The Center's Guide to Recruitment, Retention and Workforce Development

Generational Differences

Though marketers are still arguing over the labels, researchers have developed fairly consistent sets of values, motivators and social behaviors that differentiate each of today’s four prevalent generations.

Large employers may have employees representing all four groups. That is where the fun starts for managers. The following characteristics and ages are generally used to describe the four generations:

Many Veterans (a.k.a. depression babies, traditionalists and Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation”) still are in the workforce, either tilting toward retirement or back from it. These workers, born between 1922-1943, were forged by the depression, World War II and patriotic, world-class statesmen like Churchill, Truman and Roosevelt. They work hard, with dedication and conformity and diligence. They obey the rules and respect authority.
Baby Boomers now dominate management and middle management. Born between 1943-1960, they were the first American generation spoiled by near-universal prosperity. Boomers grew up with more privilege, spending power and education than any preceding generation. At every stage of life, they have basked in the world’s spotlight. Television, progressive social movements and global awareness shaped their values of optimism, involvement, teamwork, individual growth and personal gratification. Their heroes were often rock and roll pioneers, space pioneers and social pioneers: Kennedy, Glenn, Steinem, Presley and Lennon. In earlier years, they brought passion, competition, compassion and drive to the workplace. Now they are more interested in entering retirement with their bodies and economic prosperity intact.
Generation X, born between 1960-1980, is nearly as large as the Boomer group. They are children of the fall, born into a world rocking free from its cornerstones of eternal verities, traditional values and nuclear families. They are the Sesame Street generation, shaped by MTV, computers, AIDS, globalism and a tidal wave of U.S. immigration. Weaned on TV, materialism and assassinations, their heroes were sports and entertainment millionaires, or no one at all. Gen-X’rs are skeptical, informal, pragmatic, self-reliant and independent. On the job, they are creative, adaptable risk-takers, unintimidated by authority. They are technoliterate, honor diversity and work/life balance. They are interested in achievement and economic security more than altruism at work.
Generation Y (aka Generation 2K, Millennials, Nexters, Baby Busters, Echo Boom) is the emerging generation (1980-), still finding itself. They have characteristics of hope, idealism, traditional values and confidence in institutions like their grandparents, but are techno-savvy, skeptical and realistic like their older siblings. They were born into the information age on a shrinking planet. Their core values include diversity, fairness, honesty, respect for others and assertiveness. Their heroes are their parents. They tend to be mature, responsible, self-sufficient and pragmatic. Gen Y’rs are accustomed to busy schedules and multitasking, and are expected to have solid work ethics (though few are yet in the workforce).