OK class, time for a cross-generational test. Do you remember:
1. When Atari’s “Pong” was a state-of-the-art video game?
2. Watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon?
3. The Brooklyn Dodgers moving to LA?
4. Alf?
5. Popping an 8 track into the deck on a summer night?
6. What Willis was “talking about?”
7. Beating your best score in Pac Man?
8. How amazing color TV was?
9. Your favorite pair of Wonderwoman or Superman Underoos?
10.Discovering Bob Dylan?
Depending on your answers (see the end of this article), you will be classified as either a Baby Boomer or Generation X/Y.
If you are part of today’s diverse workforce, you know that the gap between those two groups can be very real. Baby Boomers and Generation X/Y view job security, career and “the company” in very different ways. But does that gap reflect fundamental differences in values or just a difference in upbringing? Are we talking nature or nurture?
The debate matters if you are worried about developing a meaningful retention strategy. And if that isn’t worrying you, here’s why it should. Boomers – currently filling most management roles – have 10 to 15 career years left before they ride off into the social security sunset. Then what? Generation X/Y may be eager to fill those shoes but they don’t have nearly enough feet. Boomers, swept up by an expanding job market in their own early years, delayed getting married and having children just long enough to reduce our overall population of future leaders. The 15% drop-off will be exacerbated by a further drop in qualified workers from overseas and an on-going “brain drain” to the US. Simply put, the number of jobs available will soon exceed the number of qualified individuals.
How does that fit your company’s future growth plans? Thought so. Alright, let’s look at that meaningful retention strategy a little more closely.
The key to retaining key employees across generations is to understand the environment they were brought up in and the values that they hold – nature AND nurture. Baby Boomers are the children of Howdy Doody – the first television show many of them ever watched. It was in black and white and came on just before supper. After it was over, Baby Boomers ate with their parents, and sometimes even their grandparents. If the conversation turned to jobs, the parents and grandparents – survivors of the Great Depression – saw employment in simple terms: any job was a good job. Employees should be grateful and loyal to their companies no matter what. Concerns about being “satisfied” never even entered the equation.
Remember the Rubic’s Cube? Generation X/Y grew up in a world a bit like one. They rarely ate with both parents (who were probably divorced), let alone their grandparents. Chances are they let themselves into the house after school with their own key to watch Ernie and Bert. Any talk about careers and companies hinged on uncertainty: downsizing, the end of lifetime employment, global competition, mergers and bankruptcies. Companies, marriages and jobs could be taken apart, re-arranged, and put back together again just like a little block with shifting pieces… It was a world in which nothing was permanent… but you could also make it whatever you wanted it to be.
We associate Generation X/Y’s lack of loyalty, high demands and restless nature with negative values – but they make total sense given their formative experiences. Members of Generation X/Y are all too willing to move on to greener pastures. Not only are they more comfortable with change and more open to new opportunities, but their low seniority makes them easy to let go. In my years as an educator, I always thought Gen X/Y should be applauded for having the courage to leave a job that makes them miserable or for demanding flexibility in benefits and working conditions. But are they so very different from the Boomers when it comes to core values? Let’s take a closer look at what makes both groups tick.
When asked what they are looking for in a company, most Gen X/Y’ers say “a fun place to work.” But does “fun” mean casual work clothes, beer bashes and stock options? If you actually ask for details, those answers always come down to culture fit – a company worth contributing to, a boss they like, a job they can grow in. Try asking Baby Boomers and you’ll run into the same concerns. The gap – at its heart – is actually quite small.
Both groups feel at home in a company that shares their values and treats them the way they expect to be treated. Retention of key talent – Boomer or Generation X/Y – is a simple matter. Find out whether those key people hold the same values as the company’s leadership. If they don’t then no amount of money can keep them for long; if they do then they are predisposed to stay. Now, ask them what it would take to make them happy in their jobs. Don’t impose your views on them. Allow them to speak freely and openly – not through the auspices of HR but directly in one on one conversation. The answers can be used to establish an “employee value proposition.” You don’t need to provide more in that proposition than what you can afford but you do need to open a dialogue. Finding common ground in core values and expressing those values through culture is a powerful way to create a satisfied and loyal work force – and job satisfaction always leads to higher productivity.
At heart, Baby Boomers and Generation X/Y aren’t so different. If they can share a passion for Bob Dylan anything is possible. The times may be a-changin’… but the beat goes on
THE ANSWERS:
Boomer: 2, 3, 5, 8
Generation X/Y: 1, 4, 6, 7, 9
Both: 10
David Cohen is president of Strategic Action Group, and author of “Inside the Box: Leading with Corporate Values to Drive Sustained Business Success”.
