 For the first time in US history, at least four generations are in the workplace. Because each generation has its own culture and life experiences, conflicts and misunderstanding become more frequent. Improved communication between generations is a must for a productive workforce, and understanding an individuals generational tendencies is the first step in solving the challenges.
The generations are commonly separated into four groups. They are called different names and the range of years associated with each generation varies a bit depending on which expert is being referenced, but all agree the differences between them are huge. Basically, they are the GI Generation born before WWII, the Baby Boomers (Boomers) born after 1945 and before 1965, Generation X (Gen X) from 1965 to 1984 and the Generation Y (Gen Y) born from 1984 to the present.
Presently, about 95% of all GI Generation is already retired, while Boomers are delaying retirement for one reason or another. Gen X is climbing the corporate ladder while the Gen Yers are just entering the workforce. These generational differences are creating hiring and retention issues. Both lead to breakdowns in continuity, experience transfer and personnel loyalty, all critical components to productivity and efficiency.
 Gen X and Gen Y make up over 50% of the workforce, while Boomers make up 41% and hold the majority of the leadership and management positions. The US workforce is growing older, over thirty five million workers are over the age of 54 and 2.7 million are between age 65 and 69. Gen X has thirty-nine million fewer people than the Boomers. There simply arent enough people in Gen X to replace all the Boomers. Add in the Gen X tendency to jump from job to job, and workforce planning becomes a nightmare that outsourcing cannot begin to solve.
In 2006, for every worker entering the workforce, there will be two leaving. Those leaving are experienced leaders, those entering typically have no experience. The demand for bright and talented young leaders among the Gen Xers is creating an immediate need to bridge the gaps between the generations and assure corporations that the people they have know how to lead the complex workforce they depend upon.
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Some questions to consider:
- As the number of experienced executives and managers leave the workforce what are you doing to identify their replacements?
- How will you prepare new leaders to meet the challenges generational diversity is creating?
- What tools are you using to quantify and qualify the size of the challenge?
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Competition for the older, more experienced decision makers with premium knowledge will intensify and turn into a recruiting war that is already manifesting in healthcare and engineering fields, to name two. Companies are forced to rely on younger and younger staff to develop faster, acquire leadership skills and take on important positions without adequate seasoning.
While there is a lot of press about the Multigenerational Workforce and the experts are pointing out the issues and offering workshops to raise awareness, until now there has been a lack of practical useable tools to diagnose, quantify and address the problem.
A company must be able to identify which group employees fit into, not by birth date, but by alignment to a generation. Birth date is an indicator, but in one group of director level Gen X managers tested, all of them aligned with Boomers not Gen X. Their abilities to relate to the tendencies of their own generation were causing a variety of retention and productivity issues. They didnt know how to motivate typical Gen Xers because they didnt understand their own age group. They couldnt see that their corporations were selecting Boomer personalities for management and creating even greater gaps in the workforce.
A Boomer who fits in well with the young tech savvy Gen Xers during the Dot.com era may look like a seasoned professional but not fit in with traditional Boomer management. They may seem lazy because they dont want to work 60 hours a week and flighty because they want new challenges instead of repeating past successes.
Each person has tendencies, experiences and communication skills that struggle with the other generations. Your organization may need a VP of Development. Who they manage and how well they understand the generational differences may be more important to their success than their other areas of expertise. Are you hiring for knowledge in the field only? Does the successful candidate meet the generational test with your current and future client base as well as the team you want them to lead?
How do you know?
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The Generational Profile is an assessment system that determines an employees generational tendencies and conflicts with their own and other generations. The Generational Profile shows close alignments, splits in generational tendencies and those tendencies that may be in direct conflict with the corporate goals.
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PGP was developed to assist companies with the following multigenerational workforce questions:
- With what generation do your employees align?
- How well do they relate to their own peers?
- With what generation are they most comfortable?
- With what generation will they conflict?
- What are their individual tendencies?
- Are your hiring practices selecting against generational types necessary to relate to your clients?
- Are you promoting people compatible with piers and subordinates?
- Are you hiring for the future or the past?
- Are you pinpointing potential management strengths and weaknesses?
- How critical is your need for appropriate generation training and conflict resolution?
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The Generational Profile can be taken online by registering via this website. It can be given to current employees, new hires or potential employees and used as a development tool, a screening tool, or to aid in Employee Relations management. All records are kept confidential and a complete report details all generational strengths and weaknesses. Reports can be exported to Excel.
If your organization has recognized the critical multigenerational workforce challenges, then PGP is the solution for analyzing and managing these challenges. If you have not identified the generational differences in your organization, PGP will quantify and qualify employee differences and provide a basis for solving the needs of the future.
For more information on the profile, our services or pricing, please contact us at 817.263.8100 or email us at info@generationalprofile.com or on the web at www.generationalprofile.com.
Resources: Wikipedia.org, MRI Data, American Demographics Magazine, EEOC
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