Different Generations in the Workplace

Different Generations in the Workplace

People born in different periods of time are divided into generations. There are some people who consider each of these generations to have moderately distinctive personality traits at a cohort level. These are considered to translate into fairly distinctive work related desires, needs, characteristics and values. These factors all help shape both how they work and what they look for in work.

We consider several different generational cohorts below, as well as some of their traits.

The Silent Generation (Pre 1945)

”The Silent Generation” is the name given to the cohort of people born between 1925 and 1945. They are also known as “traditionalists” or the “GI Generation”. Obviously, very few of this cohort are still in work.

This generation was shaped by significant events including the Great Depression, World War 2, post war reconciliation and the Korean War.

This generation is often generally described as hard-working, determined, resilient, full of will-power, thrifty, frugal, traditional and respectful towards authority.

From a work perspective this translates into the view that this cohort value hard work. It’s also said that they are dedicated to themselves, their organizations and their customers, that they are reliable team players and that they don’t like to let others down and won’t do so lightly.

Baby Boomers (1943-1963)

“Baby Boomers” are generally thought of as being born between the early 1940s and the early 1960s. Their name refers to the boom in childbirth following the end of the second world war. They are also sometimes referred to as “the me generation”. There are a fair number of baby boomers still in work, though many are now retired.

This generation was shaped and influenced by a range of social, political and military events. These include the civil rights movement and women’s liberation, the space race, the cold war and the Vietnam war.

Baby Boomers as a cohort are often described as being optimistic, as seeking personal gratification and as valuing material wealth.

From a work perspective, they are often generalized as possessing and valuing loyalty and work ethic. They desire steady career paths. They are also competitive, seek challenges, are motivated by compensation and are likely to be “lifers” (spending a long time in one organization).

Generation X

“Generation X” is the name given to the cohort of people born between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. They are sometimes also referred to as the “latchkey generation”. Many of this generation are still working, though a few have now retired.

As a cohort, Generation-X have been shaped by a range of factors including the invention of personal computers, MTV and similar TV developments, the financial crash of the 1980s and the end of the Cold War.

This generation is often generally described as independent, resourceful, self-managing, pragmatic, cynical and skeptical of authority.

From a work perspective they are considered to value a more “life focused” work-life balance than the generation before them. They also focus on individual advancements and to value fun, engagement, stability and job-satisfaction as well as to being eager to learn.

Millennials

“Millennials” is the name given to the cohort of people born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. This is the generation that is also referred to as “Generation Y” or “Snowflakes”. This generation is nearly all currently working and they comprise a large proportion of the current labor market.

As a cohort, Millennials were shaped by the rise of the internet, the 9-11 attacks in the US, the global war on terror and the Great Recession following the financial crisis which started in 2007/08.

This generation is often generally described as being up-beat. They are also civic minded, open to change, tech-savvy, politically correct, inclusive, non-hierarchical and socially conscious.

From a work perspective, they are considered to be purpose-driven. They are also creative, organized, flexible, accepting of change, motivated by the life part of their work-life balance. Millennials are considered to be “digital natives”.

Generation Z

“Generation Z” is the last of the different generations in the workplace that we’ll look it. It’s the name that is currently being given to the cohort of people born after the late 1990s. In truth, the name of this generation isn’t yet fully decided. They are also sometimes referred to as the “iGeneration” or the “post-millennial” generation. Only a few members of this generation have entered employment. Though they are the future of our labor markets, they have yet to make a large impact on them.

As a cohort, this generation has so far been shaped by things like the Great Recession, The #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter and other social movements. They are still developing as a cohort though, and will be influenced my further factors over the coming years.

At a personal level this generation are described as loyal, compassionate, thoughtful, open-minded, responsible, determined, competitive, spontaneous, adventurous and curious.

We don’t yet know what they will value or how they will act in the world of work.

Understanding different generations in the workplace is often used to improve diversity and inclusion. This is a topic you can learn more about through our series of podcasts. Creating diversity networks is one way to improve inclusion and the type of thing that might be done as part of an organizational development program.

An icebreaking activity that you can use to start a conversation about individual differences is maps & pins. If your team is more advanced, you might consider the self revealed stereotypes activity as well.

You can learn more about diversity and inclusion with our introductory podcast on the topic below:

At a high level we think the conversation about “different generations in the workplace” as cohorts of broadly homogeneous people is probably totally flawed and full of a lot of assumptions. Whether or not you can really make such broad generalizations about the traits of different generations is uncertain and every generation will have a range of people in it. It’s also worth noting that there’s a lot of disagreement about the traits of the different generations.

That said, it’s good to remember that individuals are different, that any team you manage or are part of will have individuals with different characteristics and that diversity really does improve certain aspects of team performance.

Whatever you think of assigning characteristics to entire generations, it’s important to be aware of the range of ages in employment at the moment, to be aware you might need to interact with them differently and to think about how you can include them.

One thing we would like to call out is that most of the content we have read in relation to generations is almost exclusively focused on the USA, Canada and Western Europe. We think that a lot of the writing out there, unfortunately, fails to consider other parts of the world.

It’s also worth noting that the specific years of birth that generations are said to fall into vary quite widely. This is in part driven by the insurance industry who group individuals into cohorts based on age.