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Vets, Boomers, X's and Y's Share the New Millennium Workplace
If the above headline sounds like a familiar song lyric, you’re probably a Baby Boomer, maybe a Gen-Xer. If so, you might mistakenly assume every living adult knows the classic song and artist. You’re astonished when someone younger or older innocently asks, “Who?”
Ah, the generation gaps. They have always existed, but demographers tell us it’s the first time four generations are in the American workplace at once. According to Dr. Tracy Russo, associate professor at the University of Kansas, that can create problems.
“When the generations collide, it’s possible for one or more to become marginalized in some way,” says Russo, who heads the graduate program in communication studies at the Edwards Campus. “When that happens, an organization loses out on valuable resources, whether it’s experience and wisdom or enthusiasm and innovation.”
The subject has gained increasing attention in management and human resources circles, where terms like “organizational effectiveness” have entered the lexicon, and books like Jennifer Deal’s Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground have become best-sellers.
Who Are We?
Researchers like Deal and Russo define the four generations as follows:
- Veterans/Builders/The “Radio” or “Silent” Generation – born before 1946; currently
6 percent of the nation’s workforce
- Baby Boomers – born 1946-1964, aged 45-63; 45 percent of workers
- Generation X/Busters – born 1964-1977, aged 32-45; 30 percent of workers
- Generation Y/Millennials – born 1978-2000, ages 31 and younger; 10 percent of workers
If it’s wrong to stereotype by race, age or gender, why should we make generalizations about generations? That’s not the point, Russo says.
“A generation is essentially a group of people whose worldviews are likely to be shaped by similar events, though not necessarily in the same way,” she says. “I’m a Boomer and events like the civil rights movement, the women’s movement and the Vietnam War affected all Boomers in some way, influencing what we come to understand as possible for the world, good and bad, and how we see ourselves in it.”
Does it Matter?
Those generational worldviews can also influence how we view work and our employers. Understanding the differences is key to an organization utilizing employees of all ages more effectively.
Take something as fundamental as workplace communication, for example. Workers from the Silent Generation may always think no news is good news. Boomers may want feedback from their superiors once a year, with lots of documentation. Former latch-key kids in Generation X might pop in and say, “Sorry to interrupt, but how am I doing?” Millennials may crave constant feedback, especially if raised by “helicopter” parents who comment on every move they make.
Through her own research and others’, Russo concludes that basic generalizations can also be drawn about each generation’s views toward teamwork vs. individual effort, rules vs. results, technology and other workplace matters. She stresses the importance of recognizing them, but not mistakenly assuming every employee is characterized by them.
“Regardless of generation, we all want to trust our supervisors, balance autonomy and support, feel valued and receive feedback,” she said. In order to motivate, fulfill and leverage multiple generations of employees, an organization needs to understand that one style does not fit all.”
It boils down to avoiding the assumption that everyone thinks, or should think, the way you do. Organizations fail to do so at their own peril, Russo says.
“We need the perspective and experience of all four generations,” she said. “What organization doesn’t need more valuable ideas and experience? I don’t know of any.”
