In boardrooms across the Philippines, leaders are asking the identical familiar questions.
Why is worker engagement declining despite competitive pay and advantages? Why is succession planning becoming more urgent, yet younger employees seem reluctant to step into leadership roles? Why are younger customers harder to persuade even when products are strong? And why does adaptation to vary feel increasingly slow, exhausting, and fragile?
Behind these challenges is a deeper issue: Generational needs — each as consumers and as employees — are being misunderstood or oversimplified. When organizations depend on outdated assumptions about what motivates people at different life stages, the true costs are sometimes underestimated.
These costs show up in very real ways: disengaged employees who could also be capable and assured but not fully committed; brands that slowly deteriorate in customer consideration; innovation efforts that struggle to achieve traction; and alter initiatives that stall before value is realized. Over time, these blind spots translate into missed market opportunities and growing organizational risk.
Let’s take a better have a look at the 2 levels — business and organizational — wherein the drawbacks are manifested.
BUSINESS-LEVEL HIDDEN COSTS
- Brand deterioration
Brands rarely collapse. They fade.
When generational needs are ignored, brands step by step lose mental space amongst emerging customer cohorts. Products should still function, pricing may remain competitive, and distribution should still be wide — however the brand not feels for me.
When a single brand narrative attempts to talk to all generations in the identical way, it resonates with none deeply.
Messaging becomes generic, positioning is diluted, and emotional connection weakens. Declining customer consideration follows — not necessarily because competitors are superior, but since the brand feels increasingly disconnected and irrelevant.
While all generations may share similar values, their perspectives differ — shaped by distinct experiences and expectations.
For instance, while money continues to be a top value amongst Filipinos, financial motivation differs by generation. Gen Z seeks independence and non-reliance on parents. Gen Y goals for financial freedom — the flexibility to spend without constant trade-offs. Gen X prioritizes a cushty life for each self and family. Boomers deal with continued support for family, including grandchildren. When brands treat “financial value” as a single idea, these nuances are easily missed.
Hidden cost: Marketing spend rises simply to keep up awareness, while conversion, advocacy, and loyalty quietly weaken underneath.
- Lackluster innovation outcomes
Many organizations consider they’re innovating because they’re launching recent initiatives, features, or formats. Yet many also complain about lackluster performance from these efforts.
Increasingly, corporations are turning to Project Alphabet to grasp what opportunity spaces open up when they appear beyond surface demographics and as a substitute decode deeply held values, fears, aspirations, and life contexts by generation.
When generational needs are misunderstood, innovation solves internal assumptions somewhat than real human tensions; recent offerings develop into incremental improvements somewhat than meaningful shifts; and adoption lags despite technically sound solutions.
Different generations experience unresolved tensions. When these tensions will not be decoded accurately, innovation becomes detached from lived reality. Services may make sense internally, but fail to resonate externally.
This explains why organizations often ask, “Why didn’t the market respond?” – and this query is raised long after launch, investment, and energy have already been sunk.
Hidden cost: Innovation investment delivers low returns, creates fatigue, and increases risk aversion toward future initiatives.
ORGANIZATIONAL-LEVEL HIDDEN COSTS
- Low engagement and weak talent attraction
Engagement declines long before people resign.
Project Alphabet’s findings show that definitions of rewards and recognition aren’t any longer straightforward.
Younger generations are inclined to favor money flexibility and experiences, while older employees proceed to value symbolic recognition. At the identical time, changing definitions of family have increased expectations for more inclusive advantages — resembling coverage for pets or LGBTQ+ partners.
The workplace is increasingly where values collide. Flashpoints emerge in predictable ways: work-life balance as a baseline versus something to be earned; short, visual communication versus formal, direct messaging; salary as an entry requirement versus culture and clarity as retention drivers. These tensions also debunk common stereotypes — loyalty isn’t exclusive to older generations, just as younger ones will stay when the culture works for them.
Yet, employer branding often lags behind these shifting expectations. Many organizations proceed to signal stability, scale, and tenure, while younger talent looks for growth, purpose, learning velocity, and a way of progression that feels meaningful.
Over time, organizations struggle not only to retain talent, but in addition to draw the energy and capability needed for future growth.
Hidden cost: Higher attrition, rising hiring costs, longer emptiness cycles, and a workforce that doesn’t fully commit.
- Succession planning in danger
Succession planning is crucial to the sustainability of any organization.
When generational needs are ignored, leadership pipelines thin out, not because talent is unavailable, but because leadership pathways feel misaligned or unattractive. High-potential employees may not see leadership roles as definitely worth the personal trade-offs, while senior leaders may struggle to trust readiness that appears different from their very own profession journeys.
Linear profession paths aren’t any longer the norm. Many employees are comfortable remaining individual contributors or prefer less cut-throat corporate cultures. Without acknowledging these shifts, organizations risk misreading hesitation as lack of ambition.
Over time, leadership transitions develop into riskier as institutional knowledge declines. When transitions finally occur, organizations often realize too late that readiness was assumed somewhat than intentionally built.
Because the workforce mix continues to evolve, corporations must pay closer attention to the implications for leadership continuity.
Hidden cost: Leadership continuity becomes a vulnerability to long-term sustainability.
BRINGING THE TWO TOGETHER
The business and organizational costs of ignoring generational needs reinforce one another.
Weak brand relevance reduces market momentum. Lackluster innovation dampens growth. Low engagement and slow implementation make recovery harder. Succession risk compounds long-term uncertainty.
To really work across generations, organizations need generational fluency — the flexibility to see beyond labels and harness the strengths of all generations to encourage teams, connect with consumers, and grow the business. — Barbara Young, Vice-President for Corporate and Business Strategy, Acumen (www.acumen.com.ph)
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