This is the third post in a four-part series. For other posts in this series, click here.
In the previous posts in this series, The Importance of Personality Tests and The 4 Types of People You’ll Encounter In the Workplace (and How to Cope With Them),we took a look at the efforts organizations are using to identify current and prospective employees within the boundaries of a particular personality type.
The idea behind this effort is that if people within the organization can be designated as a particular type, accompanied by some general classifications of how they respond in work situations, what they like and how they act, better-performing teams can be created and corporate culture can be preserved.
While there are many ways in which to identify people according to personality types, there are none that can completely classify them — there may be times a person exhibits characteristics of another personality type, depending on the need of the situation, and a perceptive professional will allow for this before relegating them forever to a particular type.
You didn’t become an over-50 professional by not successfully evaluating and adapting constantly, so I encourage you to continue to do this as we look at some of the other influencers in behavior in the workplace.
The Workplace Is a Sandbox
The modern workplace is a “sandbox,” and as an employee, you have various “playpals” in that sandbox. Not only are there multiple playpal personalities in the sandbox, but there are also multiple ages or generations at play. (Tweet this thought.)
As an over-50 professional, you know that with multiple personalities and multiple ages playing in any sandbox, there is bound to be some sand thrown, some sand structures squashed by an older or more mischievous playpal. Some sandbox rules will be broken, and some tears will be shed. The goal of this series is to limit the tears and to give you a few tools that will help you not only tolerate your playpals, but more successfully build things and play along with the others.
Let’s look at some key characteristics of the generations that are moving the sand (work activity) around in your sandbox (workplace).
The Rise of the Multi-Generational Workforce
More generations are working alongside each other in the workplace now than ever before. According to a very insightful publication from the Boston College Center for Work and Family there are four generations working side by side daily:
- Traditionalists (also called Veterans, Builders, the World War II Generation or the Silent Generation)
- Baby Boomers (also calledBoomers or the Sandwich Generation)
- Generation X (also called Busters or GenXers)
- Millennials (also called Generation Y, GenY, Bridgers, Echo Boomers or Nexters).
Depending on the size of the organization, there tends to be some identifiable, natural conflict that exists between generations. In fact, according to a survey from SHRM Research, about 40% of large organizations report that generational conflicts exist.
Knowing the potential for stress between generations, why not prepare yourself a bit so you can minimize the effects of potential conflicts? Let’s take a brief look at each of the generation groups, their characteristics, and some ideas for how you can work more effectively and cohesively with each.
Traditionalists
The oldest group currently in the workplace is Traditionalists. Traditionalist group were between 1922 and 1945. Before you say, “there can’t possibly be anyone still working regularly in a modern workforce from this group,” realize that the likelihood of someone born in 1922 still being involved heavily in the office is slimming, but the possibility of someone born at the other end of the range is highly likely. In fact, according to the Gallup Business Journal, members of the Traditionalist generation comprise about 10-12% of all employees in the United States.
Just as it is very difficult to adequately and accurately describe all of the people who exist within one of the personality types, it is likewise very difficult to describe all of the members within a generation group. However, we can use generalizations, and Traditionalists tend to be more conservative, more compulsive about saving and minimizing debt, quite patriotic, place a high value on work and moral character, and have a healthy respect for authority.
These are the people whose parents survived the Great Depression, and most of them endured a great deal of hardship. The deprivation of that time period colors the way that they look at things, so keep that in mind as you interact with these folks. To have a sense of fulfillment and worth in an organization, they need to feel respected for their contributions, their historical knowledge, and for their ability to still have something to contribute to the success of an organization.
Baby Boomers
The next group is most commonly known as Baby Boomers. Members of this group were born between 1942 and 1962 and were impacted by the social unrest that took place while they were coming of age — things like the civil rights movement, desegregation, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Roe vs. Wade, Nixon and Watergate, the beginnings of space travel and even television.
Like their parents, many Baby Boomers have a strong work ethic, are very status conscious and are somewhat driven to achieve — but unlike their parents, they can have a distrust of authority figures. Most over-50 professionals are found in this group (including me), and we comprise about 44% of the workforce — the largest generational group.
We are a force to be reckoned with, not just because we are the largest generational group, but because we aren’t retiring as early as many had originally projected. There are many possible reasons for this — debt, the declining value of personal retirement portfolios, the lack of confidence in Social Security, overall better general physical health, and the added responsibility of still supporting our family members. In fact, about 82% of workers over 50 say they are likely to continue working.
There seems to be a disproportionate amount of economic pressure on this group, which is one of the reasons they’re sometimes identified as the Sandwich Generation. They are a generation that is wedged between providing care for their elderly parents and still providing some financial support for their own children (and even grandchildren). Boomers’ concern that there is not enough money to support themselves in retirement, plus the responsibility of financially supporting two other generations, can be quite a motivator for continuing to work.
How to keep them engaged and productive? Help them to see a personal connection to an organization’s mission and purpose and what it means to them personally. That will keep Boomers engaged for some time to come.
Generation X
The children of Boomers are the next largest generation group, comprising about 34% of the workforce. Generation X — or, as they are more often known, GenX — were born between 1965 and 1980. Just like their Boomer parents, GenX witnessed much social upheaval. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the impact of AIDS, increasing divorce numbers, diversity concerns and Desert Storm are just some of the events and concerns that flavored the lives of GenXers.
Because they are products of two-parent working households or divorced households, GenXers tend to be fairly resilient, adaptable, independent and practical. They also tend to be more fluid in their loyalties, as they are a little more focused on personal security and career satisfaction than in remaining in one place their whole career. They tend to dislike rigid work environments and seem to do fairly well working autonomously.
Over 60% of GenXers have graduated from college, and they were raised to believe that they could accomplish just about anything. Titles don’t necessarily impress them, but money and opportunity to improve their status is important to them. They discovered, through watching their parents and grandparents, that commitment to an organization doesn’t necessarily translate into job security, so frequent job changing is a GenX characteristic. They are also the first generation to grow up with computers, so their engagement in technology and their ease in accessing anything they need online is another strong characteristic of this group.
GenXers are fearless and much more accustomed to taking risks than previous generations, so even though there are some stark contrasts with previous generations, there is much to be valued in the GenX group. How do you keep them engaged in the organization’s mission? Provide them with a strong sense of their importance in the success of the organization and how that will directly affect them personally.
Millennials
Generation Y — or Millennials, as they are perhaps better known — are those that were born between the years 1981 and 2004. They represent one of the best-educated generations ever. However, you might not be able to tell that from their communication at times, since grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation are not always as important to them as other generations. Speed and convenience is what is important to them (think text message, Instagram and Snapchat).
According to a special report produced by AARP, Millennials represented about 15% of the workforce in 2006, 25% in 2011, and they’re expected to reach 36% in 2014. Millennials grew up with technology as an important fact of their lives, with expanding cable and satellite TV and radio programming, the Internet, social networking, “selfies,” and credit cards and PayPal as the “coin of the realm.” They also grew up with 9/11, the Iraq War, increased violence in schools and the influence of marketing in every aspect of public and private life. They were the children of a very child-focused society.
Millennials are highly expressive, can appear over-confident and self-absorbed, strive to make a positive impact on organizations and communities, and are more accustomed to risk-taking than any previous generation. This group is tends to be very creative and innovative, able to see the “big picture” more easily, though they are somewhat more inclusive and tend to prefer the immediate when it comes to experiences.
It is very important that Millennials succeed in the workplace as, by 2020, this group could represent about 50% of the workforce. Organizations need to provide Millennials with plenty of opportunity to grow professionally and financially, and their ideas and influence need to be an obvious part of the overall direction of the organization.
What This Means for You
Now, what does all of this mean to the over-50 professional? It means that with so many generations working together, a mature professional like yourself is in a position to be a mediator among all of the generational groups, helping each see to that the responsibility for workplace harmony is a mutual responsibility.
Being aware of the different groups in the workplace is a good start, but learning how to best relate, communicate, work with and produce with each group requires maturity, leadership, understanding, respect and vision.
Who is better equipped to lead the way and set the example than the over-50 professional?
How have you found ways to work with the different generations in your workplace? Share in the comments!
Image: Flickr
