Bridging the Generation Gap

in the Workplace
Presented by:

Michelle Crandall
Director of Administrative Services for the City of Dublin
Email: [email protected]

Sharon Zimmers, Ph.D

Director of Ohio North Central Association Commission on School
Improvement and Accreditation
Email: [email protected]
 What Generations Exist in
the Workplace
 Traditionalists
– Born between 1927 - 1945
 Boomers
– Born between 1946 - 1964
Gen Xers
– Born between 1965 - 1981
Millennials
– Born between 1982 – Present (?)
 What Generations Exist in
the Workplace
 Traditionalists 46.5 Million

 Boomers 79.9 Million

 Gen Xers 58.5 Million
 Millennials 80.0 Million (?)
What Defines a Generation?
“The events and conditions each of us
experiences during our formative years
determines who we are and how we see
the world.

As a result of these events and conditions,

each generation has adopted its own
“generational personality.”

- Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman

When Generations Collide
 What this Means in Our
Workplace?

Each generation brings its own set of

beliefs, values, culture, perspectives,
likes, dislikes and skills/traits to the
workplace
 Why Should We Care?
 We know these differences impact our
employees and the effectiveness and
productivity of our businesses

A great labor shortage is beginning to

occur…
– We need to be able to attract and retain
the best and brightest of all four
generations in order to remain competitive.
 Workplace Readiness
 Sixty percent of the federal
government’s workforce is eligible for
retirement in the next 10 years.

 Ninety percent of them are senior

executives.

Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management

 Exercise

 Traditionalists
 Baby Boomers
 Gen Xers
 Millennials

Issues that defined each generation

 Traditionalists
Born Between 1927 - 1945

“The difficult we do at once; the impossible

takes a bit longer.”

-Motto of the Seabees

 Traditionalists
Events that Define Them
 Stock Market Crash
 Great Depression
 FDR and the New Deal
 The Dust Bowl
 Pearl Harbor – enter WWII
 D-day in Normandy
 Korean War
 Traditionalists
What They Are Rebelling Against
 Economic and national condition of
the country –responsible for
responding

 Generation battle cry of:

– “Bear any burden, pay any price” …and
“do it big”
– Re-build the U.S. back into a great
country
 Traditionalists
Their Preferred Work Culture

 Command and Control Leadership

 Clear Direction
 Clear Roles and Responsibilities
 Security and Stability
 Like Teams
 Work Ethic/Work Focused – “Work is
not equal to fun.”
 Traditionalists
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Boomers say they are:

– Rigid and resistant to change
– Technologically challenged
– Narrow in their view
– Dictatorial
 Traditionalists
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Gen Xers say they are:

– Set in their ways
– Need to learn how to use e-mail
– The ones with all the money
 Traditionalists
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Millennials say they are:

– Trustworthy
– Good Leaders
– Brave
 Baby Boomers
Born Between 1946 and 1964

Those born during or after World War II

and raised in the era of extreme
optimism, opportunity, and progress
 Baby Boomers
Events that Define Them
 Television
 Civil Rights Movement
 Prosperity
 Family Planning
 JFK, MLK and RFK assassinated
 Woodstock
 Vietnam War
 Kent State
 Rock and Roll
 Baby Boomers

What are they rebelling against?

 Established social norms of the

Traditionalist
 Effective due to large number
 Baby Boomers
Core Values
 Optimism
 Team orientation
 Personal gratification
 Health and wellness
 Personal growth
 Youth
 Work
 Involvement
 Baby Boomers
Their Preferred Work Culture
 Like opportunity and security
 Most like work environments that are
democratic
 Advocate teams and team building,
consensus and participative
management
 Want to prove themselves so they are
good at delivering service
 Baby Boomers
What Other Generations Say About Them
 Traditionalists say…

“They are self-absorbed”

“They talk about things they ought to
keep private…like intimate details of
their personal lives”

Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

 Baby Boomers
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Gen Xers say…

“They are self-righteous.”

“They are workaholics.”
“They do a great job of talking the
talk, but they don’t walk the walk.”

Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

 Baby Boomers
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Millennials say…

“They’re cool. They are up to date

on the music we like.”
“They work too much.”

Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

 Gen Xers
Born Between 1965 - 1981

A generation born in the shadows of the

Boomers
 Gen Xers
“It’s no wonder Xers are angst-ridden and
rudderless. They feel America’s greatness has
passed. They got to the cocktail party twenty
minutes too late, and all that’s left are those
little wieners and a half-empty bottle of Zima.”

Dennis Miller
RANTS
 Gen Xers
Events that Define Them
 Nixon Resigns
 Energy Crisis
 Divorce Rate + 2 Working Parents
 Technology Revolution
 Stock Market Crash
 Corporate Downsizing
 Fall of Berlin Wall
 Challenger Disaster
 Operation Desert Storm
 Rodney King and L.A. Riots
 Gen Xers

What are they rebelling against?

 Work/life imbalance of the Boomers

 Gen Xers
Their Values and Beliefs
 Self Reliance
 Balance in Life
 Technoliteracy is the answer
 Approach to authority is casual
 Informality – less “corporate”
 Don’t care for politics in the workplace
 Skeptical
 Have fun at work
 Gen Xers
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Traditionalists say:

– They don’t respect experience

– They don’t follow procedures
– They don’t know what hard work is
 Gen Xers
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Boomers say:

– They are slackers

– They are rude and lack social skills
– They are always doing things “their own
way”
– They spend too much time on the
Internet and e-mail
– They won’t wait their turn
 Gen Xers
What Other Generations Say About Them

 Millennials say:

Cheer up already!
 Millennials
(also known as Generation Y)
Born After 1981

A flip-flop wearing, I-pod toting, multi-

tasking generation that is optimistic and
ready to change the world and your
workplace!
 Millennials
Events that Define Them
 Oklahoma City bombing
 School violence
 Technology
 Busy, over planned lives
 Clinton/Lewinsky
 Multiculturalism
 TV talk shows
 September 11th
 Millennials
What are they rebelling against?

 Complacency of the Gen Xers

 They are ready to change the world…

for the better
 …and they have the numbers to do it
 Millennials
Core Values
 Civic Duty
 Achievement – in all aspects of life
 Diversity
 Confidence
 Optimism
 Goal Oriented
 The Age of the “Helicopter Parent”
 Hovers near at all times ready to swoop in and
save the child from whatever peril may face
him/her
 Wants to contact professors, bosses and HR to
correct grades, salaries and working conditions
Millennials - were bombarded with a unique
set of compelling messages growing up…

 Be smart—you are special

 Leave no one behind
 Connect 24/7
 Achieve now
 Serve your community (Fifty
percent of high school students reported
volunteering in their communities—On one
Roper Survey, Millennials were asked for the
major cause of problems in the US, they
answered--selfishness
 Millennials
Their Preferred Work Culture
 “Millennials resemble the
Traditionalists in many ways—they
believe in collective action, optimism
about the future, trust in centralized
authority, a willingness to get things
done, and a heroic spirit in the face of
overwhelming odds.”

 Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

 Millennials
Their Preferred Work Culture
 Collaborative
 Diverse and Inclusive
 Goal-oriented
 Sociable
 Civic focused – a company that cares
about social and/or environmental
issues
 Challenging
 Lots of opportunity to learn and grow
 Cone Millennial Cause Study
(October 2006)

 83% will trust a company more if it is

socially/environmentally responsible

 79% want to work for a company that

cares about how it impacts and
contributes to society

 42% who volunteer weekly describe their

“ideal” work environment as one that will
make the world a better place (outranking
all other factors, including high salary)
 Workplace Expectations of the
Millennial Generation
 74 percent of employers said these
workers expect to be paid well
 61 percent expect to have flexible
work schedules
 50 percent expect to have more
vacation or personal time
 56 percent expect to be promoted
within a year
 Managing Millennials – What do
They Want From Managers?
 You be the leader – grew up
structured and supervised and are
looking for a role model
 Challenge me … or I’ll find someone
else who will
 Let me work with my friends
 Let’s have fun!
 Respect me and my ideas
 Be flexible – I have many other parts
to my life I need to fit in
 Millennials
What Other Generations Say About Them
 Traditionalists say…

“They have good manners.”

“They’re smart little critters.”
“They watch too much TV…with
crude language and violence.”

Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

 Millennials
What Other Generations Say About Them
 Boomers say…

“They’re cute.
“They can set the time on the DVD/VCR.”
“They need to learn to entertain
themselves; they need too much attention.”

Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

 Millennials
What Other Generations Say About Them
 Gen Xers say…

“Here we go again…another self-

absorbed generation of spoiled brats.”

“What do you mean, “What’s an album?”

Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines, Filipczak

Managing the Generational Mix
 As companies’ cultures evolve with
each generation…
You have the unique challenge to
ensure that work teams become and
remain culturally and generationally
diverse because of the wealth of
information and experience that
individual team members can offer.
Managing the Generational Mix

 Organizations that emerge as winners

in the battle for talent will have their
fingers on the pulse of the newest
generation. They’ll design specific
techniques for recruiting, managing,
motivating, and retaining them.
 Attracting, Retaining and
Motivating Means…
 Thinking differently to accommodate
differences in perspectives and workplace
expectations.
 Flexibility in how we design and
implement recognition, feedback,
recruitment, orientation, benefits, teams…
and on and on.
 “One size fits all” won’t work if we want
our companies to remain employers of
choice.
To Sum It All Up
To Sum It All Up
 References
 Generations At Work, Zemke, Raines,
Filipczak, 2000
 When Generations Collide, Lancaster and
Stillman, 2002
 Millennials Rising, Howe, Strauss, 2000
 Geezers, grungers, gen-Xers and geeks-a
look at workplace generational conflict,
Tony Diromualdo, 8/14/06
 References
 The Fourth Turning, Strauss and Howe,
1997
 How Veterans, Baby boomers, Generation
Xers and Generation Nexters Can All Get
Along in the Workplace, Zemke, Raines,
Filipczak, 2006
 Communicating with Gen X and
Millennials (Gen Y)
TECHNOLOGY
 Gen X—keep it up to date and motivating.
Music at work, BlackBerrys, IM, and fast
technology

 Millennials—More comfortable with

technology than any other group—learn
from them
 Communicating with Gen x and
Millennials (Gen Y)
COMPENSATION

Gen X—Be willing to negotiate. Gen X has the

experience to make them marketable. Consider
offering perks like a better title or a flexible work
schedule if you can’t budge on compensation

Millennials—Highlight the importance of building

their resume instead of their bank account. An
impressive work history can make all the
difference in a slumping economy
 Communicating with gen X and
Millennials (Gen Y)
COLLABORATION
Gen X—Limit in-person meetings. Offer
alternatives like conference calls, video and,
Web conferencing when collaboration is truly
needed. For face to face meetings, stick to
small productive groups and skip long planning
sessions.

Millennials—they started online social networks.

Think about how you can leverage them in the
workplace to encourage team collaboration and
knowledge sharing.
 Communicating with Gen X and
Millennials (Gen Y)
ATTIRE

GenX—Give them a heads up if they should dress

nicer for specific meeting or when customers are
visiting the office.

Millennials—They’re new to the job market and

might be oblivious to your company’s culture.
Let them know dressing better will help defeat
“slacker” misconceptions, build credibility with
execs, and help their career over the long haul—
especially in a weak economy.
 Communicating with gen X and
Millennials (Gen Y)
SOCIALIZING

Gen X—Invite but don’t push them to participate.

They’re used to being overlooked by boomers
and tend to dislike corporate politics anyway.

Millennials—Appeal to their career goals.

Millennials are more likely to attend a
networking event that will expand their personal
contacts.
 Communicating with Gen X and
Millennials (Gen Y)
CORPORATE LOYALTY
Gen X—Limit bureaucracy. Provide access to
information and resources without burdening
them with corporate politics and excessive
meetings.

Millennials—Don’t discount them because of their

age. Despite the weakening economy,
Millennials tend to job-hop—especially if they
think they’re being judged on “seniority” instead
of “quality.”