The Multigenerational Workplace
Mon 07 Dec 2009 – 12.50
At Thanksgiving yesterweek, we got to discussing the bizarreness of work. At the table were seated no fewer than three family members who are, you might say, less-than-gainfully employed. My laid-off aunt and uncle have both reinvented themselves recently, and I, of course, have been mucking through the freelance world for far too long.
But the topic soon shifted from job seeking to job doing. As the youngest person at the table, the conversation became and odd referendum on my entire generation — and theirs. We concluded what many business writers are already saying: managing the multigenerational office is going to be an immense challenge for businesses in the 21st century.
To an extent, workplaces have always been multigenerational. Apprentices and Masters usually slotted into the age groups of sons and fathers, respectively, and the entry-level workers have often been remarked for their freshness compared to the veterans. “Do you even shave?” and that sort of thing. But in decades past, one’s working life was generally considered to be a single generation in magnitude — 30 years or so — and one would look to retire around 50, 55, 60, maybe 65 if they love what they do. However, the Baby Boomers put an end to that, and as more Boomers pass 60, they have no plans to retire. Instead, their children are joining them at work, not as novelty guests, but as co-workers.
Thus the multigenerational office, where we twentysomethings, just starting out in the world sans money, sans family, sans furniture, sans experience, are paired with relative old-timers, with stories and scars and grey hairs and grandchildren. A culture clash indeed.
The most obvious arena for friction is in technology. Milennials, Gen-Yers, and other young whippersnappers have grown up with computers and the Internet, whereas many (but not all) older workers still struggle with the speed and complexity of it. But the young ones aren’t always on the winning side; imagine a workplace in which mobile phones are banned. How can we stay in touch with our network? How can we get instant feedback on our ideas without Twitter and IM? How can I carry my address book if my iPhone has to stay in a box all day? The paradoxes are plentiful.
[side note: I just this minute had to help a gentleman in my office on a simple issue of printing a website. The reason he's printing is because copy+pasting a paragraph of text is too complex and strange for him. Oy]
But more than the simple matter of switching [back] to pens and paper, there exist many philosophical differences between the ages. Here’s a scenario: A small company’s office has a number of windows. Sunlight is good for work, all will agree, but who gets the desks (or offices) near the windows? Ask a twentysomething and we’ll probably say that workplace happiness is important, and that the employees who spend the most time at their desk (ie, the general pool of staff) should have access to an open, collaborative work environment. However, to most of our parents and grandparents, those windows would quickly be divided up between senior management and conference rooms that stand empty 95% of the day.
Here’s another: Who, if anyone, at this company needs to wear a suit and tie? Most twentysomethings will agree that there is a time and place to dress “up”, such as meeting clients or appearing in court. But on the day-to-day level, there’s almost no argument for forcing employees to maintain a dress code when clients and other would-be judges are no where to be found. Why, then, do so many of older workers maintain the status quo from the 20th century? What would happen if a lawyer, for example, didn’t wear a suit every day, surely the island of Manhattan would not slip into the sea.
And then there’s the general challenge of communication. Younger workers are focused on information — looking things up, spewing memorised fact, having the answers — where older workers focus on relationships. We are fundamentally different, and yet we’re working side-by-side. Slang aside, we often have trouble communicating and relating to one another. It’s no easy task, and something that isn’t often solved by an internal memo or adjustment to the company SOP.
What has been your experience working with older colleagues? Are they just as friendly and viable as peers? Would you rather an office that was relatively close in age range? Perhaps if the multigenerational office is to thrive, we need to implement a stronger system of mentoring or partnering. Young workers will teach the old about technology, and older workers can teach those snot-nosed kids how to conduct proper business.
For now, I’ll just try to live my life one day at a time. Maybe I’ll even see 30 one day.
posted by Scott in careers, life.
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