Adapt to effectively manage multiple generations of workers
Many managers are finding it difficult to manage today’s multigenerational workforce. It is becoming clear that younger employees express themselves differently than older employees. As a person in the boomer category, I struggle too. I’ve had to learn to adapt management strategies to fit the various generations, who work, think, train and communicate differently.
The workplace is more multigenerational than ever before. It’s not unusual to find employees over 60 working alongside 20-year-olds, and it’s possible to find recent college graduates supervising employees old enough to be their parents.
The primary generations in workplaces today are baby boomers (born from 1946-1964), Generation Xers (born from 1965-1980), and millennials (born from 1981-2000), with members of Generation Z (born from 1997 on) quickly filling a larger share of job vacancies.
The competitiveness of boomers and the egocentric approach of Gen Xers are causing friction with the younger generations. Layer on a company’s need to preserve institutional knowledge, and it’s critical that older managers begin to transfer knowledge to the younger generations.
Although we should be mindful to avoid stereotypes or try to paint with too broad a brush, there are certain tendencies that a group will commonly identify with. As a group, each generation has different values, attitudes, expectations, needs and motivators. Managers are dealing with employees with shifting views toward job satisfaction, which is tethered to employee retention.
Boomers tend to be characteristically hard-working, loyal to company and career, respectful of hierarchy, and enjoy face-toface meetings. They value security, stability and structure. Problem: They have trouble letting go of power.
Members of Generation X are characteristically independent, fast learners who are impulsive yet practical, flexible, creative, self-reliant, and cynical. They value work/life balance, a casual and friendly workplace, flexibility and freedom, feedback, diversity, and independence. Problem: They don’t like being told what to do.
Millennials are generationally known as digital natives, who are confident, enjoy variety, crave instant gratification, and are often team-oriented multitask
ers. They value separation of work and life, structured and supportive workplaces, flexibility, challenging and meaningful work, diversity, and constant communication. Problem: They challenge work structures that don’t align with their values.
Gen Zs are characterized as digital or technical natives with higher global awareness who do just about everything with an electronic device, enjoy highly engaged managers, crave continuous feedback, and prefer text for instant communication. They value separation of work and life, workplace flexibility, environmental concerns, challenging and meaningful work, diversity, and constant communication. Problem: They are impatient when things don’t move quickly enough.
Managers need to understand the different generational characteristics, motivators and values, and overcome communication barriers. A manager recently told me he was having a particular problem with communication. He was trying to talk to an employee who was failing in the performance of tasks outlined in the job description. The millennial employee responded with, “You are not talking to me in a way that I can process.”
Fortunately, the boomer manager didn’t act on his first impulse, which was to say, “Process this- you’re fired.”
Managers are struggling the most with managing millennials and Gen Z. Some insights are:
• Millennials need a mentoring system. Pairing millennials with older generations can strengthen cohesiveness and collaboration. They need to know their career paths and how to advance. Impose structure and stability, cultivate teams, and help them develop problemsolving skills. Teach effective communication skills using conventions other than just text.
• Provide Gen Z with interesting experiences that allow for professional growth. Provide plenty of online learning. Provide clear feedback often, demonstrating how work aligns with their personal values.
• With both millennials and Gen Z, back up work-life balance policies with reality. A millennial director just told me a story of when she asked her boss to add staff. The senior manager told her that the expectation is to work 50–60-hour weeks. The director had to remind the senior manager that one of the reasons she took the job was the company’s commitment to worklife balance.
The workforce will continue to be multigenerational as older workers postpone retirement and more Generation Z members enter the workplace. It is unwise to ignore generational differences. Good management of generations can preserve critical institutional knowledge by ensuring knowledge is transferred to younger generations. To bridge generational gaps, managers need to learn how they all work, think, train and communicate.
Clarity is critical. Managers can’t assume younger workers understand how to navigate the corporate world. They may lack basic knowledge about work hours, work locations, dress code, technology usage and ways to communicate.
No single management style is perfect for any generation because there are also individual personality types. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, some best practices can help managers adapt and learn strategies that leverage everyone’s strengths.