2. Why Are Generational Dynamics Important?
Generational shift
Changing Workforce (4 Generations)
20-40% eligible for retirement (VRS)
3. What is a Generation?
A cohort born within a 15-to-20-year span and have
a common set of experiences based on defining
historic events.
4. Generational Age Groups
Generation Age
Range
National
Demographics
Chesterfield
Workforce
Traditionalists 69+ 44 Million < 1%
Baby Boomers 50-68 76 Million 36%
Generation X 34-49 62 Million 41%
Millennials 20-33 80 Million 22%
5. Definitions
Stereotype: a simplified, often negative
perception of a particular group
Trait: a shared characteristic distinguishing
a group’s behavior, attitudes, beliefs
Stage of Life: shared commonalities of life
priorities (20 year span)
12. Generational Mindsets
Boomers GEN X Millennials
Outlook Optimistic Skeptical Confident
Work Ethic Driven Free Agent Goals
Money View Spenders Debtors Savers?
Leadership
View
Pay Your
Dues
Competence Egalitarian
Work/Life
Balance
Work Is Life Work To Live Integrated
Medium TV Computer Mobile
Orientation Self Centered Self Reliant Collective Self
Two things about this:
In twenty minutes I will barely scratch the surface of this topic, it is meant as an introduction.
Not all the concepts I am going to present about the generations are evidenced by everyone.
I would argue that they are always important, but at the moment we are seeing a large group segue out of the workforce and an even larger group segue into the workforce. Makes it a good time to examine the dynamics.
Most organizations have 4 generations in the workforce with ages ranging from 20 to 70 years old. That’s a 50 years age span and with that age span comes difference perspectives about the workforce.
Many organizations in the VRS anticipate that between 20-40% of their workforce is eligible to retire.
Chesterfield has 30% of it’s workforce eligible to retire.
I have 25% of my IT workforce eligible for retirement.
Chesterfield conducted a survey last October and held generation specific focus groups.
Americans over 65 are the fasting growing age demographic in the county. This will have a huge social and economic impact on the U.S. For purposes of looking at dynamics in the workplace, they are not covered here.
A generation is defined as a group of people (cohort) born within a 15- 20 year span and that share common experiences based on defining historic events.
Defining historic events are things that occur on a national/global scale during a cohort’s formable years (child hood to early adult) that define or shape that generations perspective and outlook on the world.
Important to note the 76 million boomers who will be retiring, and the 80 million millennials that will be replacing them.
“Why do we care what millennials think”, because there are 80 million of them.
When talking about generational dynamic we need to be clear about how and what we are talking about.
Stereotypes: are gross generalities about a group. All millennials are tech savvy, but have a poor work ethic.
Traits are often used to show the differences between a cohort from the previous generation. Traits are shared characteristics of a group that influence behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. For example: Entertainment industry focuses on the 18-34 year old demographic when developing most film, TV and music projects.
Stage of life: we all share commonalities based on our certain stage of life. Most 20s year old, regardless of their generation, behave a certain viewpoint about life that often changes when they reach 40. Life experiences like buying a house, getting married, and having children change your behavior and attitudes about some things.
All of these things (stereotype, traits, and stage of life) influence how we talk about generations and how we manage the differences.
So lets look at some of the influences and traits of each generation:
Boomers were born between the mid 1940s and the early 1960s. The country was coming out of a 12-year depression and entering into a time of great prosperity, innovation, and social change. Most of which was brought to young Boomers through TV.
Assassinations of MLK & JFK, RFK, Malcom X, Lee Harvey Oswald
More children were born during this time period than any other time before.
More boomers went to college than any other generation before them and had an expectation that their lives were going to be better than their parents and grandparents who had lived through the depression.
I am a late boomer (not to be confused with a late BLOOMER, which I also am).
Compared to the previous generation (the traditionalists) Boomers had a since of entitlement and sought more personal gratification in their lives.
They are identified as being more optimistic and transformative than the previous generations.
And they were more socially and economically mobile. They are credited as inventing the 60-hour work week. Yes, you can thanks us for that.
Once known as the Golden Generation, now known as … the silver tsunami by demographers, this wave of 76 million people going on social security.
Most loyal to the County and the least likely to leave, outside of retirement. Also, the most institutional knowledge.
Lots of similarities with millennials.
30% of the county workforce eligible to retire, 25% of my own department.
Xers were born from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s
All helped lower the U.S. birth rate: The birth control pill, legalization of abortion, a series of recessions in the early 1970s and more women choosing to delay motherhood to enter into the workforce.
Xers are the significantly smaller in size compared the Boomers and Millennials.
Xers were the first generation to experience high divorce rates among their parents.
They grew up in the aftermath of Watergate and witnessed the explosion of the space shuttle in real time.
They were the first children to have exposure to the personal computer.
They are often seen as:
more skeptical and pessimistic compared to the boomers,
more independent and self-directed, and lacking loyalty to institutions.
They were the first to strongly advocate for more work/life balance when they entered the workforce in the 1990s.
Also known as the “sandwich” generation, because they may be taking care of kids and parents at the same time.
Trained by boomers, they are starting to emerge as our organizational leaders. A natural issue is that they don’t have the same loyalty commitment as boomers.
Remember, these are not hard and fast, but generalizations.
Millennials were born during strong economic times (early 1980s-mid 1994) and grew up during the “booming 90s.”
Most of them have never know a life without the internet, cell phones, digital cameras or iPods. They are digital natives, born into the technology.
The strong family unit came back in style and more millennials were born into intact families who demanded more work/life balance.
They are the first to experience “Helicopter Parenting” hyper parenting style where parent is involved in every aspect of their lives. We will see later that this parenting style effects expectations in the workforce.
Millennials are the most educated generation, holding more bachelor's and master’s degrees than any other generations.
Often descripted as more self-indulgent than Xers.
80 Million of them, the largest of the generations, demographically.
Desire strong mentoring relationship with supervisor/manager (product of helicopter parenting).
More social, and more socially connected through technology.
Viewed as optimistic and ambitious like the boomers were at the same stage of life. They want a voice in the decision making, and want careers that align with their personal value systems.
Least loyal to the , not a bad thing, they just expect to have many jobs in their careers.
Crave a flexible work environment, proponents of change “why do we do it like that?”
This workforce presents a lot of opportunity. More stereotypes for this generation than any other: lacking experience, lack of communication skills, work ethic, lack of respect for authority.
A summary slide, what is the mindset of the different generations in various areas?
Leadership View – Who should be leaders, who should be promoted & how to leadership positions?
Todays workforce sees access to technology as a necessity, social media, teleworking, mobile. Not luxuries. Guess which generation feels most strongly about this.
Recruiting – As much about selling your organization as anything, and it is important to know what is important to the candidate. Their generation can give you clues about that. For millennials, I sell the close-knit & family friendly nature of IST. For Gen-Xers I sell the ability to make your own future, be self directed-career-wise.
Promotion from within? Be careful. Millenials won’t see any problem with this. Boomers & GenXrs may have a different viewpoint.
SMEs beware – How do you keep the knowledge when the boomer retires? Do you recreate it, transfer it, what? “sit with that person for two weeks and figure out what they know” is not knowledge transfer.
Remember, the most business knowledge is with the most loyal employees, for the moment (boomers). The next wave of employees are not as loyal, and you will not have the luxury of them sticking around for 30 years.
Three more quick slides – Technology pressures, action items and lessons learned.
Recommendations coming out of the survey, comments to the survey and generational focus groups involved:
mentorship programs
communications and communications styles
work ethic perceptions
Transfer of institutional knowledge
Technology
IST will be part of all those other recommendations, but the ones we will be leading are these.
Red Asterisk = We were already working on them
Get beyond stereotypes – ex. Millennials are rude and cannot hold a face to face conversation. In effect, they are more direct and confident and that rubs boomers the wrong way sometimes.
Strengths – Genx was trained by the boomers, use them!
Knowledge transfer doesn’t happen in 2 weeks, it requires a culture. Better figure this out. The most valuable business knowledge is eligible to retire, the generation coming in may not stay long either.
Regarding technology, don’t assume the workforce knows what you know. And don’t take it personally when the millennials call you on something.
Another generation, Gen Z, is on the way. We need to become adept at understanding and leveraging all this.