We keep talking about Gen Y Milennials.\u00a0 They are after all the next unknown generation of workers, and they are \u201cdifferent.\u201d\u00a0 However, we can\u2019t ignore the Gen X\u2019ers either.\u00a0 As the boomer retire, the Gen X population will be the first ones to fill the shoes of leadership and senior talent.\u00a0 And the fact is that Gen X is quite different from the Boomers.<\/p>\n
As hard as it is for Boomers to believe, most members of Generation X are not your biggest fans. To many Xers, Boomers have been a continual thorn, always holding the vast majority of the \u201cgood jobs\u201d and seemingly diminishing their limited economic opportunities yet further. Boomers have taken up far too much physical space and mental mindshare, often with an air of decided superiority and self-pre-occupation, for far too long. But despite lofty teenage promises, they have done little to better either corporations or broader world. The workplace that Boomers have managed has not been overly receptive to many Xers\u2019 values and preferences. And, as Xers move into positions of increased authority, resentments related to the results of Boomers\u2019 custodial roles — of the environment, international relationships, the national debt — are already beginning to surface.\u00a0 ((Erickson, Tammy, June 26, 2007.\u00a0 \u201cOuch! The Painful Divide Between Generation X and the Boomers.\u201d\u00a0 Harvard Business Online.\u00a0 Retrieved from http:\/\/discussionleader.hbsp.com<\/a>. On July 8, 2007.))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I honestly don\u2019t know about some of the opinions listed above.\u00a0 In many highly publicized cases, the boomers have failed us, gotten major corporations in trouble, lead us into pits of ethical dilemmas, and hoarded opportunity for themselves.\u00a0 Not what we expected from the 60\u2019s love children who turned into 80\u2019s money mongers.<\/p>\n
There is a definite culture difference between the two groups despite an often small separation in age. Gen Xers are more concerned with finding the right job for them, regardless of which company, instead of sticking with a company and hoping to climb the ladder. I have found many Boomers to be very ambitious and concerned with climbing the ladder. Many are unhappy in their jobs yet don’t consider leaving their organizations. Gen Xers, on the other hand, are often more concerned with a work-life balance where they work to live instead of live to work. Free time is highly valued, probably more so than money for many. We have seen Boomers fill and stay in management\/ leadership positions thus resigning us to remain in the rank and file. We tend to job hop more than Boomers since company loyalty is not something we expect, having seen and been affected by the downsizing of the 80’s and 90’s. Boomers are seen by Gen Xers as a “me” generation. It’s all about them. They got the jobs and the houses and we were left with the leftovers.\u201d\u00a0 ((Ibid))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
However, I\u2019m not sure that Gen X is all that different.\u00a0 They are all too eager to take over, but perhaps to try and right some of the wrongs done before.\u00a0 The environment is a mess, corporate trust is low, and no matter who has control over government, we don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 The question is if the core values are truly that different.\u00a0 Generation X might have tendencies that are more openly displayed in Gen Y, but overall, I believe that the real hope for change will come when there is simply enough money that \u201cgetting ahead\u201d isn\u2019t so important anymore.\u00a0 That\u2019s just my way of saying that Gen Y will see Gen X the same way in 30 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We keep talking about Gen Y Milennials.\u00a0 They are after all the next unknown generation of workers, and they are \u201cdifferent.\u201d\u00a0 However, we can\u2019t ignore the Gen X\u2019ers either.\u00a0 As the boomer retire, the Gen X population will be the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,25,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-work-life","category-workforce-management","category-workforce-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}