Comparing Generations in the Company: How to Keep Them Together and Value Differences

Those born before 1964 (also known as the Baby Boomer generation), those born between 1965 and 1980 (generation X), those born between 1981 and 1996 (generation Y or millennials) and, finally, those born between 1996 and 2012 (Gen Z). Very different generations, with about 50 years difference between the most senior and the youngest, who live together within companies and have very different characteristics and mindsets. Suffice it to say that in the early 1990s people still wrote in dos and laptops were a luxury for the few, whereas today the mobile phone is the de facto tool par excellence and AI can write in our place.

But how do you get them to work together to keep them aligned to the same business goals? Over the years of management and coaching, I have realised that they all have - regardless of their year of birth - three common elements that do not change with age or professional seniority: the need for security, the need to feel part of something and to be recognised for their value and their work.

Security is the element that keeps us centred. Fear of job loss is typical at every stage of our working life and is often used as leverage to make employees produce more, but it is a very high-risk element because if we do not feel secure our attention is not focused on what needs to be done, but on looking for solutions to the possible job loss. We get into a state of stress that causes us to lose objectivity and leads us to negativeise our surroundings and this has an all-round impact on work and results.

This need is trans-generational and the various generations experience it as an internal competition: the older ones professionally feel at risk of being replaced by the younger ones because they are cheaper and more technologically advanced, while the younger ones are insecure and often feel sidelined because they lack the experience necessary for survival.

This competition causes a lack of the collaboration necessary to create the bridge of knowledge useful for companies to progress. The creation of mixed teams with skills that are not only technologically diverse but also in terms of experience can allow this transfusion between generations, giving younger people the chance to learn without feeling at risk and seniors the chance to feel valued for what they have learned and brought to the company so far. Moreover, giving more experienced people plans for growth even at an advanced stage allows them to imagine themselves still being productive for a long time. The difficulties for seniors come when companies do not have the ability or willingness to create plans that include not only young talent but also mature talent that can often still give a lot.