The young and the ambitious

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The popular perception is that younger bosses are more open to new ideas and relaxation of rules. "A lot of times there is a disconnect between employees and their managers because the managers are inevitably much more experienced and used to being in higher management positions. So in turn they lose touch with the employee culture. Younger bosses are much more attuned to their employees," says Nishrit Shrivastva, co-founder, Heaven & Home. Ishaan Sachdeva, director, Alberto Torresi agrees, "Younger bosses do have a tendency to make the work atmosphere more energetic. They tend to be more dynamic and ready to adapt new ideas and ways of workings. If we look at statistics, a majority of employees today comprise of youth. In such a scenario, younger bosses prove to be more approachable and communicative. They are more likely to adopt the philosophy of 'work hard, party harder.' Young bosses are more ready to take risks and be rule benders. They are relatively easy-going with concepts like time flexibility, informality and professional interactivity."

A ‘Fun' Workplace

So what exactly qualifies a ‘fun' workplace? "A healthy work environment is what qualifies as a fun workplace; if an employee is given such an environment then the employee works more efficiently and hence gives out a better performance/outcome. HR plays an important role in making the workplace fun and are the ones who formulate the rules and regulations, so making them a little relaxed without building pressure on anyone is what HR should do to employ this concept," believes Aayushi Kishore, director, Globalite Industries. A ‘Fun' workplace in our view is an extension of home – where employees seamlessly transition from home to work and vice-versa. Colleagues become friends and the workplace becomes a place to ideate and innovate. Flexibility and empowerment is the key essence of such a workplace, and it is extremely important for HR to understand and align itself to foster such culture," adds Sameer Maheshwari, joint MD, healthkart.com. Dr. T.K. Mandal, vice president, JK Paper says, "We find our young managers throwing challenging tasks to their team members, rotating their responsibilities frequently, breaking rules to provide support to them, bring in cheers through engagement activities/events. These actions create an enabling environment for new innovative ideas. This is what we consider a ‘fun' workplace where employees find the work enjoyable and challenging."

Age No Bar

The key to keep employees happy may lie in preserving a young mindset even as one advances in age and experience. "We feel that it is not the age but the relationship which bosses share with their employees that makes a workplace enjoyable. May be younger bosses are able to relate closely to the needs of the employees and foster a culture which allows flexibility and innovative thinking. At HealthKart, we don't micromanage and each employee is empowered to exceed in their roles," Maheshwari opines. "Young is a mindset. You can be on the wrong (very wrong) side of 40 and work happily in a hierarchy free, first name culture; you can create a 'fun' and participatory work place and you can share credit," agrees Alpana Parida, President, DY Works. DY Works offers yoga at the workplace and reflexology foot massages, along with a Foot Ball Table, a punching bag and an impromptu band. Kavindra Mishra, founder-member and VP Sales, Zovi.com echoes the same sentiments, "More than the age it is the mindset of the boss that determines the ‘fun' quotient of a workplace. Personally, I have seen bosses where there is lot of age difference but they make the work fun and vice-versa I've also encountered relatively young bosses who have been very insecure."

Thus, while younger leadership may have an edge when it comes to adding a bit of colour to work life, there's no reason why older bosses cannot adopt the same mindset as well!

- Ankita Shreeram

Read the original article from ItsMyAccent.