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Does Safety Training for Millennials Differ from Training Employees of Other Generations?

Amanda Hagerty
Reading time 2 Mins
Published on Apr 2
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There is a cultural aspect of the times you’ve grown up in, and with Millennials, it’s just become much faster paced.  Whether it’s because of video games or the Internet, everything moves faster.  Today, you can’t really just put people in a classroom and say, “We’re going to do training.”  This is a generation that was not only fast-paced, active, and structure-oriented when growing up, they were active before they hit school, and many were involved in structured activities as preschoolers, and they tend to be team-oriented.

Keeping that in mind, it may be a good idea to plan training activities that break learners up into groups, and for a full-day training session, for example, planning a series of activities and games that support the learning objectives.  With rapidly evolving technology and the advancement of video games they seem to endlessly play, your safety training should also be more visual and interactive.

Trainers should provide instruction on the training topic before each activity and allow time for discussion after each activity.  Ask questions that will tie the activity into the learning objective and, that way, it sticks with them for the long term.  Ideally, employees from a mix of generations will complete training together, providing opportunities for them to learn from one another.

Why It Matters

  • In the coming years, Baby Boomers will be retiring in large numbers, Generation Xers and Yers will become the experienced generation, and Millennials will be entering the workforce.
  • These different generations have grown up under different economic and cultural conditions, and thus have different styles and expectations in the workplace.
  • To train such diversity effectively, you need to use all the tools of the trade so you can reach each generation with your safety material.

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