Motivating the "What's In It For Me?" Workforce E-Book

Cam Marston

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 324

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Advance praise for Motivating the "What's In It For Me?"Workforce "The information on leading and managing generations found in thisbook is invaluable to all executives today. The war for talent hasbecome increasingly fierce. Attracting and retaining this talent iscritical to a successful global company. This book is a masterfultool for developing the skills required for managingmultigenerational teams. It is a must-have for executives at alllevels who are responsible for a company's greatest asset: itspeople." --Phebe Port, Vice President Global Management Strategies,The EsteeLauder Companies "Motivating the 'What's In It For Me?' Workforce has given ourmanagers good ideas about leading the different generations in ourworkplace, particularly the New Millennials who we at Enterpriseare especially reliant upon to grow our business every single dayand, ultimately, become our company's future leaders." --Marie Artim, Assistant Vice President Recruiting, EnterpriseRent-A-Car "After Marston presented to our management group, approximately 400individuals, and after we responded to the clamor for his book, itbecame commonplace to hear people discussing solutions to problemsbased on generational considerations. There aren't many peoplediscussions that occur today where we don't at least considerdifferences between Baby Boomers, Millennials, etc. He reallychanged our way of thinking!" --Anne Donovan, U.S. HR LeaderSystems and Process Assurance,PricewaterhouseCoopers "If you ever had any doubt that generational differences have animpact on go-to-market strategies, Marston's book, Motivating the'What's In It For Me?' Workforce, provides thought-provokingrealities you need to consider. This is a must-read . . . At ourSales Leadership Conference, Marston gave our top sales managersactionable ideas on how to gain better understanding of what drivestoday's workforce to take direct action and deliver exceptionalresults." --Damian A. Thomas, General ManagerCorporate Sales Leader, GeneralElectric Company

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Acknowledgments

Introduction

There Are Solutions

Chapter 1 - Peter Pan in the Workforce

Time-Honored Traditions

Generational Repetition

Time Is of the Essence

The Technology Gap

Loyalty

Who Is That Man in the Gray Flannel Suit?

Turmoil in the Workplace

In Search of Pixie Dust

Chapter 2 - The Boomers and Matures

We Say We Want a Revolution

The Struggles of Two Generations

Generational Voices

Chapter 3 - Up, Up, and Awaaaaay!

A New Work Ethic

Visible Workers, Visible Rewards

The Counterculture in Command

Newer and Fewer Jobs

The Yoke of Loyalty

Downsized!

Generational Voices

Chapter 4 - Gen X—How They Got Here

How They Grew Up

Stiff Competition

Hours versus Output: Where the Disconnect Begins

Plus . . .

A Question of Values

Feet of Clay

Carpe Diem in the Workplace

Everybody Needs a Hero

Loyalty in the Workplace

Human Resources to the Rescue: Hire the Right Boss

Daddy Bosses

Enter Technology: Generation X’s Great Workplace Equalizer

Youth Leads the Way

Do Gen Xers Think about the Future?

Generational Voices

Chapter 5 - The New Millennials

The American Workplace

In the Workplace

New Millennials—Who Will They Be in the Future?

“I Don’t Want Your Life”

What Happened to Sacrifice?

Case History: Testimony from a Consultant and a Parent of New Millennials

Generational Voice

Chapter 6 - Why Work?

Why Work?

Hierarchical Style: Is It No Longer in Fashion?

Testing, Testing . . .

Is It Quitting Time Yet?

Productivity versus Work Ethic, or “Look Busy!”

Time to Get with the Program

Chapter 7 - If It’s to Be, It’s Up to Me

New Rules

Rule One: Use Clear, Straightforward Language

Rule Two: Don’t Assume Anything

Rule Three: When an Employee Gets It Right, Celebrate!

Chapter 8 - Creating a Twenty-First-Century Workplace

Step One: Identify the Problem Areas

Step Two: Rate Your Success in Hiring the Best Talent

Step Three: Now That You’ve Got Them, Learn How to Keep Your Gen X and New ...

Step Four: Spend Time Getting to Know Your People

Be a Leader, Not a Friend

Does Your Character Count?

Chapter 9 - Practical Plans, Proactive Approaches

Don’t Dictate—Negotiate

The Scale

Step One: Anticipate the Expectations of the Younger Generations

Step Two: Develop a Plan for Personal Growth and Development with Each of Your Employees

Step Three: It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask

Step Four: Reward Your Managers Who Do Their Jobs Well

Human Resources Is Not Always the Answer

What to Do Before Making the Final Offer

Administering Reprimands and Giving Criticism

Chapter 10 - What’s Next?

Conservatism on the Rise

The Health Care Hustle

The Road Ahead for Generation X

Time for the Kids

Gen X Leaders in the Workplace

New Millennials—A Force for the Future

Hero, Artist, Prophet, and Nomad

Once Again, Technology Is the Key

Industry Outlooks

Chapter 11 - “And Now, a Few Words to My Peers”

What I’ve Learned from the Boomers

Live for Today, But Prepare for Tomorrow

Quiz: Generational Voices

Answer Key: Generational Voices Quiz

References and Suggested Readings

About the Author

Index

Advance Praise forMotivating the “What’s in It for Me?”Workforce

“The information on leading and managing generations found in this book is invaluable to all executives today. The ‘war for talent’ has become increasingly fierce. Attracting and retaining this talent is critical to a successful global company. This book is a masterful tool for developing the skills required for managing multigenerational teams. It is a must have for executives at all levels who are responsible for a company’s greatest asset: its people.”

—Phebe Port,Vice President, Global Management Strategies, The Estée Lauder Companies

“Motivating the ‘What’s in It for Me?’ Workforce has given our managers good ideas about leading the different generations in our workplace, particularly the New Millennials whom we at Enterprise are especially reliant upon to grow our business every single day and, ultimately, become our company’s future leaders.”

—Marie Artim, Assistant Vice President, Recruiting, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

“After Cam presented to our management group, approximately 400 individuals, and after we responded to the clamor for his book, it became commonplace to hear people discussing solutions to problems based on generational considerations. There aren’t many people discussions that occur today where we don’t at least consider differences between Baby Boomers, Millennials, and so on. He really changed our way of thinking!”

—Anne Donovan, U.S. Human Resources Leader, Systems and Process Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers

“If you ever had any doubt that generational differences have an impact on go-to-market strategies, Cam Marston’s book, Motivating the “What’s in It for Me?” Workforce, provides thought-provoking realities you need to consider. This is a must-read. At our Sales Leadership Conference, Cam gave our top sales managers actionable ideas on how to gain better understanding for what drives today’s workforce to take direct action and deliver exceptional results.”

—Damian A. Thomas, General Manager, Corporate Sales Leader, General Electric Company

“Rich in insights. Far and away the most persuasive account of how to cope with the huge generational divide.”

—Amin Rajan, CEO, Centre for Research in Employment and Technology in Europe (CREATE), Pan-European Research Consultancy, Kent, UK

“For anyone who is interested in a positive future for his or her company or organization, this book is a must-read. Marston has helped my staff and me understand our generational differences and how to make those differences work for us, not against us.”

—Larry Naake, Executive Director, National Association of Counties (NACo), Washington, D. C.

“Understanding generational differences is changing the way we look at the world of work. Marston’s insight puts him at the forefront of this thinking.”

—David Skipsey, Managing Director, Change Mentors, Ltd., Newcastle, UK

“This thought-provoking book is a must-read for today’s manager concerned with understanding and motivating colleagues. Marston brings passion and relevance to the subject. The research is faultless, the analysis compelling, and the message clear.”

—Stephen Cowell, CEO,The Longhirst Group, Newcastle, UK

Copyright © 2007 by Cam Marston. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Marston, Cam.

Motivating the “what’s in it for me?” workforce : manage across the generational divide and increase profits / Cam Marston.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-12414-7 (cloth)

1. Employee motivation—United States. 2. Intergenerational relations—United States. 3. Intergenerational communication—United States. 4. Supervision of employees. I. Title.

HF5549.5.M63M365 2007

658.3’14—dc22

2006036636

To my wife, Lisa,my daughter, Reiney,and my son, Spencer

In case you’re worried about what’s going to become of the younger generation, it’s going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation.

—Roger Allen

Remember the generational battles 20 years ago? Remember all the screaming at the dinner table about haircuts, getting jobs, and the American dream? Well, our parents won. They’re out living the American dream on some damned golf course in Vero Beach, and we’re stuck with the jobs and haircuts.

—P. J. O’Rourke

The reason people blame things on previous generations is that there’s only one other choice.

—Doug Larson

Acknowledgments

I am deeply indebted to many people whose support and assistance were noteworthy in the writing of this book.

Many, many thanks to:

Ty Boyd, Marolyn Wright, Rainey Foster, and Pat Casey for their time, ideas, encouragement, and suggestions throughout my career.

Jeanie Welch, the Business Librarian in the Reference Services Department at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, who performed invaluable research for me and who never came up empty-handed.

The men and women I interviewed for the book, who graciously shared their experiences in the workplace with me.

My brothers, Loyd and Dale, who unwittingly were the perfect case studies and generous critics of their own managers’ styles.

My father, a wise, generous, and good man. I truly hope the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

My mother, who has been my role model and a constant source of encouragement in so many aspects of my life, especially for this book.

Larry Chilnick, who began this project with me.

Suzanne Oaks, who took a jumbled mess and created a book out of it.

And finally, Judy Knipe, who refined the manuscript and became the highlight of this entire book-writing experience.

Introduction

It’s Not Your Father’s Workplace Anymore

Everyone who has spent time in any workplace over the past 25 years knows that it’s not like it used to be. Members of the Baby Boomer generation remember that in the post-World War II era, the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, there were business leaders who looked forward with burning vision. But they also knew how to look back, learn from their mistakes, and apply those lessons. Now it’s the Baby Boomers who are the leaders. They, too, work hard, and many are rewarded with promotions and greater responsibilities.

But the workplace has changed, and fulfilling those responsibilities today is much tougher and more frustrating than it was for the immediate postwar generation. It’s a given that no workplace is perfect and there are always job-related issues. But two new younger generations of employees, called Generation X (Gen X) and the New Millennials, have changed the workplace. These employees, many of them the same age as the Boomers’ children, don’t necessarily follow the traditional styles and patterns of workplace behavior. The common wisdom among Boomers is, “They aren’t really interested in the future, and their vision is limited to the here and now. They don’t have the seasoning or burning ambition to even want to look forward or back to learn.”

On the one hand, many Boomer managers believe the concept of a work ethic will die with them; on the other, many young employees view the Boomers as dinosaurs, thanks to their limited technological ability and a shift in the demographics of the workplace itself.

Is the generational divide really that sharp and divisive? Not always—but in many companies generational issues are a common and continuing problem that can have an all-encompassing organizational impact and can lead to employee unhappiness and, ultimately, to profit loss.

There Are Solutions

For the past eight years, I’ve been a lecturer and consultant for a broad range of domestic and international companies. My clients have ranged from small family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 multinational corporations. They’ve been headquartered both in the United States and abroad. And the audiences range from a handful of senior, top executives who are strategizing about future employee trends to groups of midlevel managers who work on a day-to-day basis with employees of all ages. I spend days preparing my research and a day on-site helping clients develop and implement new strategies—the solutions they need to get their teams to function more fluidly. All struggle with the challenges of bridging the gap between generations. Most of the company managers are Baby Boomers, while a large percentage of the workforce is now, and will increasingly be, Gen Xers and Millennials.

In the course of my work I have interviewed countless employees of every generation, and I understand the problems, values, and belief systems of each distinct generation. I know what motivates them and how they view themselves, their community, their families—and their workplaces. Their experiences in the trenches led to the insights that helped me create the solutions presented in this book—solutions that can be implemented in workplaces of every type, shape, and size.

I wrote Motivating the “What’s in It for Me?” Workforce because I believe there is a critical need for a practical, solution-oriented reference that businesses can use to improve employee relations in the multigenerational workplace and at the same time increase profits. This book will help you discover:

• How the different viewpoints of the each generation affect the workplace.

• The basic survival skills the Boomer manager must have to cope with Gen Xers and Millennials.

• How a realistic plan with workplace-tested, concrete steps for solving the problems that may arise from generational differences can give you the freedom to explore and unlock the full potential of your organization.

Cam Marston

Charlotte, North CarolinaMay 2007

1

Peter Pan in the Workforce

Pixie Dust, Forever Young, and “What Success Means to Me”

“I won’t grow up / I don’t want to wear a tie / And a serious expression / In the middle of July.” So sang Peter Pan and the lost boys in Disney’s version of the classic story.Yet to many business leaders, this childhood fantasy is being played out daily among young employees nationwide. They are an entire generation (actually two) that doesn’t want to grow up. Or so it seems.

The year 2005 marked the hundredth anniversary of Sir James Barrie’s Peter Pan. It is a fitting time to look at the role of the younger generations—specifically Generation X and the New Millennials—who today combine to make up half of the workforce, and whose values and beliefs seem to mirror those of the boy who refused to grow up. Now more than ever, Americans born since roughly 1965 do not want to follow in the footsteps of their elders. And while their managers blame it on immaturity, the reality seems to lie more in perspective. These generations do want to grow up; they just don’t want to grow up to be like the generations before them.

Time-Honored Traditions

Our nation today lives in the world created by a generation known collectively as the Matures. Born prior to 1945, they total approximately 30 million people. Heavily influenced by the military, the Mature generation created a workplace reflecting that hierarchy with a clear chain of command. Promotions, bonuses, and raises were granted when an employee (almost always a male) proved himself ready for the next level. Employees worked hard to achieve higher ranks. All employees shared a similar definition of success: climbing the company ladder and earning the rewards that came with greater responsibility. The successive job titles and associated perks were admired and envied by employees on their way up and relished by those already at the top.

This model is still the basis for a large part of today’s workforce. The Baby Boomers, born between 1945 and 1964, now occupy the higher rungs of company ladders and make up 45 percent of today’s workers. They are in control, but they don’t always feel like it. Boomers’ language of “success” and their work ethic are very similar to those of the Matures. However, Matures now make up a mere 5 percent of the workforce. The other 50 percent—Gen Xers and the New Millennials—present a challenge to Boomer managers. (See Figure 1.1.) These younger workers are not interested in the time-honored traditions. They are unconcerned about the way things have always been done. They don’t care how their managers got where they are. They are focused, often single-mindedly, on what it will take to get where they want to go.

Each generation assumes that the succeeding generation will experience the same desires, have the same values, and appreciate and cherish the same things, in an unchanging continuum.

This hope lives on in the face of reality. I’ve experienced it myself with my own father, who said to me recently, “One of these days you’ll realize that music gets no better than Hank Williams.” What was happening? He assumed (perhaps presumed) that one of these days I’d come around to his type of music, that my tastes would mirror his, that I’d finally “get it.”

FIGURE 1.1Today’s Workplace Population by Birth Years

Generational Repetition

Since World War II, each generation has assumed two things about the younger generations entering the workplace:

1. Senior generations assume that the younger generations will measure success the same way they themselves have.

2. Senior generations also believe that younger workers should pay their dues, following the same paths to achieve the same levels of success.

These assumptions essentially create and define the company ladder as we know it, a system that has been intact for decades in workplaces across the industrialized world. It is the apprentice-to-master relationship that has been in existence within various crafts and trades since society began. But what happens when a generation enters the workforce, learns how the senior generations measure success, and decides that it disagrees with that definition? Is this where we are today?

Gen Xers and New Millennials essentially have said to their managers—the Matures and especially the Boomers—“We don’t share your definition of success. We define success differently and will pursue other rewards for our work.” This change in values is having a profound impact on the work environment and on the time-honored management structure Boomers have come to rely on. The company ladder, which for generations has been the source of employee motivation, becomes irrelevant. The younger generations view their predecessors’ experience as a warning, not a road map. And the traditional rules of management, motivation, and reward fly out the window.

Can this be the essence of the change going on in the workplace today? Can it be as simple, and as complicated, as a change in philosophy about the reason for working? Maybe. Time will prove this theory right or wrong. But many employers say that this is precisely what they’re seeing. They describe the tremendous repercussions this change in values and principles is having on management’s mode of operations—on the way executives recruit, communicate with, manage, motivate, and retain employees in order to remain competitive in the marketplace.

The newly minted attitudes and aspirations that characterize Gen X and New Millennial workers and have revolutionized the workplace are:

• A work ethic that no longer mandates a 10-hour workday.

• An easy competence in using existing and new technologies and a facility in mastering the even newer ones that appear, seemingly overnight.

• Tenuous, if not nonexistent, loyalty to any organization.

• Changed priorities for lifetime goals that can be achieved and affected by employment.

The most significant changes in perspective are in the ways older and younger generations think about time, technology, and loyalty.

Time Is of the Essence

Time has always been a currency. But different generations value this currency in different ways. For Boomers, time has always been something to invest in the future. Boomers are working hard and putting in their time (an average 55 hours a week), and they count on a reward of some sort for their effort. Has that payout come as expected? According to the Boomers themselves, mostly not.

Gen Xers and the New Millennials regard time as something they want to control, just like their money. In fact, to them, time has an equal value to money. Many employers are coming to realize that a satisfactory trade-off, when they can’t pay their younger employees more money, is to give them more time off.

Time is indeed a currency, and the younger generations are not willing to invest it in a career or a job with uncertain dividends. And in this period of job insecurity, layoffs, and changing industry, they understand that any employment is potentially unstable.

The Technology Gap

Technology is universally recognized as critical to the success of almost any business, large or small. Smaller companies usually hire consultants or one or two employees to research, purchase, and set up new technologies to speed up work and enhance the bottom line for that particular business. In larger companies, whole departments are dedicated to the acquisition of technologies and to teaching other employees the most efficient ways to use them. Such people, the so-called techies, are usually Gen Xers and New Millennials.

Here’s the problem: Matures and Boomers have grown wise over a lifetime spent in the workplace—they’re looking at the larger picture. But technology is part of the larger picture, and confronted by even the most basic new technology, to say nothing of continuous upgrades and changes in software, and, not least, the new language developed for modern technology (techspeak), the older generations feel uneasy, threatened, and incompetent.

Meanwhile, Gen Xers and New Millennials eagerly embrace technology in its many permutations and combinations. It’s not because they are more intelligent; they are simply unafraid of technology. After all, they began using computers in preschool, so to them technology has always existed. Just like indoor plumbing, electricity, and remote controls—it is a standard element of their world.

When young, technologically adept employees enter a workplace that is largely staffed by senior employees who are confused by and fearful of technology, a genuine role reversal takes place—quite a rare occurrence in our civilized world.Youth is the master, bypassing the apprentice stage altogether. Conceivably, this is one reason the dot-com bubble burst: It was created by a generation that had the technological smarts but lacked the benefits of wisdom that come from experience. The traditional workplace can become vulnerable to this scenario if the wisdom of experience doesn’t exert itself. The technology gap can and must be bridged, not only for the sake of employees but for the bottom line as well.

Loyalty

Generation X and the New Millennials have been given ample reason to question authority, not bow to it. They are skeptical of advertising and media hype; they do not automatically believe their leaders tell the truth. Repeatedly, presidents, military officials, large and small companies, and even religious institutions are caught in lies. The result is that today’s younger generations almost automatically question the motives and truthfulness of institutions across the board. Ironically, the parents and leaders who established these new ground rules of distrust are the same Baby Boomers who are managing, and in conflict with, the fruits of their labors—their children.

Gen Xers and Millennials have lost their faith in institutions, both public and private, and instead have invested their loyalty and trust in individuals. Younger workers want to work for the right boss, and if they can’t, they’ll change jobs. The Boomers and Matures didn’t have that luxury. For them, working for a disagreeable person was just part of the job description, and if you liked your boss, it was an unexpected bonus. But not liking him certainly wasn’t sufficient reason to quit. For Gen Xers and New Millennials it is.

In fact, in a reversal of all that was previously held to be true and good, company loyalty is out the window, and loyalty to an individual is now the number one reason Xers and New Millennials stay at a job, especially during the first three tenuous years of employment. Dissatisfaction with the boss is the number one reason they quit. With this upheaval in values younger Americans are creating new priorities and business practices for our nation.

In the past 40 years, two other changes of enormous importance have occurred in the American workplace, one societal, the other market-driven.

Who Is That Man in the Gray Flannel Suit?

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the changes that were transforming American society as a whole also began to have a liberating effect on the workplace. In 1965, most employees arriving at work each morning automatically set aside their individual preferences as they crossed the threshold. An almost military conformity characterized the way the workplace operated and the way employees behaved there.

The code of behavior was embodied in numerous, mostly unspoken, rules—a silent contract—about everything from the exact time employees began the workday to what clothing was appropriate for the job. By conforming to these rules, an employee became a so-called company man.

In the 1970s, the Boomers became a much larger population in the workforce, and the cultural and political revolution they had initiated in the 1960s began to infiltrate offices across the country. Younger workers—the Boomers—altered their uniforms a bit, veering slightly from traditional company dress codes, and they brought personal possessions into workplaces to reflect their individuality. When the dot-com boom began in the mid-to-late 1990s, individual expression in the workplace had reached a peak. Young employees wore whatever they wanted to work and even brought their pets to the office with them. Companies competed for the best talent by emphasizing relaxed dress codes and encouraging employees to decorate their work spaces in ways that would inspire them to perform.

Today, although regulations about dress have tightened somewhat and free expression of style and preferences has also been tamped down, companies usually permit and, sometimes, encourage individualism. Workplaces, whether they are cubicles in a call center, executive corner offices, or nurses’ stations, display their inhabitants’ family, pets, hobbies, and other enthusiasms in the form of photos, screen savers, and knickknacks. Expressions of employees’ tastes and preferences are alive and well in the workplace. That’s the good news.

Turmoil in the Workplace

The second sweeping change that has transformed the workplace is not so beneficial. This change does not arise from rigid and restrictive work codes, or from misunderstandings and conflict between and among the generations. Instead, it reflects market conditions. From CEOs to service staff, from clerical workers to midlevel managers, from techies to line people, today’s workplace is different from that of a decade or so ago. For many workers, whatever their jobs, the workplace seems to be in constant turmoil. For example:

• One problem is that revolving-door management is endemic. An upper-level manager in a successful international company told me he had had three presidents and two new direct bosses in one year.

• In another typical story, a manager told me that her company’s very popular CEO was promoted to a newly acquired division and never replaced. The management team limped along for 11 months with the COO in charge. He, in turn, rarely left his office and canceled every management meeting the day before it was scheduled, until the division was finally disbanded and broken up, like the Soviet Union, into warring states. The COO kept his job, but the rest of the team did not.

These two examples speak to the overwhelming sense of job insecurity that has become a part of our workplace culture during the past 30 years.

Unemployment rates can be a good indicator of the health of the economy, but they don’t really measure job security. In fact, there is no known measurement of job security, although there is an unofficial measurement—the number of mergers and acquisitions that have occurred in a given period.

Since 1998, there have been more than 45,000 mergers and acquisitions in which the transactions were valued at $5 million or more. Each of these actions has had ripple effects. Companies merge, and very often workers are let go when their jobs become redundant. The executives I’ve talked with don’t simply blame poor upper management or Enron-style corruption, which are unusual and far outside the norm. These leaders see a consistent corporate culture that has not evolved to meet the new demands of the workplace and employees today.

In Search of Pixie Dust

In the Barrie play, Peter Pan sprinkled pixie dust over the children so they could fly with him to Neverland. There, they would remain young forever, free from grown-up rules and responsibilities. There is no pixie dust. All of us understand that, even Gen Xers and New Millennials. But these two generations do want to live their youthful years, as much as possible, on their own terms, following their individual paths to their personal concepts of success.

So what will it take to harness the skills of a multigenerational workforce? What are today’s requirements for leading young people who see Baby Boomers as outdated and out of touch? It will take:

• A new understanding of what employees want from their jobs, their bosses, and their workplace experience.

• A new understanding of loyalty—how the word has changed, why it changed, and why pay, benefits, and opportunities for promotion are not nearly as important in creating job loyalty as they used to be.

• A new definition of “self ”—that young employees today define themselves by who they are outside the job, not by what they do for a living, which is a departure from senior generations.

• A new behavior from leaders in the workplace who must realize that younger generations enter the workplace seeking self-fulfillment from the get-go and aren’t interested in paying their dues for an unknown period of time.

• A new comprehension that youth today remain in their youth much longer than ever before, being able to live at home longer, stay in school longer, get married later, and have children later, which dramatically affects their commitment to their workplace.

Because these younger generations are already approximately 50 percent of the nation’s employees, right now the condition of the workforce landscape is still uncertain. But rest assured that this is not the first time one (usually older) generation has looked upon another and been concerned for the future. Aristotle complained about the ethics and behaviors of the younger generations. Peter Pan challenged his elders at the turn of the twentieth century. Society has been here before. We’ll be here again.

And, ultimately, it will all work out. But one thing is certain: The changes in business outlook and policies that today’s younger generations are experiencing are real and will continue to affect us all. As the manager of a small firm, a midlevel vice president of a local corporation, or an executive of a large company, you are concerned about your ability to attract and keep employees—some of whom are also your potential customers, of course.

This is the right time for another change in the way businesses are run and how they function. The generational divide that now separates the Boomers from Gen Xers and Millennials may look unbridgeable. On one side are the Boomers, an entrenched group with 30 years of workplace experience—often with only one or two companies. They are used to doing everything their way.

On the other side of the divide is an increasingly large, skittish group of employees who have entered the workplace with college diplomas, superior technical skills, a different life strategy from that of their predecessors, and little regard for the establishment.

The gap can be bridged. To avoid havoc and to improve your bottom line, you can and must learn to make the adjustments recommended in this book. These changes are necessary if you are to get the most from—and give the most to—this vast new population of employees.

There is no magic pixie dust that will make these generations “grow up and come to their senses.” Anyone waiting for that ought to grab a chair and get really comfortable. Yes, some generational differences reflect the desire and will of each new generation to change the world, at least its surface styles and attitudes. However, other differences speak to the heart of these generations’ personal goals. The challenge is to determine which differences are superficial and which are deeply held convictions—and to reconcile those convictions with the traditional workforce hierarchy model. In the end, there is no Neverland to escape to; we must all make an effort to understand each generation and determine the best way to define success in the current workforce environment.

2

The Boomers and Matures

There They Go. Wait, Maybe Not!

Conventional wisdom goes that most retirees want to settle in a nice retirement community, play golf, do some volunteer work, and putter around the garden. Most of the Matures are retiring, and a lot of them actually pursue just such a relaxed lifestyle. But there are also a great many older workers who choose to remain in their jobs. Some are executives who have reached upper management positions and are unwilling to give up the good salaries, benefits, recognition, and prestige that go along with executive life. They may have enough money to carry them through the rest of their lives, but they cannot imagine what they will do without a job as an anchor. They fear retirement as the great unknown.

Others, when forced to retire, choose to enter new fields because they still need a steady income. They start consulting businesses, or become teachers or administrators; they take courses to upgrade their technical skills. Their lifetime guarantee has expired too soon. The money for retirement has not been enough for them to live on; unexpected health problems linked to a prolonged life span may arise that are not adequately covered by private insurance or Medicare.

Even so, most employees in any business do expect to retire at some point. But early retirement or an arbitrary cutoff age for older workers can produce a rarely recognized economic effect on the businesses they leave. When these employees leave their jobs, they no longer can pass along their experience and management skills to newer workers, and a company’s resources may be weakened.

The Matures, known popularly as the Greatest Generation, were born before 1945. They witnessed the dawn of the nuclear age. They fought in World War II and Korea. They built the United States into the superpower it is today. Driven by the need to win the Cold War and escape The Bomb, the Matures became more successful than any previous generation of Americans.

The Matures also spearheaded development of the technology that Boomers later improved to open up even greater opportunities for those entering the workplace. (And those newer employees themselves are upgrading the technology to the point where the Boomers are having problems keeping up.)

WeSayWe Want a Revolution

Matures regarded Boomers as the generation to whom they could eventually turn over the reins, the generation that would ensure continuity and would maintain flourishing businesses. That is not exactly the way it turned out.

Yes, the Boomers wanted that inheritance—the titles, the equity, and the security that their parents’ generation had fought for. For decades, it looked as if this scenario would play out well. However, the story has taken an unexpected turn.

The Baby Boomers brought something totally new with them when they began arriving in the workplace. The United States was in turmoil, the Vietnam War was at its height, and dissension and protest were common at college campuses and elsewhere across the country. Minority groups were demanding, and beginning to achieve, equal opportunity.

The counterculture was a happening thing, baby, and it affected everyone, whatever their values. Some of the Boomers’ mantras were: “Make love, not war,” “Don’t trust anyone over 30,” and “Hell no, we won’t go.” No one had seen anything like it—a whole generation that cherished nonconformity and declared themselves free to pursue it, in opposition to the so-called silent generation of the 1950s, both at home and in the workplace.

The Boomers, however, despite their shaggy looks and laid-back style, were very well educated and conscious of their goals. It was good news for the economy that this very large generation of workers, however nonconformist, was also highly motivated toward success. Many of them had advanced degrees and technical training, and they were eager to prove themselves in the workplace.

How did these so-called Baby Boomers view their bosses? Even if you hadn’t marched on Washington or protested the Vietnam War, you thought these “suits” were still the establishment because they were over 30. They were not to be trusted. They were the generation who had been buttoned down at work since the 1950s. The only rebels in their crowd were on TV—Maynard G. Krebbs and Dobie Gillis!

As the war in Vietnam wound down, profound social changes were integrated into our lives—the early stirrings of feminism, minority quotas, more relaxed dress codes, and the great surge in technological applications, to mention only a few. The workforce evolved, too. Professional, highly educated working mothers, for example, became more common, which changed the workplace forever. Sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll lost their luster in the 1980s, or as soon as the Baby Boomers realized that babies required diapers and houses required mortgage payments. They were loath to admit it, but many felt they were selling out their ideals. The conflict Boomers are now experiencing in the workplace is that when they see the next generations of workers—Gen Xers and New Millennials—they don’t see anyone that vaguely resembles who they were in their own youth when they entered the workforce. But they do see who they, themselves, have become every morning when they look in the mirror.

In 1946, 2.8 million children were born, and about 20 years later this population entered the workforce. In 1947, 3.8 million children were born—1 million more than the previous year. In 1955, 4.3 million children were born, and the number remained at about this level for each of the next five years. This surging population became the workforce from which the Matures selected their staffs.

The Big Chill