In this episode, Michelle walks listeners through the unique perspectives and workplace expectations of five different generations: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. The discussion centers on how generational influences shape attitudes toward loyalty, communication, motivation, and work-life balance.

Michelle talks about the importance of understanding these generational dynamics, not for the sake of stereotyping, but for building stronger, more cohesive teams. She discusses why it's important to use tools like empathy mapping and to consider creative approaches like reverse mentoring to bridge generational gaps. The key takeaway is that by being mindful of the diverse expectations and life experiences employees bring to the workplace, leaders can foster more inclusive, supportive environments that benefit everyone.

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List of Key Topics Discussed

1. Overview of five generations in the workplace
2. Key characteristics and influences for Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z
3. Differences in workplace loyalty and expectations
4. Variations in communication styles and preferences
5. The impact of historical events and technological advancements on generational attitudes
6. Approaches for managing multigenerational teams effectively
7. The rise of reverse mentoring and empathy mapping
8. Aligning organizational practices to support all generations
9. Resources for further information and support

Michelle I'm Michelle Pfefferman, founder and CEO of EquityAtWork, and this is your DEI minute, your go to podcast for leaders looking to navigate the ever evolving landscape of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Whether you're just starting out with DEI or looking to sustain your long term successes, each episode will provide you with actions you can take to move DEI forward at your organization, all in 15 minutes or less. Before we get started, I'm really excited.

To let you know that my new.

Book, Do DEI Write is now available.

This is your guide to the Equity at Work Maturity model, which shows leaders.

How to make DEI part of every day and drive great results. You can get your copy through the.

Link in the show notes or wherever books are sold. Perceptions or assumptions that might be out there about us based on our age. And so I think there can be a level of frustration if we can sense that people are assuming that about us given and what generation we're part of. So I thought it'd be helpful to just go through some of the different dynamics here really with the goal of helping you understand, not so much like how do I segment my workforce into these generations, but you know, acknowledging that if we have teams that work together that are across different generations, getting a better understanding of how to work with them most effectively through communication, through messaging around motivation, through setting expectations around work style and behaviors in the workplace, and just getting more insight into how to best support anyone that's working for you based on what generation they hail from, as well as all the other, you know, wonderful characteristics that they, they bring to work. So I'm going to cover five different generations, from the oldest to the youngest, and just give you a sense of some of the key characteristics of these. There's a lot of great information out on the Internet about different generations. So this is really a summary of some of the key things that influence how people show up for work when at work, given their generation. So the first one is traditionalists.

These are folks born from 1925 to 1945. They were shaped by the Great Depression, World War II, radio and movies becoming more popular and readily available. Very much focused on age equals seniority. Grew up in very hierarchical work environments, typically, you know, stayed in the same organization for most, if not all of their career. Not true to a fault. But you know, I would say that definitely is the trend. And you know, things around, you know, email and other digital communication came very late in their career. Many of these executives grew up with assistants, so if their communication style might be more personal Touch, handwritten notes, that type of thing.

Leaning on assistance to do more of the, you know, kind of data entry and maybe emailing, things like that. So just having understanding that this is a group of employees that tends to be very dependable, very loyal, respectful and thinking in terms of the long term related to their company. The next group is the baby boomers. Born 1946 to 1964. This group also tended to stay in one organization or certainly one industry for the bulk, if not all of their career. A view that achievement comes after paying your dues, that you've got to, you know, offer sacrifice to be successful. Tended to work in a little bit more competitive environments. They're shaped by the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and Watergate.

They also are very loyal to their company, very focused on duty, being team oriented can be a little more workaholic maybe than some traditionalists who I think grew up with a more standard 9 to 5 kind of work life balance or work life timing. And their communication style tends to focus on kind of what's going to be most efficient. So they're going to juggle, you know, between phone calls, face to face and zoom, meetings, emails, texts, et cetera. The digital world came on while they were still very active in the workforce. So that's become part of their, you know, normal day to day way of operating. Next up is gen X, born 1965-1980. This group tends to be a little more focused on diversity. Shaped by the AIDS epidemic, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dot com boom.

Got a lot more insight to world events through television and other media than, you know, other generations did growing up. This group very much is focused on work life balance. Not that many of us have cracked the code on that, but that that is something that they really strive for. I think women particularly or Gen X grew up sort of feeling like I want to be able to do it all, but didn't necessarily have all the supports in place to make that happen. So that's a constant, you know, struggle and you know, something very top of mind for Gen Xers. They are also likely to move on if their employer is not the greatest fit for them. So this is the first time we really started to see people break away from staying loyal to one particular company for the bulk of their career. So a little bit more movement, a little more openness, trying to figure out how to make all the pieces work together.

Second to last is the millennials. Born in 1981-2000. I find the Millennials get blamed for a lot of things still. But you know, these folks are now, you know, getting into their even the youngest of them are in their mid-20s. The oldest are, you know, in their 40s. They're pretty entrenched in their career at this point. They tend to be very achievement oriented. They're looking for challenge and growth and development.

They also want to have fun in their work environment and you know, trying again to find that work life balance. They will leave an organization if they don't, you know, like feel like it's a good fit for them. Not that they're not loyal, but they're going to just have a shorter Runway for, you know, deciding if a particular environment really works for them. They're motivated by the quality of their manager. They want unique work experiences. They want to feel like they're. Their work is really worth their time, you know, that they're getting something out of it, they're delivering something important and they're growing themselves. They've been shaped by Columbine, 9, 11 and the Internet.

So this was a very digitally native group of folks that are in the workplace. So they communicate across all different digital methods. IMs, text, email. Occasionally you'll see some, you know, handwritten notes and things like that. But you know, just a very digitally nascent group of people. And the last one is the is Gen Z. So this is the group that was born 2001 to 2020. So they are, you know, entering the workforce.

They're the youngest group that you're going to be recruiting right now. They have grown up on social media so that's been a huge influence for them which is both, you know, great in terms of the visibility and transparency that comes from that. Also very challenging and how consuming it can be very much shaped by, you know, life after 9, 11, the Great Recession and all of the things that they have access to through technology, particularly social media. Again, very, you know, focused on diversity, personalization, individualization. Also want to be getting a lot out of, you know, what they put their time into. This is also a group that really got into the gig economy and I think some millennials did as well. But the Gen Zers have really been exploring that and they are trying very hard to find a good work life balance in terms of the number of hours they're having to put in. They're very focused on flexibility.

Some of them have gone through school during COVID and learned how to learn remotely and sometimes they're able to do that very effectively. So they're very open and oftentimes actively seeking more Flexible work arrangements. So they're very focused on team. They want to have innovative workplaces. They tend to also be very social justice or kind of socially oriented, wanting the brands they buy, the places they work, the organizations they associate with to have a bigger meaning, bigger purpose that they identify with. So as you can see, a wide variety of perspectives of communication styles and really expectations on what work is supposed to be. So the younger generations want work to be very fulfilling. The older generations were used to work being, yes, you want it to be satisfying that you're contributing, but it's also steady paycheck and you're a little bit more loyal to one organization over a long period of time.

The younger folks tend to want to talk about a lot of external topics in the workplace and have an expectation that there will be mechanisms set in place to do that through ergs, through town halls, through other quorums where they can talk about social media topics and what the company's stance is on those and. And how can the company, you know, what are opportunities to do even better by their employees? You don't see as much of that with some of the older generations who, you know, we kind of grew up thinking of, you know, you go to work as your work self and then you check that out at the door and you go home and you're your home self or you're a person with your friends and your family. And those worlds stay very separated. Of course, some of those barriers came down during COVID when we were all remote. But. But I think, you know, the older generations tend to fall back in that. That's kind of their old habit of, you know, we don't talk about all those things at work or, you know, that's private or that's personal. So trying to strike a balance depending on the make of your organization of your team.

This is important when setting up, you know, just different ways that people work together. Communication, expectations, behavior expectations. And if you're finding that tough, you know, just making sure those expectations are written down, they're very clear, with great examples for people to. That can go a long way in sort of reducing any conflict across these groups. If you're struggling to figure out how do I communicate effectively or set up processes and systems that work across all these different dynamics, using a tool like an empathy map, which we've talked about before in other episodes, can be really helpful. That helps you ground in sort of the perspective and influences of influences on. And influences of the per. The types of people, you know, based on these different profiles of generation.

Of course, they can be other things as well, but that can help you kind of hone in on some key messaging that might actually carry across the majority of your employee group. Another great thing that I've seen companies do is, you know, we have traditional mentoring, which tends to be from the more senior folks down to the younger people in the workforce. But a lot of companies are starting to introduce reverse mentoring projects or initiatives where, you know, people different generations use as an opportunity to learn from each other. And that can be a great way to open up people's minds, kind of open aperture to different experiences, different ways of looking at work, different ways of thinking about the workplace and how we all spend our time there. And that can create some great bridges across people who otherwise maybe wouldn't have a lot in common. So if you're struggling with this, you know, think of some creative ways to get groups together and also to go a little deeper to identify what are some of the key things that they need, where are their frustrations, and how can you break those up? For more information, of course, you can always go to our website. We've written about multiple generations in the workplace and the benefits of that, and also how to best utilize a space that has all of those different groups so that everyone's needs are met. So please feel free to go there for more information.

And that's a wrap. I'm Michelle, and that's your DEI minute for today. Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. And don't forget to leave us a review. If you ever have questions, please visit our website or send us an email. You can also sign up for our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. Links to everything can be found in the episode notes.

This episode was produced and edited by Podgrowth with podcast art by our very own Jamie Applegate.