For the first time ever, we have five different generations of workers all at once. As lifespan goes up and costs follow, more workers are delaying retirement as the newest crop — Gen Z — enters the workforce. This has presented new challenges when it comes to intergenerational collaboration and interpersonal relationships in the workplace.
This week, we’re shining a spotlight on workplace challenges in "Valley Spotlight: Multi-Generational Workforce."
Monday, we took a more philosophical approach to the changes in our feelings about work’s place in our lives. Today, we’re taking a broad look at how each generation shows up in the workplace, and what issues local business leaders are working to solve.
Full conversation
ATHENA ANKRAH: At work, different age groups have always bumped up against each other. As one generation leaves the workforce to enjoy retirement, another bunch of young up-and-comers launch careers. But lately, we’ve seen a lot more variation in our workplaces — and the differences have become apparent, especially in our communication styles and expectations.
These generational earmarks are not an exact science. Claims about a particular generation’s behavior and styles are, for the most part, sweeping generalizations. Still, there are important takeaways.
So who’s all here? The eldest are baby boomers and even some members of the Silent Generation before them. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of adults 65 and over who are still working today is almost double what it was 35 years ago. There are several explanations.
Jen Ward teaches human resources and employment law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
JEN WARD: Particularly in the baby boomer generation, they really developed a very heavy focus on capitalism and success. And it was kind of that Wall Street mentality from the '80s. And I think that a lot of people have a strong tie between their identity and their job. And so it's hard for them to think about retiring because they don't know what else to do.
They haven't spent time cultivating other interests. They may have lost touch with their family because they focused so heavily on their jobs during their working years. So now that they're kind of getting there to their retirement years, they're not ready to let go. They see that job as tied to their identity and they just want to keep doing it.
ANKRAH: Members of Gen X tend to be more informal, growing up as latchkey kids, making for an independent self-starter type.
Millennials are our '90s kids. Having entered the job market just as the 2008 recession hit, research shows millennials are a bit less loyal to their employers than previous generations, but inherited their parents’ anxiety about work directly reflecting on their value.
Finally, there’s Gen Z. The most racially and ethnically diverse group of workers and the first generation of so-called digital natives, many are just starting their careers. They came into the workforce around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with a desire for purpose-driven work that meets them as individuals with lives outside of work.
And now, members of all these generations are working together. The age-based divides are becoming more clear with Gen Z’s entrance into the workforce, sparking negotiations we weren’t really forced to reckon with before.
In addition to teaching classes at ASU, Jen Ward also runs a consulting firm, advising employers. And she says there’s one particular debate that’s been cropping up a lot since the pandemic: remote work.
WARD: Pre-pandemic, there was a huge resistance to it. That's at least what I experienced in the workplace. There were certain tech companies and things like that where it made sense and they did it, but kind of your everyday company, it just wasn't something that people were really excited to adopt.
ANKRAH: It’s just one of many conversations presenting themselves in the workplace nowadays. And she says when it comes to different ideas about working from home — the biggest divides fall along generational lines.
WARD: Baby boomers have largely been in leadership positions, and they are those big proponents of that face to face interaction. The baby boomer generation tends to lean towards what I call command and control leadership, where it's, you know, I'm going to manage you by seeing you, I want to see your body in your chair and that's how I know that you're getting done what you need to get done.
And then COVID hit and almost everyone went remote immediately, and it was a scramble.
ANKRAH: Vanessa Boettcher is an executive at an international company based in Scottsdale that reviews employee behavior and productivity of other businesses. She says she’s seen the remote work issue firsthand at her job, too.
Boettcher’s in a unique position. She’s in charge of fostering collaboration between employees and managers of different age groups.
VANESSA BOETTCHER: Definitely, hybrid work has been a hot topic for us. Today we had a very robust conversation about this, where all of these angles play a big role. Some people were sad and saying, "no, we have to get back because it's important and it gives us that personal contact and interaction that we need." And then of course, other people were saying, "well, yes, but, some people don't need that and some people are very productive with working on their own.”
ANKRAH: Ward says the sticking point of the work-from-home debate comes down to differences in our ideas about work ethic. If you’re working remotely, for example, how would employers be sure that everyone’s just as engaged as they are in the office?
WARD: The technology was there, but the culture was what needed to kind of catch up, and that management style. So figuring out "how do I make sure that people's jobs are getting done and how can I trust my employees that they are working and they're not shopping, sleeping, watching TV," whatever those worries are that managers tend to have with remote work.
ANKRAH: Remote or in person, the question remains: when is it acceptable for workers to sacrifice their personal and family time for the good of the employer, and at what point is the job asking for too much? Boettcher says most of her older colleagues saw things like working extra hours as necessary parts of the job, but even having the flexibility of hybrid schedules as a possibility during the pandemic changed how they thought about it.
BOETTCHER: Everybody in these past four years also has learned the advantage of working from home allows you also to cater to some of your personal needs. So, if you have a family, can you go and pick up your kids from school or can you go and do doctor appointments or that kind of thing that is that flexibility of being able to work remotely. It was very interesting to see how minds started to change as they were able to hear from each other.”
Another key difference in the workplace, especially in white collar settings, is technology. Here’s Jen Ward again.
WARD: It can be more challenging for, particularly older people who maybe don't have the experience or the comfort level with technology. and it can be hard for young people to deal with that too, to feel like they're having to show somebody who's significantly older than them how to do something when it's a technological thing.”
ANKRAH: But Boettcher says it’s not just the older generations who need to keep up with younger people and new technology; young people have room for growth, too. And it starts with knowing when to pick up the phone — or put tech away entirely when a face-to-face conversation’s more appropriate.
BOETTCHER: Embedded in older cultures, they know, they don't have any issue saying, "OK, now it's time for me to talk because this is not going anywhere." Where younger people are not necessarily as savvy when it comes to, "OK, I probably should do a phone call now because two emails after, we're still not getting clarity."
ANKRAH: She says today’s business leaders have to take in different perspectives, keeping what works and leaving the rest.
BOETTCHER: That flexible mindset is your winner because we all have to understand that none of us have the absolute truth or the absolute answer and listening and learning from others is key. We all have something to contribute, but it definitely gets much richer when you listen to what the others have to say.
ANKRAH: Success in today’s diverse workplace takes a bespoke management approach, where the leader and team flex to each others’ needs. But to develop flexibility, you need mutual respect and understanding. Then, Ward says, this new multi-generational workforce should be an asset, not a problem.
