This guest blog is reprinted from www.talkingaboutgenerations.com/


THE GENERATION GAP AT WORK
By Andy Teach

It’s funny how sometimes we miss the most obvious things in the workplace. I was an executive in the entertainment industry for over 25 years. As a Baby Boomer, I managed many members of Generation Y during that time. If I had any difficulties managing a Gen Y’er, I always assumed that it was because of gender or cultural differences. It was only after I began writing my Gen Y career advice book that I realized that some of the difficulties arose because of generational differences.

In most workplaces, there are three or even four different generations working together, or at least trying to work together. I’ve seen studies indicating that many members of each generation simply don’t respect, understand, or communicate with members of other generations and this obviously hurts productivity. I believe one way of overcoming this obstacle is simply to try and understand where each generation is coming from in terms of how they were brought up, the historical events that affected them, and what their priorities are.

Members of the oldest generation, known as The Matures or the Radio generation (some grew up before television was invented), are about 65 years old or older and they grew up during tough times-The Great Depression and WWII. They have a very strong work ethic, are loyal to their employer, and expect the same from their employees. The Baby Boomers (there was a big baby boom right after WWII) range in age from their mid-forties to mid-sixties and grew up during the 1950’s Cold War and the turbulent 1960’s. We have a very strong work ethic and sometimes judge our success by how many hours we work each week. We are also very loyal to our employer. Generation X (also known as the MTV generation) is between approximately30 and 44 years old and grew up during the Reagan years and the Gulf War. They were the first generation to avoid the do-or-die Baby Boomer work ethic and are more loyal to the person and not the employer. The youngest generation is Generation Y (also known as The Millennials) and its members are between 9 and 29 years old. They grew up during the New Millennium which included the events of 9/11. Gen Y is the most technologically advanced generation ever but has a reputation for being entitlement focused, for switching jobs often, and for wanting a balance between work and life.

Speaking of technology, I grew up with slide rulers instead of calculators, big black and white television sets instead of sleek high-definition color TV’s, AM radio and record players instead of iPods, typewriters instead of computers, and no fax machines, internet, cell phones or Blackberry’s. Yes, times have changed and for the better and I for one don’t take things like the internet for granted because it wasn’t around for a good part of my career.

One example of generational differences occurred when I gave one of my Gen Y employees their yearly performance review. It was a very positive review but I did have some criticisms of the employee and I found out that a year later, this employee was still dwelling on the criticisms. At first, I thought that they were just being too sensitive and then I realized that many members of Gen Y are brought up with a lot of praise from parents, teachers, and sports coaches. Many Millennials got sports or school trophies for just participating (hence, they are also known as The Trophy Generation) while my generation had to actually win something to get a trophy! Some Millennials are just not used to being criticized and when they are, they don’t know how to react. My advice to Millennials is not to take criticism at work personally-everyone gets criticized. Listen carefully to your boss’s criticism and if you agree with it, tell your boss that. If you don’t, you can respectfully disagree. Your boss is not only looking to see if you are going to improve but also to see how you react to the criticism.

My point is that every generation is brought up differently and has different ideas and expectations of what their jobs are going to be like. If you are a member of Gen Y or Gen X and you work for a Baby Boomer and they’re all about making work their first priority, then you should know that they will most likely expect the same from you. It is equally important for Baby Boomers to understand where Gen Y and Gen X employees are coming from and try and take their needs into account. Don’t let age differences get in the way at work-embrace them instead. Get to know people from other generations by observing them, speaking with them, and learning from them. You’ll be glad you did.

Andy Teach is the author of the new career advice book, From Graduation To Corporation.