Four Generations at Work: Can We All Get Along?
For some reason I was sent an article this week from the Winter/Spring 2005 issue of the Fairleigh Dickinson University magazin
e regarding generational differences in the workplace. I suppose I was sent this because I’ve often made mention of the differences between older and younger folk at work. Or perhaps someone was trying to tell me that I need to learn how to get along with and perhaps respect my elders a bit more. Either way, I think we can safely say that generations will tend to behave in similar ways, and these tendencies of behavior may not exactly jive, if you know what I’m sayin’. And very soon there could be people who were born in the forties working with people who were born in the nineties, this dynamic could be worth some discussion.
Our working world is now being run by the lovely Baby Boomers. The generation that had a little, shall we say, withdraw from society back in, what was that decade? Oh yeah, the sixties. Then they decided to hang up the tie-dyed, burn the acoustic, cut the locks, and enter the work-force never to return to the free wheeling life they once fought so hard to justify and maintain. And now, well, they are sitting at the top of an economy that is teetering on the brink of collapse and unemployment is sky high. But I guess this is ok for them.
Of course the boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964, think the Gen Xers and their younger cousins, the Millennials, are lazy and too obsessed with their Facebook pages, and cell phones to put in the hard work that got the boomers to where they are today. However, if boomers can use the younger workers’ technological skill to their financial adavantage, by all means, put the kid in front a computer and let him have at it!
But believe it or not, this article is not about waging a war among generations, but rather about observing age specific differences and perhaps becoming more aware of these differences on both sides of the generational spectrum. The FDU article made some significant generalizations, but they put together an interesting table charting what they see to be generational differences.
These differences among age groups will never be completely resolved, but I think we can make some significant improvement through increased awareness and understanding. It takes work, and this work does not immediately impact the bottom line, but could result in better communication, culture, and maybe eventually, more profit.
