Keeping safety culture strong across generations
How openness and shared learning can keep safety culture strong as experience leaves and new talent arrives
A changing of the guard doesn’t mean a drop in safety performance if you prepare for it
Safety culture is at an inflection point. Experienced employees with decades of experience are retiring, while a new generation enters the workforce with fresh ideas, different expectations, and new ways of communicating. While the shift might seem like a recipe for culture drift, it doesn’t have to be.
The real risk isn’t just losing technical “how-to” knowledge. It’s the day-to-day behaviors, shared language, accountability, and sense of mutual responsibility that underpin a strong safety mindset. These are the elements organizations have worked hard to build and that absolutely need to be protected during transition.
Why this generational shift matters
Across industries, leaders tell us they’re feeling the impact of experience leaving the workforce faster than it can be replaced. The loss of institutional knowledge often brings a dip in the visible “safety presence” that comes from years of practice, observation, and intuition.
At the same time, new team members bring energy, curiosity, and a willingness to ask why things are done a certain way. Many have grown up in fast-moving environments where change happens quickly, and they want to understand the purpose behind every action. When leaders respond openly to that curiosity, safety conversations become sharper, more transparent, and ultimately more effective.
We’re also hearing growing concern about retention. New employees want to know not just why safety matters, but why they should invest their future in the organization. Without deliberate attention, culture can start to fray, context gets lost, informal mentoring varies, and expectations blur.
Lorenzo Gallinari, psychologist and principal consultant with JMJ, explains:
“Transparency and collaboration have become key components of modern leadership. Leaders who communicate openly and model vulnerability signal to their teams that it’s safe to share ideas, concerns, and even mistakes.”
That awareness is driving organizations to invest in leadership development, cultural insight, and digital tools like JMJ’s Transformation Cloud™, which help visualize safety culture strengths and highlight where generational gaps might impact safety behaviors.
When leaders model openness, curiosity, and care, they send a powerful signal: safety culture thrives when everyone, regardless of age or experience, feels seen, valued, and responsible for one another’s well-being.
Bridging the generational gap in safety
The goal isn’t to preserve culture as a static legacy but to carry forward what matters while allowing it to evolve with intention. From our work across sectors, several practices consistently make a difference:
- Make knowledge-sharing a two-way street: Encourage experienced employees to share stories, lessons, and values, not just instructions or procedures. Equally, invite newer employees to contribute ideas about technology, communication, and process improvements. This exchange preserves knowledge and sparks innovation.
- Mix people up on purpose: Create intentional opportunities for employees at different career stages to talk about real safety challenges: what worked well, what didn’t work well, and what could be improved. Reverse mentoring and cross-experience discussions build empathy and shared accountability.
- Communicate the “why” clearly and consistently: Review your safety messages, training materials, and processes to ensure they make sense to someone without long-term context. Clarity builds alignment across generations and strengthens ownership.
- Keep stories alive, and add new ones: Bring real incidents, interventions, and lessons into daily conversations, briefings, and inductions. Then ask newer employees to share their own examples. This keeps the culture both grounded and forward-looking.
- Encourage innovations and openness: Avoid “we’ve always done it this way.” Test new tools, listen to fresh perspectives, and show that innovation is welcome. Openness to new ideas prevents complacency and keeps the culture dynamic.
- Foster psychological safety and ongoing dialogue: People need to feel safe to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and raise concerns. Incorporate Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles to make open communication part of everyday leadership practice.
- Support leaders through transition: When experienced leaders move on, don’t assume their replacements automatically understand the unwritten rules that made your culture strong. Provide coaching, clear expectations, and opportunities to model the behaviors that sustain trust and connection.
Looking ahead
A generational handover doesn’t have to mean a slip in standards. Done well, it can be a chance to strengthen commitment, introduce fresh thinking, and reinforce that safety is more than a program; it’s part of who we are. Safety culture thrives when every individual, regardless of tenure, feels empowered to take ownership, speak up, and care for one another.
JMJ’s digital tools help leaders see where cultural strengths and gaps exist and highlight where generational differences may affect safety behaviors. To explore how we can help your organization maintain a strong, connected safety culture through workforce transitions, contact us today.