Generational Mix Creates Challenges

In just about any Wal-Mart, shoppers will find four different generations working side by side.

Combining the generations provides a valuable asset to the retailer as the younger workers gain experience from the older employees while the older workers feed off the energy of the younger ones, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber.

Wal-Mart tries to make sure during the hiring process that employees will be compatible with each generation.

But in some cases that doesn’t work. Workplace experts generally agree that the generations have different working styles and that these different styles can result in conflict. Bad blood can flow when employees from different generations experience miscommunications and misperceptions.

Demographers roughly break down the generations into the traditionalists, those born before 1946; the baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964; Generation X, born between 1965 and 1981; and Generation Y, born after 1981 (and sometimes referred to as “Millennials”).

Productivity depends on all the generations getting along, said Robert Wendover, director of the Center for Generational Studies in Aurora, Colo. Achieving that cooperation, in turn, depends on focusing on the needs of Generation Y, said Penelope Trunk of Madison, Wis., author of “Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success.”

Generally speaking, Generation Ys have no problems turning down a job if it’s not what they want and staying home with their parents, she said. “They’re totally fine traveling around the world with no money in their pocket,” Trunk said.

“So what all this adds up to is that Generation Y has all the power in the workplace,” she said. “If you can’t cater to Generation Y, you can’t have any entry-level people.”

But catering to Generation Y is causing conflict with the other age groups, especially baby boomers.

Baby boomers think everything has been handed to the Ys and they haven’t put in the countless hours of grunt work necessary to make it to the top, Trunk said.

“The baby boomers feel completely ripped off,” she said. “They paid their dues for 40 years and climbed a ladder that no one else is climbing.”

At least one researcher, however, doesn’t buy the argument that generational differences are the source of tension in the workplace. All employees want the same thing, regardless of age, Jennifer Deal, a research scientist with the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C., said in an April news release.

“Everyone wants to be able to trust their supervisors, no one really likes change, we all like feedback, and the number of hours you put in at work depends more on your level in the organization than on your age,” Deal said. “The conflict has less to do with age or generational difference than it does with clout – who has it and who wants it.”

Deal appears to be in the minority, though. Others knowledgeable about the workplace see points of contention between Ys and boomers, with one of the most apparent being the technology gap.

If baby boomers don’t embrace technology, they are seen by the younger generation as not keeping up with the times, said Tom Tudor, a professor of management at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

And Generation Ys don’t have the patience to deal with older people who don’t understand technology, Wendover said.

Little Rock attorney Tasha Taylor said she’s seen the technology gap in her job.

Taylor, 28 – which technically places her in Generation X – said attorneys her age are quick to turn to online databases for answers to legal questions while older attorneys hit the books.

She also said there seems to be some hesitation by older attorneys to send documents over the Internet while younger workers are willing to put almost everything in electronic form.

“I think the older attorneys are trying to learn, but I think sometimes … they don’t want to ask the younger attorneys how to do something,” Taylor said.

Still, Taylor said, she hasn’t felt any resentment from the older attorneys. The older attorneys are more than willing to sit down and talk to her about career choices or anything involving the law.

“I’ve never had anybody turn me down,” she said.

Understanding Gen Y

Trunk said the first thing managers need to understand is how to deal with Generation Y. The Ys are the most conservative generation since World War II.

They aren’t big on protesting and love their parents, said Trunk, who is launching Brazen Careers, a consulting company to help firms attract and retain Ys.

They also are willing to follow the rules, she said. Generation Ys don’t mind being micromanaged.

“They’ve been micromanaged their whole life,” Trunk said.

Their parents paid for extra coaches and tutors so their children could succeed.

As a result, members of Generation Y are comfortable working with adults because adults have helped them throughout high school and they expect help from their bosses. “So managers have to stop having this hands-off fantasy,” Trunk said. “Hands-off management is really neglect.”

The No. 1 thing a member of Generation Y wants is to learn new skills. The members of Generation Y were repeatedly told by their parents to turn off the TV, get off the couch and do something with their lives. “So these people as workers totally panic if they’re not learning anything,” Trunk said.

That’s why training is more valuable than giving them a raise. If a company gives a 10 percent raise on a $50,000 salary, that’s only $3,000 a year after taxes.

“They know that $3,000 is nothing. They’re not stupid,” Trunk said. “So if you offer training, it actually can change their life. And then they feel like you’ve invested in them.”

Conflicts With Boomers

The baby boomers dominate management positions now, said Wendover, of the Center for Generational Studies.

Problems with the different generations started about 15 years ago when the members of Generation X entered the work force, Wendover said. Generation X’ers are the children of baby boomers, but grew up in more tumultuous times.

“So where the baby boomers learned to wait your turn, sit down and shut up at the meeting until you’re talked to … they expect that of younger generations,” Wendover said.

Those in Generation X are skeptical of institutions because they were taught that if they worked hard, they would have a job at a company for their entire lives. Those jobs and dreams of working at a place forever vanished, though.

“There’s no more career stability in the workplace,” Trunk said. “There’s no more work at IBM for 40 years and get a watch. You can’t expect people to play by those rules because that game doesn’t exist.”

Then Generation Y came along.

The conflict between baby boomers and Generation Y has to do with each group’s view of work. Generation Y views work as something that has to be done, but it’s not something to which they need to devote themselves, Wendover said.

“Their sense of work is very different than the boomers and even the X’ers,” he said. “I’ve had X’ers who have said to me, ‘What’s wrong with this younger generation?'”

Generation Ys are going to spend their time enjoying themselves, said Cam Marston, president of Generational Insight of Mobile, Ala. That means the members of Generation Y are going to work their 40-hour week and that’s it, Marston said. They’re also going to take all their sick and vacation time. Marston said the biggest source of conflict among the generations is time.

“The younger generation has an attitude of ‘I own my time and I give the company what they need,'” he said. “The senior generation has an attitude of the company owns our time and they give us a little bit back to live the lives outside of work.”

The time issue infuriates  boomers, who worked endless hours to get to the top.

It also doesn’t help the relationship between the two generations that the members of Generation Y refuse to do entry-level work, meaning baby boomers are back doing grunt work and are having to work longer then they expected, Trunk said.

“So the two together – that they have to work longer than they expected and that they’re living at the top of the ladder that is not as meaningful anymore – is really upsetting,” she said.

Resolving the Conflicts

A multigenerational work force needs to work together to increase productivity.

“If you can’t manage your employees, you’re not going to get all of your team’s work done,” Trunk said.

It’s up to the managers or CEOs to step in and make sure relationships between employees aren’t strained, Wendover said.

He said he advises baby boomer managers to understand Generation Ys but not to cave into them. The members of Generation Y “have to understand that work is actually work,” Wendover said.

He also said managers should focus on the outcome rather than how the job is performed.

Most of the conflict comes not from the work that’s being produced but how it’s being done. And that shouldn’t be a source of tension, Wendover said.

“If they can get their work done and go home early, or they can listen to their iPod and get their work done, as long as the outcome is what you desire, what’s wrong with that?”