When Rutgers Business School in New Jersey suspended all in-person tuition in March to curb the spread of coronavirus, many professors faced a challenge in teaching virtually for the first time.

To help them put all classes online in under two weeks, tech-savvy, mostly younger staff hosted videoconferencing tutorials online. Sharon Lydon, associate professor of professional practice, learnt how to split an online cohort into smaller teams for projects. “Our younger professors are taking a lead on this. They are very comfortable using technology. They grew up with the internet,” she says.

Lydon, who is 46, discovered the different traits of several generations in her workforce on a programme for 35 administrators at the business school last year. The course, Leading and Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce, is now available to executives at other organisations. It is one of several programmes aiming to help participants lead the current “5G workforce”, shorthand for having five generations working cheek by jowl for the first time. The phenomenon is caused in part by advances in healthcare. People are living longer, delaying retirement or coming back for a “second act” career, often because they do not have an adequate pension.