|
|
|
Age-Old Conflict: Baby Boomers Vs. Generation Y
Can different generations co-exist effectively in the same workplace?
|
Business New Haven
1/19/2004
By: Melissa Nicefaro
|
As a third generation - so-called Gen Y - enters an already changing workforce, the stage for conflict is set. What many times in the office seems like a knockdown, drag-out battle of the generations may actually be nothing more than a good old-fashioned misunderstanding of intentions.
A study by the University of Wisconsin indicates that the majority of generational conflicts arise from value differences. The study says that understanding generational values and how these values developed can help businesses and organizations better manage and perform across generational boundaries. Sounds like common sense, right?
Carolyn Martin, master trainer for New Haven-based Rainmaker Thinking, says understanding these generational differences makes perfect sense.
"When we first started studying the young generation, we said that Gen Y was like Gen X on fast-forward, and full of self-esteem. We see some of the distinguishing characteristics resulting because they initially grew up during the boom years," Martin says.
Though Baby Boomers might not recognize the traits, it seems that Generation Y has a bit of the Boomer mentality.
"Gen Y had a much more positive and optimistic outlook [than the supposedly "slacker" Generation X] and then all of a sudden, we had September 11 and the downturn that followed," Martin explains. "Some of them coming out of college in 2001 and 2002 were facing the same challenges that their Gen X brothers and sisters were facing when they came out of college, and some of the same challenges the Baby Boomers faced."
Gen Y doesn't exactly come empty-handed to the workplace. They bring expert-level computer skills and entrepreneurial drive, but they also expect to be compensated for such drive and skill. They're coming out of college with high (some would say unrealistic) expectations for job responsibility and advancement. But in a tight job market, they're competing against the Baby Boomers for the same jobs and advancement.
"Gen Y is experiencing that there's not a free ride here," Martin says. "Yeah, of course you want to keep your expectations and your dreams high and it may take longer and you may not get the ideal job in the industry of your choice. But you may be able to find something that will hone skills."
Martin says Gen Y members have been taught by parents, teachers and counselors that education is the key to success. They're programmed to seek jobs that offer the opportunity to learn and grow.
"We say to organizations: 'You bring in these young people and you put them in a cubicle doing data entry, but they need to use their brains.' Of course Gen Y-ers are going to be saying, 'Get me out of here.' They may have to put off the ideal job, still searching for opportunities to learn and grow, but they're very team-ready because of collaborative classrooms, experience on sports teams."
Generation X, on the other hand, is a much more entrepreneurial and individualistic group.
"Gen X says, 'I'll be on the team, but let me do my piece.' And then Gen Y is saying, 'Sure, I want to do this by myself and by the way, who can I get to help me?'" Martin explains. "I tell organizations that if they're bringing in young people and putting them on teams, make sure you're putting them on teams with the best co-workers you can possibly offer them. Put them with people who want to work with young people and not people who are afraid of working with young people," Martin says.
Every teen generation has gotten a bad rap from the preceding generations. There are derelicts, spoiled brats and generally lazy people in any generation.
But Martin says Generation Y has an especially bad rep: "I think it's a much more hopeful generation than some of the articles in the media would have us believe," she says. "As I say to older people, the way they're going to become the next great generation is if we take them under our wing and really help them develop rather than penalizing them for what they don't know."
Speaking of rap, the language and fashion differences in the workplace may be enough of a constant reminder for some Baby Boomers that there truly is an unbridgeable generation gap.
Those doing the hiring, whether Baby Boomer or younger, should decide up-front how important things like body piercing, tattoos or purple hair are. (That's not to say all such fashion statements are exclusive to one generation, but they are more typically found in the younger generations.)
"Is it a deal-breaker? Does it make a difference if someone has a body piercing or a tattoo? If it does make a difference, then it does make a difference," Martin says. "You may need somebody who is dealing with professional clients and you need them to be in a suit and tie. That may be part of the industry and the expectation."
"And sometimes it simply comes down to a matter of personal taste. I may not like purple hair, but it may not make a difference to get results to serve the customer. If it's a matter of taste or professional necessity that needs to be spelled out before the person is hired," Martin says.
"They [younger generations] are not stupid. They want to be able to bridge the gap and come across as their professional best. Supervisors need to be specific when they say, 'Dress professionally.' What the heck does that mean?"
With corporate offices in Bridgeport and branches across the state, People's Bank has a very clearly defined dress code. Those in "customer-facing jobs" are required to dress "business professional." Those behind the scenes dress "business casual."
Pat Manion, People's Bank's diversity steering co-chairperson, recalls that last summer she had to send out a company-wide e-mail reminding females employees that the bottom of their shirts need to touch their pants.
"We needed to remind them that it's not appropriate to have the space between the shirt and pants. We do have a lot of young kids in the summer."
Manion finds the younger generation would prefer to wear jeans to work all the time, but says, "We're a bank and we deal with customers and vendors all the time and we do have a certain image we want to portray to our offices."
"At dinner with my two college-age kids who also work for People's, I asked if generational differences were a problem and they both said no, they enjoy working with a lot of people from different age brackets," Manion says.
"On a personal level, I haven't experienced age differences being a problem, and on a professional level, I don't see any evidence of it whatsoever. It's how you approach the topic of diversity in a company. We look at inclusion as opposed to diversity," she explains.
"We want to create an atmosphere here where all employees, regardless of where they're from, can come and be successful and feel like they can contribute," Manion says. "You then encompass all the differences that make our employees unique and special and that includes everything from age to gender to cultural background to race to socio-economic background to disabilities. When you look at it from that perspective, age certainly plays an important part in it."
People's conducted a survey this past year with all employees, addressing different topics in the workplace, particularly diversity.
"I think there was one response from one employee whose response said that because he was older, he didn't think he got enough training. That was it out of thousands of employees," Manion says.
In a business with a clear-cut (and clean-cut) dress code, most problems are avoided.
Not only are there fashion differences between the generations, oral communication has taken on a life of its own. Every generation has slang, and it changes seemingly every time one turns around.
According to Martin: "When an intelligent person doesn't understand something, they should stop and ask. It's a matter of having the communication finesse to stop and ask and have enough of your own self-esteem and confidence to say, 'I'm not hearing what I think you're trying to say - what do you mean?'"
Defining the generations is itself an imperfect science. Generally, Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Those born roughly between 1965 and 1977 is called Generation X, while people born between 1978 and 1987 fall into the broad Generation Y.
Psychology often permeates those borders, though, as many people born between 1943 and 1945 have more of the boomer mentality than the generation before them - the Mature generation.
For the purposes of RainMaker Thinking's study, Generation Y is the group of juniors and seniors in high school and those who have graduated from college and are now in the workplace. Generation Y is also referred to as the Millennium Generation.
"The people who call them the Millennium Generation make them a huge generation, defining them as people born between 1980 and 2000," Carolyn Martin says. "That's 20 years, and when you compare a two-year-old and a 22-year-old, they don't have a whole lot in common."
Martin reminds her clients, "When you get the older Baby Boomers who have grandchildren who are Gen Y-ers age, relationships can go many ways. Even younger Baby Boomers who have sons and daughters in Gen Y can remember that these are not their children and they need to be able to treat them not in a parent/child manner and not in a condescending manner, but as young colleagues that the older generation has an opportunity to mentor and coach."
Martin adds: "It comes down to the older worker having to be aware that's it's not a parenting relationship, but a business relationship.
"Any kind of modeling where the generations are doing two-way mentoring, two-way coaching and two-way education is so powerful," she notes.
So, "Don't blame young people for what they don't know and because they don't have your work ethic. This is an opportunity to shape the next workforce."
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
