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The world is aging. And in the US, the generations behind the aging segment are increasingly multicultural. So, in essence, the US has a growing multigenerational and multicultural workforce and consumer. How organizations adapt to these changes will create a competitive advantage for those that embrace the change and a competitive disadvantage for those that do not.
Today there are more sixty-year-olds than children under ten, and this segment of society is a $22 trillion market share. The US, similar to many other countries, has an increasing labor shortage with an aging workforce. The number to replace today’s workforce is 2.1 and includes births, deaths, immigration, and emigration. The US recently dropped to 1.6 and what’s keeping it here is a growing younger multicultural workforce—in particular Latino.
What is interesting is that as the US population ages, there are those that are reconsidering retirement or restarting work. A Forbes article pointed out that in 2023, the fastest-growing demographic in the workforce were those over seventy-five. While this is happening, Harvard Business Review highlighted a study in 2019 that found that two-thirds of 10,000 organizations considered an older workforce a competitive disadvantage, which creates an interesting contradiction.
This is probably reinforced by myths that older workers cost too much. Yet there is research—such as Lisa Taylor and Fern Lebo’s The Talent Revolution: Longevity and the Future of Work—that does not back this up or that what is not taken into consideration is the older workforce’s experience and expertise. Another is that the workforce is less productive. Research has found that 65 percent of the older worker is more engaged. This older workforce has also been credited with having the interpersonal skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, listening, and empathy among others, which will not be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).
“This older workforce has also been credited with having the interpersonal skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, listening, and empathy among others, which will not be replaced by AI.”
Edwin Mouriño
Behind this aging workforce is a growing younger and multicultural workforce, in particular Latino. More than 65 million Latinos live in the US, according to 2023 US Census Bureau estimates. The US has more Latinos than Canada has Canadians or Spain has Spaniards. One of the generations in the workforce and a major segment in the workplace and society are the millennials that are almost a quarter Latino.
Between 2020 and 2030, it is expected that 78 percent of the new US workers will be Latino. Latinos make up 19 percent of the US workforce, their average age is 31 compared to 40 for non-Latinos, and they have a $3.6 trillion purchasing power, which would make them fifth in the world from a GDP perspective if they were a country.
To put it in perspective, in 2015, Forbes had an article titled “Without Hispanics, America’s Corporations Can’t Grow and Compete”, which seems even more relevant and timely today for corporations. This demographic is a key player in the workplace and as a consumer.
This brings two interesting business issues that leaders should be increasingly aware of. One is the business case for a multicultural workforce that has been highlighted in numerous studies and books, in spite of the continual negative press. Having a diverse workforce or leadership team positively impacts performance and decision-making, generates higher revenue per employee, and executive diverse teams see higher returns.
“The numbers and changing demographic workforce will create different organizational challenges, opportunities, and dynamics.”
Edwin Mouriño
The second are the unconscious biases that we as humans have. Unconscious bias has been defined as a process that occurs outside of our awareness and allows us to make quick decisions. A few of these biases include:
- Distance bias: we prefer to work with others that are closer, hence the debate on return-to-office and working remote or hybrid
- Similarity bias: we connect quicker with those that have similar experiences and backgrounds to ours
- Expedience bias: we tend to depend on quicker decision-making
Something for leaders to consider is how these biases might impact their decisions and leadership effectiveness.
The numbers and changing demographic workforce will create different organizational challenges, opportunities, and dynamics. Leaders need to increasingly be aware of these changes, their biases, and what it means for their organizations as these human capital trends will continue to have implications on organizations and their culture.
LEADERS need to consider taking a comprehensive approach as they face these changes:
- Learn: Be aware of their own biases, whether it’s about an older or multicultural workforce.
- Engage: Create an engaging workplace experience for their changing workforce.
- Adapt: Evolve with the changing workforce and its expectations of leaders.
- Develop: Grow themselves and their teams constantly as change continues.
- Experience: Cultivate an inclusive and psychologically safe workplace experience.
- Recognize: Understand that this is not only a workforce but also a growing consumer market.
- Systems: Take a holistic approach with 21st century policies and practices for today’s organization.
In summary, these demographic organizational and societal changes will have workplace and consumer implications for organizations and its leaders.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Hispanic Executive or Guerrero Media.
As a human capital practitioner, Edwin Mouriño’s philosophy has been on helping leaders and organizations help themselves. He is an experienced professional with many years of leading and/or supporting key elements of organizational change projects. Mouriño is an Air Force veteran. He brings broad industry experience that include Fortune 100 companies. He has also served in an educator role in several higher educational institutions.
He is founder and president of Human Intelligent (HI) Workplace, an organization focused on emphasizing the area of Human Intelligence (HI) in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
He has extensive experience and thought leadership on human capital trends and supported organizational change efforts through keynotes, leadership development, executive coaching, team development, executive retreats, personality assessments, organizational change, and DEI. He has spoken at numerous professional venues and written numerous articles and books on human capital trends with implications for organizations, its leaders, workforce, and human resource.
