(Part I; Traditionalists and Baby Boomers)
We’ve all heard it for years and have the scars to show for it. Managing different generations in the workforce can be quite a challenge. According to whom you read, the current workforce is made up four main age groups of employees. These are the Traditionalists (66-84 year olds); the Baby Boomers (47-65 year olds); the Generation X’ers (31-46 year olds); and the Generation Y or millennials (18-30 year olds). Thinking of all this jumble of age, experience, abilities and lack thereof can give one a chuckle. The challenges of getting a cohesive work team out of such a broad age group can also wipe the smile off your face in short order.
Since the subject will be a lengthy one, I will talk about the Traditionalists and Baby Boomers this week and finish up with the Generation X and Y’ers next week. Many generalizations will be made, so bear with me in the analysis process. The Traditionalists and Baby Boomers are going to be the more seasoned employees and definitely the elder group of the bunch.
Traditionalists are civil minded and loyal to their country, community, family and workplace. They will not be the most technical minded employees in the place, and will respond best to verbal communications than to emails and electronic tasks. They will prefer “live person” training to a manual, webcast or video. Their loyalty to their workplace and their traditional morals make them a refuge of trust to their managers. If you want something taken care of and do not want to be worrying about its completion, these are the employees that should be given these tasks. On the down side, their traditional thinking and loyalty may make them seem vulnerable to the younger employees in the workplace. The younger employees may make the Traditionalists the butt of their jokes due to the difference in values. Most likely, at their age, the Traditionalists are working because they have to, not necessarily because they want to. As a manager, we should seek advice from their life experience and realize that our approach to them may have to be different than some of the more expedient and automated approaches that we utilize in managing younger employees. The Traditionalists may find it harder to fit in than some of the younger employees, so we might find that they require a little more time and effort to give them a feeling of belonging. This feeling of belonging is essential to mirror their loyalty that they have to an employer. Traditionalists will be the ones who normally will not complain and they will be the ones who will hang in there when the others do not.
Baby Boomers are the next age group that we encounter. The Boomers are the ones who are going to be more of the “me” group at work. They wonder if they’ve done enough with their lives and wonder where it is all going. Their careers, position in life and their stuff are some of their greatest motivators. The Boomers want feedback about themselves and their jobs often. Take care if you only give them feedback when they have made mistakes. The Boomers also need confirmation of the good things they do. They were raised in the years of positive affirmation and still seek it at work. Boomers make good trainers of the younger crowd, because they do attach much meaning to their job experience and share the importance of doing it well to others. Boomers do work well in teams and make good mentors. On the negative side, however, Boomers are not overly loyal to employers or supervisors and will jump ship at a moment’s notice to advance themselves over people. Boomers are looking for ways to make life and work meaningful, so manage these expectations to your advantage. Give them meaning to their work and you will have them working their hearts out for you.
The Traditionalists and Boomers have great work skills and bring meaningful life experience into the place of work. Look to make those skills and their experience as beneficial tools to motivate employees and advance your workplace’s goals. They are the stable forces to help you with this. Next week, we will look at the Generation X and Y’s and managing their strengths and weaknesses.