Multiple Generations at Work

I went to a career professionals workshop last week centered around the concept of multiple generations at work. The four panelists were career development professionals who each represented the four main generations – Gen Y, Gen X, the Boomers and the Traditionalists.

Despite their generational differences, there were many similarities among the panelists in their responses to the following questions:

• What are your top employment/employer concerns?
• Describe your ideal workplace culture.
• What do you look for in a supervisor?
• How do you best collaborate?
• How do you or your company reach out across generations?

It was informative to see such similarities across the generations. The abundance of similarities were likely a function of geography and having similar careers. That is, these career development professionals working in the San Francisco Bay Area tended to share similar values and work preferences across generations.

That said, the Gen Y panelist offered a great career tip for college students – to consider working at their college or university career center. He had worked at his university career center for two years, and with a social science degree in hand, he credited the knowledge he gained and the networking he did while at the career center to being able to successfully get a job upon graduation.

Also, the Traditionalist panelist shared how she does not use Facebook because she doesn’t want to give away her privacy. Of course I respect and understand her personal stance, even as Facebook still feverishly works on making their privacy settings simpler and more transparent. See the latest article from earlier today from one of the local newspapers on the most recent Facebook developments.

Yet, as the Traditionalist is a private career counselor, and I am a proponent of using social networking sites like Facebook for career planning purposes, I wonder whether or not she advises any of her clients to consider using Facebook as a tool for helping to establish an online profile as well as for networking purposes. I asked this follow-up question, but due to time constraints, only the Gen X and the Boomer panelists chimed in with responses.

Overall, I enjoyed this workshop on multiple generations in the workforce. A follow up to this workshop, especially if the same panelists are retained, could focus less on their individual values and preferences and instead focus on their observations, if any, of other people across the generations, such as clients, customers, colleagues, supervisors, and so forth, and then focus on the ensuing discussion of trends and best practices in working with different generations.