Multigenerational challenge—clash of the 4 titans

The infamous four distinct eras; B, X, Y and Z had too many styles, multi mood swings, egos at work, clashing views, distorting communication and conflicting approaches. Welcome to the multigenerational work floor. For the first time in business history four generations are working together or rather sitting together but feeling apart.

The oldies with the yuppies, the not so oldies with the Gen Zees all are both bemused and amused by each other. Left unaddressed this bemusement can quickly turn to disenchantment. Organizations are still trying to do some team building excursions to blend and mend them, but is that really enough?

According to Pew research center, the baby boomers born in the 1960s still comprise 24% of our office space, while Generation X and Millennials are 33% and 35%, respectively, with Gen Zee 6% but increasing rapidly.

The dreaded generation gap that we normally talk about between parents and children is now fourfold in teams at workplace. The issues of contrasting thought processes and conflicting priorities in family eras is something that is understood and accepted. Parents inevitably feel that their childhoods should be repeated by their kids. Workplaces cannot afford this spillover.

Unfortunately, the same attitude carries to workplaces. Kids on the other hand are not kids of this era and they are not going to behave the way their parents did when they were kids. The millennials and Gen Zee are new kids on the corporate blocks. The corporates are stuttering and struggling in how NOT to handle them.

While business world is hugging and embracing DEI, i.e., diversity, equity and inclusion, it is focusing on gender and more specifically women. While this is good news, the real problem of DEI lies in ageism.

The Age discrimination bias of the “oldies” or the “kiddies” are the real sufferers of exclusion. In workplace issues the “too old to change” and “too young to know” has assumed a clash of the corporate titans proportion.

While the younger ones feel “he is totally out of place”, the oldies try their best to “put these alecs into their place”. This duel of asserting seniority or superiority of the old versus young creates cultural cracks in endeavours to create harmony and synergy.

Let us first look at each of them and more importantly understand where they come from to find a way of leveraging their qualities:

1- Baby Boomers— These are the people who are the senior most in the business world and are either retiring in a few years or are converting to advisory roles. They are from the era where life-long employment in the same company was considered part of ethics and company loyalty.

In many Pakistani companies you will see people who came straight after graduation and worked till retirement. They have immense company knowledge. They are historians who can write and speak about different eras in the company. They have networking that is deep and vast.

Challenge— They find today’s young people especially Gen Zee very fickle, unsettled and unsettling.

Solution— Empathic communication training that makes them understand how the way they are adjusting to their own kids needs to be emulated in workplaces too. Holding reverse, one- on-one feedback sessions with the other generations. Conducting constructive two-way conversations followed up with behaviour modification that is action based are impactful.

2- Generation X— They are the middle child generation. Born in the 70s and 80s they are caught between demanding bosses and questioning subordinates. They have gone through one of the most affluent and stable business periods where globalization was being rooted for.

However, their tech knowledge is limited to email and basic social media forum usages. They are caught in between the desire to create stability yet are tempted to be in the more free speech era of the millennials. They have children who are Gen Zee, seniors who are Generation X and juniors who are millennials.

This actually gives them the opportunity to learn, coordinate and connect more if they have an open-minded approach.

Challenge— They feel pressurized by the two sides above and below them and have a tendency of either becoming aloof or a victim.

Solution— Make them the mediators and connectors. Train them to create bridges between those above and below them. Develop extra assignments for bringing together the representatives of all eras to encourage responsibility and buy in for learning.

3- Millennials— Generation Y or Millennials as they are known have gone through the new century, new blood wave. Some have actually got carried away by this wave. Mostly born in the 90s they are the largest population and are at odds in the office. They resent ritualism and schedules and want more independence and freedom. They feel lifelong employment is for fools and the incompetent.

Their main strength is that they are the first digital natives and were responsible for the digital revolution in the beginning of this century. They are innovative and enterprising. They take on norms and speak up. That is also a double- edged sword. Their speaking up is sometimes considered rude by Baby Boomers and risky by Generation X.

Challenge— Millennials are the least engaged generation in the workforce. Only 30 percent are engaged while 55 percent are not engaged, and 15 percent are actively disengaged. About 21 percent of Millennials report switching jobs within a year, and 62 percent are open to a different opportunity.

Solution— For; the Baby Boomers and Generation X a retraining effort on the new model of engage and grow rather than command and control is preferable. Reverse Mentoring programmes where the seniors and millennials create this buddy programme to increase interaction, cross role playing and a deeper affinity are also useful.

4- Gen Zee— They comprise least numerically with the most impact. The IT industry of Pakistan is full of these youngsters who sit in front of the computer till early hours of the morning and feel lousy and clumsy. They stand out in every way. They are less but more. They are bright but wavering. They are interested but disenchanted. They are seeking a purpose but lost. They are determined but inconsistent.

These are the contradictions that are making them a handful both at home and in the office. Remember they were born when recessions and wars restarted.

Recall that they grew up in the imprisonment of COVID. They have seen politics, economies and climate stumble and fall. They literally have the world at their finger tips( Chat GP). They are more comfortable with artificial intelligence than human intelligence.

Challenge— The biggest challenge is their instability and inconsistency. They want to be heard. They want work life balance. They want independence yet do not have the experience and skills to be given their desired autonomy.

Solution— They are big on DEI so make them aware that DEI is not just about women inclusion but inclusion of other ages too. Ageism is a bigger bias than women. With work at home becoming a norm, companies can create timing and location flexibility for them.

Most importantly, the HR departments need to have a mental wellbeing cell as this generation has gone through traumas never experienced before.

The ability to convert workplaces into homeplaces should be as important as vice versa. The family group where heads are old fashioned but wise and where youth are undisciplined but innovative needs to be woven into work teams.

Organisations need to develop Team family units rewrite Job descriptions of the elders and the youngsters to create trust bonds. Leveraging such a treasure of wisdom, knowledge, experience, talent and innovation could transform organizational ability and capability, extraordinarily.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024