ππEmployers with worksites in the “old-developed” countries may find that they have relatively older workforces. These employers may need to focus their attention on assessing their talent management policies to provide more advancement opportunities for workers aged 40 and older.
ππEmployers with worksites in the young-developing countries may find that they have relatively large percentages of early career employees. These employers might consider innovative ways to provide these employees with experiences that will facilitate smooth transitions to mid-career and prepare them for leadership roles. In addition, these employers might consider how well the benefits they offer match the needs of particular age cohorts in different career stages.
ππEmployers with worksites in the old-developed countries may find that relatively large percentages of their employees have child care responsibilities. Employers with worksites in young-developing countries may find that relatively large percentages of their employees have elder care responsibilities. Both groups of employers might evaluate how demands associated with these responsibilities affect their workers. They could offer scheduling flexibility, ensuring that supervisors support the practice and understand the unpredictable demands of caregiving.
ππEmployers with worksites in old-developed countries need strategies to strengthen their employees’ work engagement and organizational commitment. The companies could assess whether specific benefits increase the work engagement or organizational commitment of their workforces. To identify such benefits, employers must keep in mind that work engagement and organizational commitment are distinct from job satisfaction: even though employees in old-developed countries report lower work engagement and organizational commitment than those in young-developing countries, the two country clusters do not differ in terms of job satisfaction. It is possible, however, that the same factors that suppress work engagement and organizational commitment among employees in old-developed countries also lower job satisfaction, but are outweighed by some other, compensating factor—one that enhances job satisfaction but has no effect on work engagement and organizational commitment. Thus, efforts to enhance work engagement and organizational commitment in old-developed countries might serve to increase job satisfaction, after all.
ππGiven the relatively low levels of work engagement and organizational commitment among the younger employees we surveyed, employers might pay particular attention to what motivates members of this group to engage with their work and be loyal to their companies. Support for professional advancement is one possibility.