Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK Credit: ESB Professional (Shutterstock) 4 generations, 4 approaches to work Challenges, benefits to maintaining multigenerational workforce BY MARCEL VANDER WIER As employees continue to forego retirement to work longer, employ- ers are dealing with a variety of challenges and benefits resulting from multiple generations and perspectives in the workplace. While labelling workers on age alone isn't recommended, it does serve as a useful macro lens when analyzing employer-employee re- lationships, according to Giselle Kovary, president and co-found- er of n-gen People Performance, a workforce consultant group in Toronto. Understanding general tenden- cies of specific generations allows employers to minimize conflict and drive productivity, she said at a recent Strategic Capability Net- work event in Toronto. Four unique generations Today's workforce consists of tra- ditionalists, baby boomers, gen- eration Xers and millennials, said Kovary. Traditionalists are the smallest segment, made up of senior work- ers, ages 71 to 94 (born between 1922 and 1945). ey are legacy builders who continue to hold leadership positions and shape organizational cultures, she said. is group totals just over one per cent of the workforce. Baby boomers, meanwhile, are a vast group of workers, ages 52 to 70 (born between 1946 and 1964), who have been the "movers and shakers of our society." ey represent the bulk of the current labour force, she said. is group came of age in a time when work was competitive, and societal in- terest was shifting to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Gen X consists of 36- to 51-year-olds (born between 1965 and 1980) whose primary goal is to maintain independence in a "scarier" world. Global epidemics, corporate downsizing and broken families were often part of their maturation into adulthood, she said. As a result, many gen-Xers tend to be skeptical of managerial motives, choosing instead to work for themselves to combat the fear of being laid off. Finally, millennials — previ- ously known as generation Y — are workers ages 16 to 35 (born between 1981 and 2000) with the primary goal of finding meaning- ful work. is group is known as tech-savvy multitaskers but is of- ten viewed by older generations as lazy, entitled job-hoppers, said Kovary. "e myth is everyone wants to work from home," she said of millennials. "at's not true. But they want to be able to have a choice about where and when they work. ey want to be able to leverage the technology in the best way in order to have flexible work arrangements." In the coming years, a fifth gen- eration (Z) will join the workforce with predicted character traits of fiscal conservatism, greater trans- parency expectations, a need for constant stimulation and insis- tence on personalization. "It's not tech-savvy anymore, it's tech-integrated," said Kovary. "is integration of technology is obviously not going away, but we have to make sure we set up lead- ers and organizations for success on how we leverage that." Different behaviour sets Each generation has emotional ties to the time when they came of age, affecting everything from worldview to work style, she said. And each generation has a typi- cal behaviour set, said Kovary. For instance, when it comes to organi- zational relationships, all genera- tions exude loyalty, albeit in differ- ent ways. Traditionalists are loyal to the organization, baby boomers to the team, gen-Xers to specific managers and millennials to their colleagues. Such differentiation isn't always effective as, for instance, a millen- nial may have work tendencies that align with a traditionalist nature. But labelling by genera- tional group is effective in broad strokes, and workers who straddle two generations can be key ingre- dients to an organizational staff, she said. In terms of relationships with organizational authority and work styles, traditionalists typically re- spect management and expect to be told what to do, while baby boomers challenge authority with a desire to show what they can do — flattening hierarchy in the process. Gen-Xers are generally unim- pressed with authority and want management to reveal what they can do for them, and millennials respect competent authority while demanding instant feedback. What results is a great differ- ence of opinion in discussions around issues such as work flex- ibility, with traditionalists wanting to keep an eye on their staff and millennials pointing to their skills and technological capabilities in a plea for better work-life balance. Clashes occur when millen- nials demand respect and "fun" tasks on their first day of work, said Kovary. "We can recognize these dif- ferences, but I highlight them not because we are that different," she said. "When we don't understand somebody's work style, we make an assumption about their work ethic." Because of these marked dif- ferences, human resources prac- titioners need to provide trans- parency, constant feedback and objective criteria on performance reviews, said Kovary. New workplace realities Workplace cultures often align to one of these four generational attitudes, while individual team climates may differ, she said. HR professionals need to both ensure employees remain en- gaged rationally and emotionally, "When we don't understand somebody's work style, we make an assumption about their work ethic." SOLICIT > pg. 12

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