differences among generations.”

Morgan Smith is IA assistant editor.