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Is it just because Gen Y entered the workforce, or is there another reason this topic of generational differences in the workplace has bubbled to the top of the conversation? Truthfully, I never gave it any thought before I heard Jennifer Gleeson Blue and Maria van Hekken talk on the subject last June. I spent over 17 years in Corporate America so of course I knew there were differences in the way that people of different ages worked, but that's about as much gray matter as I gave it. Yet, it seems in recent years that this topic has taken on a life of its own. Every conference I turn to there is some programming note about leveraging generational capital or some other particularly fluffy term that translates to "how can we not only play nice in the proverbial sandbox but do so in a way that maximizes business results".
In case you've been just going along your merry way like I was and not delving too deep into the generations and their common characteristics, let's take a crash course. Depending on where you grab your definitions, the actual range of dates might be a little different, but not significantly so. Here are the main categories:
- Traditionalists - born before 1946, age 64 and over.
- Baby Boomers - born between 1946 and 1964, ages 45-63
- Gen X - born between 1965 and 1981, ages 28-44
- Gen Y - born between 1982 and 2000, ages 9-27
- Millennials - born after 2000, not yet in the workforce!
Clearly based on when someone was born and the events taking place in the world at that time dictates some of the perspective from which someone in a given generation operates. For instance - here is a good breakdown on "Communicating Across Generations: What You Need to Know" . It gives you the highlights of what happened during that time and the typical work style and communication style for this group. Of course people are individuals so this is a generalization. So, why all this talk about generations now and what are we doing to bridge the gap to real effective solutions? One reason may be a feeling that "Gen Y let down by schools and managers". This generation, perhaps more than any other seems to have caught the ire of its elder generations (wow, Gen X as elder generation, I just made myself feel old!). Yet perception is not always reality:
According to new research from the UK's Ashridge Business School, Generation Y school-leavers and workers, or those aged 27 and under, not only have the worst economic conditions in a generation to deal with but also media hype about them being spoilt, work-shy and demanding, negative preconceptions from employers and a school system that is failing to prepare them properly for the world of work.
Its poll of 133 people within 59 companies found that, while Generation Y workers were indeed challenging and demanding, they were not any more so than previous generations were or had been.
It's the age old story - "those young'ins don't know what it's like." In fact, consider that in "Gen X vs. Gen Y: Who's Got it Worse?" that it isn't only Gen Y feeling slighted at work.
Robin Erickson, a manager with Deloitte's human capital division, says in the article that a companion survey found that only 37 percent of Gen said they planned to stay in their current jobs after the recession ends, compared with 44 percent of Gen Yers, 50 percent of baby boomers and 52 percent of senior citizen workers who said the same.
Perhaps one of the pioneers in truly giving voice to Gen Y is Penelope Trunk, Brazen Careerist. Goodness knows when I read her book by the same name, it opened my eyes to many things about Gen Y I never even considered. What it did do is validate for me (a Gen Xer) that different people are motivated by different things and the whole notion of paying dues is, well outdated. Trunk fields some of the most common questions in "4 Frequent Questions About Gen Y Answered (via a PR disaster)".
If you read these answers, perhaps the point to take away from it is that the solution to generational differences has to do more with respecting people as people and unique individuals than any prescribed formula.
This same premise (respecting and listening to others - novel, I know) is driven home again in
