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For the first time in the business landscape, four different generations coexist in the workforce: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials (or Gen Y), and Generation Z. While this extensive diversity may be perceived as a mountain to overcome, it’s in fact a molehill hiding a secret competitive advantage.
While differences in experiences, values, and beliefs are bound to occur, today’s business leaders have the opportunity to turn these conflicts into conquests by harnessing the diverse strengths of each generation instead of trying to manage them. What one age group lacks, the other can support in all regards.
As each generation now has a seat at the table, let’s examine what each one brings and how managers can use it to inject innovation throughout different industries.
Sidelining Generational Stereotypes
In today’s workforce, diversity isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a core aspect of success. While four distinct generations in business present a unique amalgamation of perspectives and work styles, this mix can also trigger complicated workplace dynamics. Differing expectations and misunderstandings due to generational differences can lead to lower productivity, morale, and turnover rates.
The main culprit? Age-based prejudices that leave teams feeling marginalized.
While such stereotypes may help specific groups categorize and self-analyze, applying them in a workplace setting can be detrimental to team cohesion. It can also lead to harmful false narratives that deter genuine employee needs and further widen the generational divide. As the youngest siblings of the workforce, Gen Z is considered by many hiring managers to be unprofessional job-hoppers with a questionable work ethic. However, Baby Boomers need to remember that these same labels were once used to describe them.
The question is: Are these complaints credible—or should leaders learn to use generational quirks to their advantage?
Baby Boomers Are Technophobes
Born between 1946 and 1964, Baby Boomers have been integral to the success of the modern industrial landscape. From economic storms to major sociocultural shifts, this generation has experienced its fair share of strife, but it has also had the capacity to adapt as time has passed innovatively. However, as the proliferation of AI and advanced technology continues to blaze a trail of transformation, Baby Boomers are seemingly caught like deer in the headlights.
The reality is that experience plays in their favor, and Baby Boomers are far more equipped to handle technological changes than people expect. With the unique advantage of being front and center when technological powerhouses like Apple were just garage-based startups, this generation has the key advantage of evolving alongside technology organically.
By documenting their experiences with both success and failure, Baby Boomers are uniquely positioned to archive their journeys and shape the next generations’ approaches to innovation.
Similarly, management leaders can nurture Baby Boomers’ quest to become more technologically savvy in the modern age of business by providing them with continuous learning platforms that equip this generation with the expertise needed to achieve this goal.
Gen Z Are Lazy Workers
As a generation that prioritizes a healthy and strict work-life balance, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) has gained notoriety as the quiet quitters—among other things. From dismantling societal norms to being deemed too socially conscious, the older half of Gen Z has gained a reputation for being difficult to work with—and, more poignantly, lazy workers.
While it’s true that Gen Z is exceptional at setting and sticking to boundaries and preferences in both their personal and professional lives, it’s essential to recognize these traits stem from the conditions in which this generation has to live. Gen Z employees may have fewer ambitions to climb the corporate ladder, but this doesn’t negate their ambitions altogether. When they’re not in their cubicles, Gen Z is running campaigns and protests for intrinsic social change. They might quietly quit their 9 to 5s, but will always have a side hustle to continue making a profit.
From the perspective of the Gen Z workforce, these intricacies are a result of corralling the controversies of the generations that came before them. Doubling down on distinctive work preferences can be likened to a suit of armor protecting Gen Z from the overwhelming stress that has dissipated the drive of Millennials and Baby Boomers. Learning from past experiences, Gen Zers realize that setting personal time aside in the name of professional growth doesn’t really get one further, but more so taken advantage of.
Millennials Are Poor Money Managers
Millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996, refer to a resilient generation shaped by digital communication technologies—as well as a keen sense of communal and democratic innovation. However, this all pales in comparison to their workforce reputation of being less than proficient with money matters, whether saving or investing. Baby Boomers are constantly harping on the fact that Millennials would sooner invest in avocado toast than enter the housing market—but, why is that?
The cause isn’t as simple as financial illiteracy but rather the fact that many millennials began their professional careers during one of the most devastating economic events: The Great Recession. As the global economy slumped, so too did the Millennials’ foundation for financial stability, eliminating any hope for trust in financial institutions among this generation. The impact of the fall of the financial market also worsened student debt and homeownership prospects.
Despite the adversity, Millennials have turned this obstacle into an opportunity and accelerated their adaptability to find innovative approaches to problems. While their predecessors might have deemed them to be entitled, Millennials bring a new rhythm to the workflow by emphasizing the importance of collaboration. Their open-minded nature paved the way for diversity to flourish with creativity at its core.
Conclusion
Differences don’t have to be divisive, and diversity doesn’t have to lead to disputes. Today’s business leaders have the unique task of juggling a multi-generational workforce—and all the ups and downs that go along with it. However, managers now stand at a crossroads: take the traditional path and feed into the feuds, or blaze their own and nurture each generation’s distinctive approaches.
Between Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z, the modern workforce has experienced an unprecedented transformation fuelled by innovation, collaboration, and growth. This is attributed to the mix of mastery brought forward by each generation and their own unique experiences. By embracing, not evading, these differences, organizations can foster a workforce that benefits from the full spectrum of skill, perspective, and knowledge of its people.
In today’s working landscape, the potential for growth and innovation across all industries is vast. Leaders who defy generational boundaries are at the helm, steering their businesses closer to the horizons of transformative change. Instead of bridging the gaps, managers need to build upon them to establish an empowered and engaged workforce.