How can that be?

According to the report there will be a very real talent shortage because the four generations that make up the workforce (Gen X, Gen Y, Baby Boomers and Matures) rarely interact with one another and often don't recognize each other's skills or work ethic. The result is a limited transfer of knowledge from the Boomers who "are perceived as retaining the bulk of working America's institutional brain trust" to younger workers.

In fact, the study found that 51 percent of Boomers and 66 percent of Matures report "little or no interaction with their Gen Y colleagues." Furthermore, Gen Y, Gen X and Boomers report having little or no interaction with the most experienced workers, the Matures. (See Fresh Afield for a summary of the differences between generations.)

What's the solution?

According to the Randstad study, it's something they've dubbed "employership": encouraging collaboration between generation on meeting goals and cultivating mutual respect among the generations.

The study, which was conducted for Randstad by HarrisInteractive, includes a number of other interesting findings. I'll talk about them in another post.