Work is changing faster than the latest iPhone update. New systems, new platforms, new expectations — and somewhere between the Teams upgrades and QR code car parks, real people are struggling to keep up in today’s inclusive workplace culture.
Keeping up in the modern workplace isn’t easy
Remember Friends Reunited? Those were the days. Suddenly, you could track down your old boyfriends and see what happened to ‘Weird Ian’ — the kid who ate chalk in RE and told everyone he was the reincarnation of Moses. (FYI, he now works in Accounts at a well-known private medical provider.)
What started as a wholesome way to reconnect with old friends soon became a hotbed of infidelity as people in loveless marriages attempted to fan old flames — my mother-in-law was one of them.
Then came MySpace, followed by Facebook. Confused late adopters struggled to keep up. And just as I was learning how to poke someone without HR intervention, the world moved on again — Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Snapchat, Kik… it never stops.
For digital natives, this all feels second nature. They live in a world where communication happens seamlessly through filters and apps. When I meet my Gen Z nieces and nephews IRL, they look mildly disappointed I don’t have bunny ears or rainbow tears.
The digital generation gap — and why it matters
It’s tough for all of us who weren’t born with a phone in our hand and a TikTok account by age five. Keeping up isn’t just tough for the generations before us — it’s tough for all of us who weren’t born with a phone in our hand and a TikTok account by age five. Increasingly, brilliant people and their experience are getting left behind.
I often lament how puzzling the world must seem to my parents’ generation. I was in a car park the other day where the only payment method was via a QR code. A long line of elderly shoppers had no idea how to work the system. In this constantly evolving landscape, it sometimes feels like I’m just an update away from obsolescence — and I know how to work an Excel spreadsheet.
Rethinking workplace culture for real inclusion
Change has always been a fact of life. In workplace culture, things have to change to evolve. New platforms. New policies. New expectations. And in life, too, change is the only constant, particularly biological changes that no one talks about — at least, not comfortably.
Perhaps we need to think a bit differently about how we help everyone move forward. While technology moves fast, experience is timeless. In the rush to embrace the new, organisations risk losing the people who hold the wisdom, the context, and the emotional intelligence that make workplaces human. Years of hard-earned knowledge are being overlooked because they don’t come with a built-in app.
Bridging generations through mentoring and skills swaps
Younger colleagues are brilliant at navigating new tech and trends; older ones bring depth, nuance, and the kind of calm that comes from having weathered a few workplace storms. The magic happens when those worlds combine.
Imagine a skills swap where experience and tech confidence are traded like currency — a mentoring exchange that builds confidence, curiosity, and connection across generations. It’s not just good for learning; it’s good for belonging.
Digital inclusion in action — learning that sticks
At the heart of this lies a clear opportunity: helping people pick up new skills and technology — not as a “fix” for them, but as an enhancement of the experience and wisdom they already bring. Research shows that digital inclusion in the workplace programmes designed with a learner-centred approach — that build confidence and personalise content to real-life contexts — lead to better outcomes.
For example, studies indicate that older workers who gain digital skills can substantially improve their contribution and earnings. One major factor is this shift: from “you must become like the youngest generation” to “your knowledge + new tools = greater impact.”
At a practical level, this means embracing strategies like:
- Pairing experienced colleagues with “tech-savvy” peers in a skills swap format: tech mentoring one way, domain/people-experience mentoring the other.
- Designing short, task-based learning modules that feel relevant to what people actually do, rather than generic “IT training.”
- Creating safe learning environments where asking a “silly” question isn’t penalised, and where the human story (what the person brings) matters as much as the tool they’re using.
When organisations adopt this mindset, the result isn’t simply “everyone knows how to use the new software” — it’s that everyone feels included in the change. The tech becomes an enabler of experience, rather than a barrier. And when people feel their contributions are valued and supported, retention, collaboration, and innovation all go up.
A real story: when change meets real life
This fact was illustrated to me by a brilliant leader whom I spoke with recently. She’s a head of sales and is confident and respected — the kind of person you’d want running your next big pitch. But during one video call, things went sideways.
Midway through presenting, this leader felt her temperature spike. Her heart started racing, her cheeks began to flush, and her mind fogged. It wasn’t stress or nerves; she was much too experienced for that. It was a menopause-related hot flush, played out on Zoom for everyone to see — a vivid reminder of why menopause awareness at work and inclusive design matter.
Normally, she’d have laughed it off. But seeing herself go redder by the second on screen, surrounded by younger colleagues who seemed effortlessly at home on every platform, she froze.
Afterwards, she spoke to her MD, hoping for empathy or support. Instead, he became awkward and tried to brush it off. “Maybe the team could all do some presentation skills training,” he offered. It was a well-meaning response, but he was embarrassed and didn’t have the skills to address the issue.
A classic case of missing the point. Because this wasn’t a skills gap — it was a system gap in workplace inclusion.
We don’t need to fix women — we need to fix workplaces
Exponentially advancing technology means that the world is updating faster, and it’s a constant struggle to keep up. It’s easy to feel left behind in workplace systems and cultures created for speed and agility that do not consider human vulnerability or real-life experiences such as menopause, illness, or other life changes.
The result is that even skilled, emotionally intelligent professionals can start questioning their place and their ability — not because they’ve lost capability, but because the workplace hasn’t evolved to support them.
In response, organisations frequently invest in programmes to help women build confidence, resilience, and leadership skills — and let’s be clear, those programmes matter. They can be empowering and transformative. But they shouldn’t exist because workplaces are failing to create environments where women can thrive in the first place.
The real issue isn’t women lacking confidence; it’s workplaces lacking humanity.
When cultures are designed around constant productivity, performance, and perfection, people begin to question their own capabilities — not because they’ve lost them, but because the environment hasn’t evolved to support them.
True inclusion isn’t about fixing people through another training course or resilience workshop. It’s about fixing the conditions that make people feel they need fixing in the first place. It’s about creating inclusive workplace cultures that tune into real human experiences — the messy, emotional, hormonal, brilliant bits — and see them as part of performance, not a risk to it.
Inclusion means seeing every stage, not just every face
We often frame inclusion around visible groups or protected characteristics — gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality. But inclusion should also consider life stages and life events — menopause, parenthood, illness, or any experience that temporarily changes how someone feels or performs.
Life-stage inclusion means recognising that menopause, for example, can impact focus, memory, and confidence. It’s temporary, manageable, and entirely normal. What’s not normal is pretending it doesn’t exist. Ignoring it means losing valuable, experienced talent.
If your body’s throwing curveballs, it doesn’t mean your brain forgot everything it knows. The world may update faster than you do, but you’re the operating system others rely on.
The real update your organisation needs
So yes — let’s talk about menopause and all the other messy life stages and changes everyone experiences. But not as a personal failing or a punchline. Let’s talk about it as a reminder that great inclusive leadership isn’t about only perfecting performance — it’s about understanding people.
Inclusion isn’t a tick box; it’s an ongoing upgrade. The question is: Is your workplace designed to evolve with technology — or with the people who use it?
Laughology has supported brands such as VMO2, HSBC and Starbucks through leadership transformation and cultural change. If you want to talk to one of our change experts, please get in touch with doug@laughology.co.uk
