Personal Nutrition Care & Research Group LLC

Generations: Dealing with Boomers, Gen-X, and Beyond

According to the late author Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), the following rules describe our reactions to technology:

• "Anything that is in the world when you were born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural way the world works."

• "Anything that is invented between the time when you are 15 to 35 is new, revolutionary, and exciting, and you can possibly get a career in it."

• "Anything invented after you are 35 is against the natural order of things."

THE BOOMERS (43 - 60)
Defining events and trends: Prosperity, children in the spotlight, television, suburbia, assassinations, Vietnam, civil rights, the Cold War, women's liberation, and the space race
Core values, derived from those events: Optimism, teamwork, personal gratification, health and wellness, personal growth, youth, work, and involvement
Personality: Driven, soul-searchers, willing to "go the extra mile," and a love-hate relationship with authority

THE X-ERS (22 - 42)
Defining events and trends: Watergate, stagflation, latchkey kids, single parents, MTV, AIDS, computers, Challenger, fall of the Berlin Wall, glasnost, and Wall Street frenzy
Core values, derived from those events: Diversity, thinking globally, balance, techno literacy, fun, informality, self-reliance, and pragmatism
Personality: Risk-takers, skeptical, family-oriented, bosses as colleagues, and focused on the job, not work hours

THE MILLENNIALS (13 - 21)
Defining events and trends: Internet chat, school violence, Oklahoma City bombing, TV talk shows, It Takes A Village, multiculturalism, the girls' movement, the World Trade Center attacks (both 1993 and 2001), the Gulf War, and Iraq
Core values, derived from these events: Confidence, civic duty, achievement, sociability, morality, diversity, and street smarts
Personality: Optimistic, prefer collective action, tenacious

Workplace Supply and Demand Trends

• In the 1990s, the number of younger workers declined by 14 percent.

• The growth rate of the U.S. labor force declined from 2.5 percent per year in 1965 to 0 percent in the late 1990s.

• In the U.S. today, someone turns 50 every 8 seconds (11,000 per day).

• By 2006, 80 million aging baby boomers will total one-third of the nation's population.

• We'll be a "nation of Floridas."

• From 2010 to 2030, the portion of the U.S. population over age 65 will grow four times as much as it did in the last 80 years.

• There will be a 30 percent shortfall of younger workers—a shortfall that will persist for 40 years.

The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) survey of 1,550 human resources and employee relations executives, plus a random sample of 2,600 members of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) found that 65 percent of the respondents see recruiting and hiring as the most critical human resource challenge and trend.

As a consequence of these demographic and workplace trends, the key HR issues of the future will be the following:

• Cost

• Attraction and retention

• Productivity

• Culture

• Innovation

• Competitiveness.

The Top 10 companies in Fortune magazine's list of "America's Most Admired Companies" in 1999 had twice the job applications per opening than the rest of the companies on the Top 100 list combined!

Understanding Generation X

Which of the following statements about divorce is correct?

a. For every marriage in this country, there is about one divorce.
b. In 1990, there were 4.7 divorces for every 1,000 people.
c. In 1990, there were 20.9 divorces for every 1,000 married women over 15 years of age.
d. Forty percent of the women born in the 1970s will divorce.

Answer: All of the above.

Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland first coined "Generation X" to describe his own generation, which has been shaped by the following American family trends:

• They were born during one of the most blatantly anti-child phases in history.

• They were born into an era where their parents had the highest divorce rate in our history, the highest abortion rate, the highest dual income, and the most permissive parenting habits.

• They were viewed as intrusive obstacles to their parents' self-exploration.

• There was terror on their streets.

• They were the most unsupervised generation in our history.

Over the course of their lives, the career trends of Gen X-ers show that they will have 10 to 12 jobs during their lives, spend an average of three years in each job, and have three to four different careers. X-ers created 70 percent of the start-up companies in the 90s.

When Gen X-ers leave a job, it is for one or more of the following reasons: limited career growth, lack of promotion, lack of regular feedback on work performance, low pay, poor treatment from managers, lack of recognition, and stress— especially stress caused by understaffing.

In the workplace, Gen X-ers demonstrate the following differences and attributes compared with previous generations:

• More collaborative and independent

• Less hierarchical

• More altruistic

• Good at dealing with change

• More comfortable with women bosses

• More skilled in management

• More tech-savvy (the first real information-age generation)

• Financially savvy

• Candid in communication

• Self-reliant

• Rule-shy

• Not intimidated by authority

• Creative

• Strive for real balance between work and private life

• Desire workplaces that feel like communities.

Managers have these common complaints about Gen-Xers:

• They ask why.

• They are unwilling to "pay their dues."

• They are unwilling to "go the extra mile."

• They are cynical and have a dim view of the world.

• They are not committed.

• They don't respect authority.

• They are far more interested in things other than their jobs.

• They want things now.

The following factors and characteristics would create the worst work environment for X-ers (and perhaps for many others):

• Fear-based environment

• Poor time management

• Micromanagement

• Politically based culture

• Indirect communication

• Opinions and ideas ignored

• Prevalence of lip service, not action

• Failure to give feedback and regular performance reviews

• Meaningless raises

• Insincere, gratuitous "thank you's"

• People thrown into jobs without training

• Disorganized, cluttered, or dirty workplace

• Not telling the "why's"

• "Because I said so" or similar attitudes

• Unacceptable staff behavior overlooked.

Conversely, the best environment for X-ers would have offer the following:

• Team-based management

• Diversity

• Exploration

• Experimentation

• The idea is the power, not the person

• Team and individual credit

• "Resume building" opportunities.

X-ers' requests are typically along these lines:

• Appreciate us. Show you care.

• Be flexible. Let us have a life beyond work.

• Create a team. Give us the family we never had.

• Develop us. Help us to increase our skills.

• Involve us. Ask our opinions.

• Lighten up. Remember, it's not brain surgery.

• Walk your talk. Practice what you preach.

If X-ers have a common communication credo, it would be:

• We believe in mutual respect, open communication, and the willingness to listen to each other.

• We support the principle that we can respectfully disagree and still meet our goals.

• We are willing to take responsibility for the quality and depth of our communication.

• We do not assume to know the intentions behind each other's words or actions until we ask.

• We avoid using blame to deflect our responsibility for direct communication.

• When we have a disagreement with another team member, we will go immediately to that person to clear the air.

• When we communicate, we will focus on issues, situations, and tasks, not on persons; observable behaviors and events; the here and the now; and specifics rather than generalities.

• If we cannot resolve a conflict ourselves, we will schedule time to meet with our manager or another appropriate third party to help us work through our issues.

• We are willing to forgive one another when our imperfect communication results in misunderstandings or hurt feelings.

• We will hold one another accountable for the above principles and guidelines.