Bridging the generation gap

The keynote speaker from AARP had just finished her presentation when John Egnar took the podium.

The human-resources expert and father of six — two of whom work with him — was about to kick off a panel discussion on how so-called Silent Generation folks, baby boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials can start getting along better.

Because apparently, when rubbing elbows at work, the four generations tend to go a bit rough on one another.

And with 70 percent of boomers telling AARP they won't retire at age 65, and oodles of their kids now sidling up against them in cubicles, the Freudian factionalism is keeping human-resources managers up at night, the AARP speaker said.

Egnar hoped the panel would get through the thorny issues fearlessly.

“We're looking for some disagreement at times,” Egnar said.

The panel consisted of: Deborah Russell, 47, director of work-force issues at the 50-and-older advocacy group AARP; Marjorie Stein, 59, director of employee relations, CIGNA; Claire Simmers, 59, professor of management at St. Joseph's University; and the only non-boomer, David Marks, 27, financial analyst at Campbell Soup Co.

And the audience?

“We can see that boomers dominate the room,” AARP's Russell pointed out after calling for a generational show of hands.

So it came as no surprise that most of the conversation dealt with how boomers — people born from 1946 through 1964 — and even-older Silent Generation workers don't understand young people.

Russell said her own 70-year-old father, a career diplomat, bristles when he thinks about Gen Xers (born 1965 through 1980). He perceives them as “lazy” and lacking in commitment, she said.

It's as if people like Russell's dad never got the memo: Younger people grow up, and they get pretty good at their work, too.

Russell said she tells her father: “These are midcareer workers!”

The four generations, she said, have different career outlooks.

Silent Generation: Depression babies. Care about the career ladder and respect.

Boomers: Post-World War II babies. Care about status, climbing the career ladder.

Gen Xers: Latchkey kids. Don't care about climbing the career ladder. Do care about getting results.

Millennials: Boomers' kids now entering the work orce. Want job stability, creativity, teamwork.

“I think boomers probably coined more phrases and company titles than any other generation,” Russell said.

They need to feel recognized, she said.

But titles also typically bring cash and salary boosts. That Xers and Millennials don't want this is hard to swallow. An Xer on the panel might have made that clear.

“I would have liked to have seen a little more diverse representation on the panel,” Marks said.

Indeed, generational chafing at Campbell, primarily between Millennials and boomers, led Marks to help form the Bridge Network at the company. The group organizes events at which employees of all ages try to shed threatening assumptions such as:

“Not every Millennial wants to be the CEO in three years, and not every boomer is not good with technology,” Marks told the audience.

Generally, panel members blamed the discord on differing communication styles. A 49-year-old baby boomer in the audience saw it as a battle for resources.

“Is it purely an age issue, or is it a reverse-intimidation issue?” he asked. “Many boomers feel intimidated by young, talented people.”

Another audience member, a hiring director for a public accounting firm, said that too many of her older employees have “I shouldn't have to change” attitudes, while younger hires “have been given this expectation of clout.”

“Where to start?” she asked.

Cigna's Stein said the people in charge — bosses — need to realize that this problem is too big to ignore if they want their businesses to stay successful.

Let the bosses know, she said, “what the cost will be if they don't help bridge that gap — that you're going to lose these younger people.”

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