As of May 2017, there were 153.5 million full-time and part-time workers in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Three very different generations—baby boomers, Generation Xers and millennials—are currently colliding in the workplace. Communication gaps, frictions inherent in day-to-day office life and dissimilar values and work styles have led to furrowed brows on the best days and flared tempers on the worst.
Tammy Hughes is the CEO of Claire Raines Associates, a firm that provides workplace assessments of differing generational values and how they influence work styles, communication, project completion and overall business productivity.
“The similarities [between generations] don’t cause the hiccups in the workspace; it’s the differences that do,” Hughes said. “They affect your bottom line.”
Hughes conducts seminars and workshops on generational differences to help colleagues identify strategies, skills and tools to create more effective work relationships and improve business results, according to Claire Raines Associates’ website (generationsatwork.com).
“We hire good mixes, but we’re not good at making our mix work for us,” Hughes said. “You cannot manage what you do not see and you cannot manage what you do not understand. So my job with groups is to create some visibility and some understanding so we can manage the differences.”
When considering the wants and needs of intergenerational colleagues, Hughes encourages people to adhere to what she calls the “Titanium Rule,” which is to do unto others while keeping their preferences in mind.
“The Golden Rule doesn’t always work because it’s not about what you would like to have done to you—not everybody wants that,” she said.
For instructive purposes, Hughes uses 20-year time spans as the parameters for each generation. Generational start and end years vary by source and can overlap six to eight years.
Baby Boomers
Born: 1940-1960
Number: 78 million
Workplace traits: Team-focused, consensus-driven
Negative stereotypes: Self-righteous, workaholics
More than two-thirds of baby boomers are now retired, according to The Pew Research Center and Forbes. Baby boomers are less likely than their younger colleagues to have moved from job to job over the course of their careers and often possess a wealth of organizational knowledge.
Dedicated and loyal workers, baby boomers are high achievers and define themselves by their professional accomplishments; indeed, their work is interwoven with their sense of self-worth. Their scale of “work/life balance” tends to tip more toward the “work” side, which is an attribute Gen Xers and millennials have a hard time understanding.
Younger workers looking to strengthen their rapport with boomer colleagues should be personable and work toward building relationships, Hughes advised. Emphasize the company’s mission and vision and make sure conversations are two-way with lots of give and take.
Differing approaches to collaboration can potentially be a sticky spot between boomers and Gen Xers specifically.
“Boomers love consensus and getting the whole team to buy in. This typically involves a lot of meetings,” Hughes said. “Xers need to be patient and be part of the team and meetings, even though independent work and efficiency are their mantras and taking time to meet seems like such a waste. Boomers need to be sensitive to this and not schedule meetings just for meetings’ sake.”
Hughes said boomers operate well in a company hierarchy and can feel like millennials’ lack of experience means they don’t have much to offer—and boomers are resistant to millennials’ seeming need for constant feedback.
“Millennials need to be patient to learn from boomers and interject their thoughts while trying not to appear ‘needy,’” Hughes said. “Boomers need to refrain from trying to make the younger generation ‘pay their dues’ and create a collaborative and positive approach.”
Generation Xers
Born: 1960-1980
Number: 65 million
Workplace traits: Efficiency-focused, independent
Negative stereotypes: Cynical, uncommitted
Poised to assume even more supervisory positions as their baby boomer colleagues continue to retire, Generation Xers are on the cusp of “coming into their power” in the workplace. Gen-X workers are known for their entrepreneurial spirit and independent nature—these were the “latchkey kids” of the 1970s and 1980s after all.
Gen Xers tend to have a hard time understanding baby boomers’ willingness to put in very long office hours and instead focus on accomplishing high-quality work effectively and efficiently.
“If you have a [workplace] culture that values face time more than productivity…you are going to find it a little bit challenging holding on to some of your great Gen-X talent because face time is not so important to them,” Hughes said. “Giving you the output that they can in a very efficient way is the way that most Gen Xers are wired.” With most in their late 30s to early 50s, many Gen Xers are still in the throes of parenting. Hughes added that work/life balance is of huge importance to these workers—and it’s vital to both sexes.
“This is not a female issue; this is an employee issue,” Hughes said. “You need to be able to figure out how employees, especially if they’re parents, can craft their work/life balance in a way that makes sense to them so that you keep the best talent.”
Though much attention has been given to the boomer/millennial dynamic in the workplace, Gen Xers and millennials have their own set of conflicting work styles.
Hughes encourages Gen Xers who are managing millennials to get to know their younger employees as individuals. Find out their personal goals, encourage questions and be willing to mentor and inspire them.
Likewise, Hughes advises millennials reporting to Gen-X supervisors to work on paring down their questions to one or two per interaction—and to expect questions in return from pragmatic and skeptical Gen Xers.
According to Hughes and Claire Raines Associates, boomers and millennials should be direct and straightforward with Gen-X colleagues and tie their communications to tangible results. And don’t “waste time” on hyperbole, buzzwords and clichés with a Gen Xer who tend to find those verbal styles off-putting and unnecessary.
Millennials
Born: 1980-2000
Number: 84 million
Workplace traits: Positivity-driven, enthusiastic
Negative stereotypes: Entitled, needy
As the relative newcomers to the global workplace, millennials are frequent targets for criticism from members of the older generations who feel millennials are work-averse, selfcentered and cosseted as a result of “helicopter-parenting” by their boomer and Gen-X parents. Today’s young adults, however, have established a reputation for being passionate, eager, generous and socially conscious. They are tech-savvy, creative and motivated by the prospect of achievement.
Millennials tend to thrive on overall positivity in the workplace and if it’s absent, they will leave and find it elsewhere. Hughes sees a link between high turnover rates among millennial employees and their older managers’ failure to maintain a generally positive atmosphere.
“It’s the one reason that we lose great millennials today. [The workplace is] not positive,” Hughes said. “And I don’t mean you have to throw a party in the hallway every day to celebrate that you came to work. I just mean that you can’t just be pragmatic and you can’t just be negative all the time—you will drive [millennials] nuts.”
As well as keeping things positive, Hughes encourages boomer and Gen-X supervisors to be available to coach their millennial subordinates while still setting healthy boundaries on their own time and energy.
“Create feedback opportunities because that’s what your talented millennials are looking for,” Hughes said.
Rather than simply recognizing varying work preferences and stewing in unresolved tension, Hughes said employees should appreciate their diversity and recognize ethnocentrism.
“That’s the feeling deep down inside of us that likes to say, ‘My generation is pretty stellar. We get things done. My way’s the right way. My way’s the best way.’ We all have those thoughts,” Hughes said. “We need to be aware that we’ve got them…that will help us get over the hurdle of being frustrated when people don’t do things our way.” Hughes said the benefits of generational training begin with small changes in the way employees approach one another. Those small changes often lead to big improvements that help the company profit as a whole.
“If I want to be efficient, if I want to be really valuable to the organization and if I have to work with you on a project—if I can sync my style up with yours even slightly so that you and I resonate more quickly together…I’ve benefited the organization right there.”
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Business-Woman magazine. For more information, visit businesswomanpa.com.
