Generational Differences In The Workplace

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).

Upon reflecting on the three main generations that comprise the workplace today, a few differences emerge. “Baby Boomers” grew up in a time when movements were prominent, the Vietnam War occurred, key figures were assassinated, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and television was introduced (Twenge et al., 2010; Schullery, 2013). Overall, “Baby Boomers” seem to exhibit a distrust of authority, value hard work, and want to enjoy their achievements (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Twenge et al., 2010). As such, they are results driven and give their utmost effort (Robbins & Judge, 2015). “Generation X” grew up in a time of computers, divorce, two career parents, MTV, and economic uncertainty (Twenge et al., 2010; Robbins & Judge, 2015). For the most part, they seem to exhibit the workplace behaviors of independence and a lack of commitment to employers (Twenge et al., 2010). They value a balance between work and life and place more focus on extrinsic rewards such as monetary compensation (Twenge et al., 2010). “Millennials” grew up in prosperous times with technology dominating the era and over-protective parents (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Schullery, 2013). Generally, they seem to place a greater value on employee benefits, leisure time, teamwork, and open communication (Society of Human Resource Management, 2004; Twenge, 2010; Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). In addition, they have also been given the labels of “self-centered” and “entitled” (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010).

As generation Y, the first group to come of age in the new millennium, grows and matures, they have entered the workforce at an increasingly high rate, making them the fastest growing segment of the United States workforce (Dorsey, 2010, pg. 15). These “youngsters” are typically in their early 20’s to early 30’s, still in the early and formative stages of their careers (Wain, 2013, pg. 308). Joining these Millennials in the workforce are those known as Generation X, consisting of the middle generation born from around 1965-1984 (Wain, 2013, pg. 308). At the far end of the age-workforce spectrum sit the Baby Boomers – those born between the years of 1946 and 1964 (Kaifi, Nafei, Khanfar & Kaifi, 2012, pg. 89). And finally, the oldest generation still trying to eke out their last paychecks before retirement is the Traditionalists, born between the years of 1937 and 1945 (American Medical Writers, 2012).

It is important to keep in mind that each generation sees the world through a unique lens that forms as a result of the events that were taking place in the world as these individuals grew up. Brenner focuses on the different events that have shaped their values and their perception of work. For example, the Veterans went through World War II and grew up with a strict regimen. As such, quality, respect and authority are important to them. Baby Boomers embraced the value of having to sacrifice to get ahead. All that sacrifice makes them very loyal. Generation X workers were the latchkey children who watched their Boomer parents forge a new workplace. They were also the first generation to grow up with technology. As such, this generation cares more about productivity and less about the number of hours spent on the job. Millennials are a generation entrenched in technology and therefore urn for instant gratification. They bore easily. Because they best understand how to maximize technology, they value a balance between work and

Most Americans are very opinionated on all topics i.e. religion, politics, sports, etc. It has been made pretty clear that the Baby Boomers think that they are always right compared to what they consider the future generation, Millennials. We are now in the year 2014 and what they used to consider the future generation has become the current generation that is taking over. “By 2025, Millennials will account for three out of every four workers globally (Zent).” As the Millennials start taking over the work force it is important for the Baby Boomers to accept them and show them how to successfully do their jobs without judgment. The other generations look at Millennials and

They both refer to individuals born between 1965 to 1980 as Generation X and people born in 1981 through 2000 are Millennials. Both assert that both generations have many similarities and interests. Both are independent, tech savvy, favor balance, security, personal responsibility, personal growth and easily adapt to change. However, Bennett suggests that Millennials are multitaskers, idealistic, value diversity, favor teamwork and need constant feedback, while Gen Xers work independently and need extraordinarily little feedback. Dunn’s analysis accounts for four generations, while Bennett’s analysis identifies individuals born after 2000 as “Nexters” and describes this group as tech savvy individuals with low attention spans, minimal interpersonal communication skills, who need constant feedback and favor

Ageism is a huge problem against older people in the workplace. Most employers look for the most respectable, intelligent, hardworking workers who are capable of doing the job tasks. A lot of employers may prefer younger employees over older employees with the idea that younger employees are more able and efficient for the job which isn’t true in most cases. Many employers could also believe that young employees are a better choice because they might be able to work longer periods of time, more up to date with technology,

Continuing on, Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) are not overly loyal to their employer and tend to be skeptical. Brenner states, “the most difficult to work with…” (p.27) Finally, Generation Y (born between 1980 and 1994) may value their relationship with co-workers over their relationship with their company so are not especially loyal. Brenner states, “many Gen Yers experienced downsizing through their parents, in some cases this has created a lack of trust”. (p.

Generations in the Workplace Informative Outline Introduction 1. Have you ever noticed your co-workers age groups? a. You will notice each age group has different characteristics. 2. This is because you work with different generations at work.

Every work environment is teeming with people from various generations. Though, the majority of people wish for a healthy work environment this is not the easiest to come by. People from these different generations have different ways of looking at the world. They were raised differently and though theoretically want the same things they want to reach these goals in different ways. Rising to leadership, the understanding of technology, adapting in the workplace, and communication are the four criteria you need to know to understand how the people of Generation X and Millennials function together in the workplace.

The strategies to engage Generation are quite different compared to baby boomers. So creating such strategies has become one of the management’s goals. Jay Gilbert (2011) writes from his experience that there are few generational differences do exist between millennials and baby boomers. The social characteristics, the way they bring their bodies, and mind to work are the key differences when compared to baby boomers. Employers must trust the belief that to attain prolonged employee engagement, they must understand the engagement drivers for the Generation Y. Thus, Setting up goals for the Generation Y encourages them to produce desired results.

The workplace of today involves interactions among people from four different generations often causing much conflict for leaders and organizations. Each generation represented has its own set of different values and beliefs. These differences can easily lead to conflicting barriers within the workplace. This can pose a significant problem for those in leadership. In order to combat this issue, leaders and organizations can effectively deal with these issues by offering different programs such as executive mentoring, town hall meetings, and leadership seminars for those in leadership.

Managers and Supervisors must be consistent in their approach if they’re going to have success in supporting multiple generations. It’s well known that there are similarities and differences among the generations. However, many of the differences don’t apply to every individual of a generational group. Because generational groups are so diverse, it’s difficult to conclude that preferences associated with an entire generation are true for everyone in the group. It’s also important to establish guidelines and policies to address all generational differences. One example of this, would be to require that every employee set yearly goals and objectives and at the end of the year, measure how well the employee performed against those objectives.

The conflicts or differences can be caused due to various reasons like the preferences in the Communication Style, the Traditionalists and the Baby Boomers prefer more of face to face communication and the GenX and the Millennial prefer email and text messaging ([16] Glass ,2007:[52]Wagner,2007) Differences can also happen how they view authority and Management like Traditionalist believe in a chain in command , Baby Boomers believe in a consensus Model ( Roy,2008a,b) And when it comes to career stability, Traditionalists and Generation X likes to focus on employability over climbing the career ladder. And Generation Y has a high preference for engaging workplaces

Generational Diversity is also a barrier for effective communication as different generations have different ways of relaying and processing information. Tolbize (2008) states that generational diversity has made the workplace more rigid and demanding. The author further states that the four main generations in the current workforce are the Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Kyles (2005) notes that people communicate differently to others even if the difference in age is five years.