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Bridging
generations on the job
By
Christine Gillette, Seacoastonline
March 27, 2003
You’re 50 years old and trying to have a serious discussion with
a 22-year-old, and neither one of you can understand the other’s point
of view.
It’s a situation that’s not just reserved for parent-child
relationships anymore. As the work force grays and younger workers fill
more jobs, managers and even co-workers are finding there’s also a
generation gap on the job, says Dianne Durkin, president of Loyalty Factor
in New Castle.
In fact, the gaps are really between four generations:
* Veterans," i.e., older workers - those born between 1922 and
1946 - totaling about 52 million people.
* Boomers," those born between 1946 and 1963, numbering 73.2
million people. "They manage the whole economy of this world,"
said Durkin.
* Gen-X," those born between 1963 and 1980, about 70.1 million
people.
* Nexters" - or "Generation Y" - who were born
between 1980 and 2000, making up 69.7 million of the population.
The generations of workers run the gamut from veterans, some of
whom have already retired, to nexters, some of whom have not graduated
from school and have yet to make their full impact on the character of the
work force.
The generations not only differ in age, but bring to the workplace
a distinct approach to their jobs, according to Durkin, whose company
offers training in how to bring the different generations together on the
job. Her corporate clients include Tufts Health Plan’s Secure Horizons
operation in Massachusetts; she also speaks on the topic at conferences
like Tuesday’s 2003 Summit on Leading Diversity in Atlanta.
Regarding veteran workers, Durkin said, "Their values are
shaped by the Great Depression, World War II and the Korean War. They tend
to be very stable, detail-oriented, and they’re extremely loyal."
Older workers, she said, are "very, very reluctant to buck the
system and are reticent when it comes to disagreeing." They’re also
accustomed to a workplace where superiors give them directives and
there’s no discussion. "The boss is the boss. They look at work as
a privilege."
As for "veteran" workers who are bosses, Durkin said,
they’re typically strong-handed CEOs.
These days, however, most bosses are from the boomer category, she
said.
"They’ve been influenced by Woodstock, the civil rights
movement, Vietnam and the Peace Corps," she said, adding that boomers
also tend to be very optimistic and love both personal gratification and
growth. "They’re not budget-minded. ... This is the group that
doesn’t save."
While boomers love luxuries like second homes and expensive autos,
Durkin says they’re averse to growing old and engaging in workplace
conflict. Instead, boomers are often engrossed in work, she said.
"They love the 60-hour work week. Work is how they prove
themselves."
And while veteran workers want strong leadership, boomers are more
interested in democratic work environments and are responsible for the
concept of casual Friday, said Durkin.
As work-hungry as boomers and veterans are, Gen X-ers are just the
opposite, and "work to live versus live to work."
That sets up a workplace, Durkin says, where there’s a confluence
of workers with different philosophies, which places demands on managers
to address veterans’ needs for strong direction as well as X-ers’
disdain for micromanagement and their desire to work independently but in
a supportive environment.
"What motivates (X-ers) the most is they have a clear mission
for where the company is going and how they contribute to the company.
They want to feel included, but they want to do the work independently.
There’s a real balance there. In managing these people, they’ve got to
know everything that’s going on, but they want to go off and do it their
way," Durkin said.
As if that’s not enough of a challenge, there are the "nexters"
emerging in the work scene, who in some ways represent a throwback to
their elders’ values, like optimism and responsibility, yet also carry
on the X-ers’ curiosity and desire to understand their role in an
organization’s big picture.
"They’re very close to the veterans. Morality is very huge
to them, because they grew up in the Lewinsky scandal," Durkin said
of nexters, whom she described as confident, "street-smart" and
civic-minded, and increasingly involved in new-age religions. "Their
values are shaped by school shootings and terrorism and the global
economy."
Nexters seek out numerous mentors on the job, she said, looking at
those around them and learning. "Although they study people well,
they’ve not had all that interaction, because after school a lot of them
were left by themselves," she said, adding that they crave concrete
results from their work and want to feel that they’re making a
difference.
What’s most difficult for nexters is that they come from boomer
families where "they’re accustomed to having the best," she
said. "And they want the best, but they’re learning now that it’s
difficult" to achieve that right out of school. That makes adjusting
to the realities of the working world tough for some nexters.
How do you teach managers to deal with so many different characters
in the workplace?
"We tell them every single person in the work force is an
individual, and you need to understand that," said Durkin, adding
that each generation has its characteristics, but that not every worker
may fit them exactly. Managers, she said, should overlay generational
trends with an individual’s personality.
Not surprisingly, communicating with workers, regardless of their
age, is important. Durkin recommends regular weekly or monthly meetings
with staff, and sending out regular notices about how the company is doing
and how workers fit into the business mission.
At Secure Horizons’ Watertown, Mass., offices, Loyalty Factor
brought together about 20 workers of varying ages and job titles.
"The biggest benefit we got out of doing that was being able
to talk about things that are normally ‘undiscussable,’" said
Pamela Duffett, Secure Horizons’ manager of customer relations. Those
issues, she said, included discussing norms in workplace procedures, such
as departmental work flows.
The members of the group who took part in the training ranged in
age from 25 to 55, Duffett said.
"We wanted to be able to appreciate the different styles,
(how) each age group and personality (differs) in the way they do
things," she said. "It allowed people to see each other as
people, not positions."
To help workers break down generational barriers, Durkin said
Loyalty Factor will educate them on each other’s traits, and then put
them in groups to discuss what they need to be happy and effective on the
job.
"I think it’s important to recognize that you’ve got to
really adapt and (that) every generation wants to contribute and wants to
make a difference, and they’re going to do it in a different way,"
she said.
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