Essay On Employee Engagement

Every generation is influenced by its period 's economic, political and social events. From the Great Depression to the civil rights and women 's movements to the advent of television and advanced computer technologies. Thus generational background/situation may also affect the way they work. The key is to be able to effectively address and take advantage of the differences in values and expectations of each generation in the workplace. The current work place consists of four different generations; The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) who are slowly retiring and existing the workforce, The Generation X (1965-1976), The Generation Y or millennia (1977-1997), and the Generation Z who are about to or are just entering the work force. Although these different generations tend to want similar things in a workplace their environment/background has shaped their character, values, and expectations (Hahn 2011).

Baby Boomers are the most powerful demographic group in history. Businesses thrives or fails based on their ability to keep pace with the likes and dislikes of this economic powerhouse known as the baby boomers. At 76 million strong, boomers have the influence to rule the marketplace and make sure they keep a place set just for them as the

Most baby boomers grew up watching their traditionalist parents work very hard to make ends meet and take care of the family unit. As a result of their upbringing many boomers have adopted their parent’s strong work ethics; working hard, long hours trying to climb the corporate ladder. Baby boomers still enjoy personal face to face interactions and building rapport with people

The Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, and they fall between the ages of 53-71. This generation was subject to the civil rights movements, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, and space travel. Their parents had the highest divorce rate and second marriages in history. “The American Dream” was promised to them as children and they spent their lives pursuing it. As a result some generations see them as being greedy, materialistic and ambitious. This generation believes in working long hours to establish self-worth and identity, they tend to be workaholics and are used to working up to 60 hour work weeks. Working this much caused an imbalance between most work/home life because the workers of this generation were afraid of losing their position at work if they took more time to spend with their families. The preferred work environment for a Baby Boomer is going to be democratic, believe in equal opportunity and be a warm friendly environment. Some pros of the Baby Boomer in the workplace include that they are anxious to please and tend to challenge the status quo. They are mission oriented individuals who will go the extra mile. Some cons of this generation are that they expect everyone to be workaholics like themselves and they don’t like change either after being raised by traditionalists. Some keys to working with these Baby Boomers is understanding how

Generation Xers are often referred to as the Baby Bust generation. They were born 1965- 1976, now many Gen Xers find themselves having large amounts of responsibility. Having to take care of the now retiring Baby Boomer generation and the still young Millennia Generation. At this point they have all reached middle age and most are at the height of their professional careers. Gen Xers are the least represented generation, they are often looked over in regards to marketing and statistics. They are the demographic bridge between the more conservative Baby Boomers

The general theory from my generation (Generation X) and Baby Boomers is engagement is more likely to occur when there is a connection to “having a strong sense of the company's mission and purpose” (Garman, K., & Sorenson, S., 2013). I strongly stand by this statement and because I see what our purpose is I have been committed to my job for over 17 years. Our mission statement states that we are to provide affordable, decent housing too low to moderate income families. I see the impact of what our organization has done for the Lubbock community and, therefore, I fill that I am helping to meet our organization’s purpose. I think that Generation Y does not seek to find a purpose within their job because they are busy with “individual achievement”

For a long time the Baby Boomers were defined as those born between 1945 and 1964. Until it was figured to not be fair for those born in 1964 compared with those born in 1946 because life experiences were completely different. According to The Atlantic, they are the mostdiscrete generation because it "had specific characteristics," and occurred within an observable timeframe.The first Boomer segment is bounded by the Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations, the Civil Rights movements and the Vietnam War. They had good economic opportunities and were largely positive about the potential for America and their own lives. On the other hand, Generation X which ranges from 1966-1976 is sometimes referred to as the “lost” generation; this was

Whilst a large amount of information exists in terms of generational cohorts, not all findings are supported by empirical research to link the concept of work engagement to the different generational cohorts. The conventional belief that older people are less engaged and do not find meaning in their work has been proven to be a misconception, which highlights the danger of stereotypical beliefs. The findings suggest that older employees are still very valuable resources and can contribute significantly to the organisation’s success, but have different needs and values than other age groups. The results of this study indicated a significant difference between the Baby Boomer generation and the other two cohorts, but no significant difference

Work-focused. Often cited as workaholics, the stereotypical Baby Boomer is extremely work focused. Sally Kane in her article, Baby Boomers, states “position, perks and prestige” are great motivators for Baby Boomers. Because they believe they have put in the long hours and self-sacrifice required to get where they are today, they feel the incoming generations should do the same. They find it difficult to understand the younger generations’ desire to constantly challenge work day hours and their insistence on off-site work options. They are independent and challenge authority, yet are loyal to the team. They are goal oriented and they want to make a difference.

Likewise, the current generations in the workforce have different values. Research surveys done by Gibson et al. (2009) and Crumpacker and Crumpacker (2007) have found that the generations have diverse values. It was found that Baby Boomers value health, family, honesty, responsibility and company loyalty more than anything else. Researchers also found the Baby boomer workers value authority, hard work and achievement. Additionally, Baby Boomers value when someone communicates with them one-on-one rather than using technology (Crumpacker & Crumpacker, 2007; Gison et al., 2009). In contrast, Generation X workers tend to value family security, health, honesty and responsibility the most. In addition it was found that they value a comfotable life

For the last 50 years, there have been three generations in a work place. Baby boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. Each of these three generations bring significant influences to the work place especially to organizational leaders.

Kyles (2005) defines them as competitive, political, hardworking, and nonconformists. “Known for their workaholic ethic, Boomers will do whatever it takes to get the job done and get ahead, and they expect to be rewarded. They outnumber all generations and hold a majority of management-level positions. They are also approaching retirement and are heavily concerned with financial and job security” (Kyles, 2005, p. 54). This group is very hard working and also offers a lot of wisdom that can be beneficial to those of the younger generations.

“The number of employees over the age of 55 has increased by 30 percent; however, the number of 25- to 54-year-olds has only increased by 1 percent” (Claire, 2009). In 2008 the eldest of the 77 million baby-boomers turned 62. Estimates are that by the end of the decade about 40 percent of the work force will be eligible to retire. As people begin to reach the age of retirement there may be not be enough new employees to fill the gap (Clare, 2009). Companies need to find ways to attract Boomers and Millennials. Companies that want to attract Boomers and Millennials need to be creative in their culture, HR policies and work environments.

“Generation X” (“Gen-Xers”), born from about 1960 – 1980, maintained some attributes typical of the “Baby Boomer” generation, but feel that their upbringing was too strict. They added an emphasis on work/life

GEN Y ( Also called as Millenials):Millennial have grown up with technology and are comfortable with change. They value skill development and enjoy the challenge of new opportunities. Millennial are able to multi task, they want the flexibility to work where and when they want so that they can pursue their outside interests.