I recently had an opportunity to attend a workshop that talked about one Canadian challenge of working with four generations at the same time: Elders (1929-45); Boomers (1946-64); Xers (1965-80); and Millennials (1981-2003). We can now add generational differences to the growing list of diversity issues in society that already includes gender, religion, race and culture and ask: "How do we respond to these challenges?" The workshop was very interesting and got me to thinking ...

Did you know it takes the equivalent of 1.4 persons to replace a Boomer who leaves the workforce? If that Boomer has left the workforce because of an injury, and if that injury occurred away from work, it appears that the costs to industry for that Boomer loss is another validation of importance of holistic (on and off-the-job) injury prevention strategies as evidenced by the Mosaic Potash Business Case. The Boomers make up a large percentage of Saskatchewan's experienced, long-term qualified workforce and these days, industry must retain a workforce of this nature to remain competitive.

The thing that intrigued me about Millennials is that while they are the most tech-savvy of all generations, having had adopted communication technologies at an early age, it is important for them to be take up a cause. Right now their number one concern at work or school is safety. This is because they have witnessed the ever increasing violence and influx of drugs and gangs into neighbourhoods. This then challenges the traditional mindset of educating our young people.

Perhaps rather than communicating to them (e.g. the importance of injury prevention) we should be enlisting them as injury prevention advocates and communicating through them? I think there is huge potential in Millennials taking up the injury prevention cause and communicating it in a viral fashion to their peers.

What do you think?