Company Profile Report Filed : The New York Times By Stewart

Every generation is influenced by its period 's economic, political and social events. From the Great Depression to the civil rights and women 's movements to the advent of television and advanced computer technologies. Thus generational background/situation may also affect the way they work. The key is to be able to effectively address and take advantage of the differences in values and expectations of each generation in the workplace. The current work place consists of four different generations; The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) who are slowly retiring and existing the workforce, The Generation X (1965-1976), The Generation Y or millennia (1977-1997), and the Generation Z who are about to or are just entering the work force. Although these different generations tend to want similar things in a workplace their environment/background has shaped their character, values, and expectations (Hahn 2011).

Today’s workplace is no different than those of past years, with Traditionals, Generation X and baby boomers all coexisting in the same office. But as more boomers work past retirement age, and tech-savvy millennials continue to graduate and enter the workforce, the stark differences in the values, communication styles and work habits of each generation are becoming more and more pronounced.

Upon reflecting on the three main generations that comprise the workplace today, a few differences emerge. “Baby Boomers” grew up in a time when movements were prominent, the Vietnam War occurred, key figures were assassinated, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and television was introduced (Twenge et al., 2010; Schullery, 2013). Overall, “Baby Boomers” seem to exhibit a distrust of authority, value hard work, and want to enjoy their achievements (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Twenge et al., 2010). As such, they are results driven and give their utmost effort (Robbins & Judge, 2015). “Generation X” grew up in a time of computers, divorce, two career parents, MTV, and economic uncertainty (Twenge et al., 2010; Robbins & Judge, 2015). For the most part, they seem to exhibit the workplace behaviors of independence and a lack of commitment to employers (Twenge et al., 2010). They value a balance between work and life and place more focus on extrinsic rewards such as monetary compensation (Twenge et al., 2010). “Millennials” grew up in prosperous times with technology dominating the era and over-protective parents (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Schullery, 2013). Generally, they seem to place a greater value on employee benefits, leisure time, teamwork, and open communication (Society of Human Resource Management, 2004; Twenge, 2010; Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). In addition, they have also been given the labels of “self-centered” and “entitled” (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010).

America has about five generations that function in our society today, and they are Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and the Millennial. It is interesting the way that an age gap influences the thinking of millions of people in different generations. Different times and situations require that different strategies be put in place for the following generation. Solutions that worked for one generation may be less useful for the next, so sometimes, because of the age gap, these solutions cause disagreements. These various ideologies all have one goal, and that is to be successful. We will discuss the path of the Baby Boomers and Generation X in the workplace environment.

There are many challenges facing managers and leaders in current workforce. The variety of cultures, races and generations in today’s environment is making work harder. “Managing will also get even more difficult because of globalization, multi-generational workforce, dependency on technology, unethical behaviors and practices.” (Kaifi,2013,pg.217). In this paper I will talk about the three generations that we have had over the past sixty years – the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation X and the current Generation Y, known as Millennials. This rich mix of generations in the workforce can be attributed primarily to labor shortages experienced in many industries and the rising average age of retirement.

Millennials and the older generations do have distant relationships in the workplace that needs a resolution to provide a productive and excited work environment that produces results. These critcism about Millennials Steve Gavatorta witness at his own work environment, he states, “One of the common issues I experience when working with clients, who are primarily Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers, involves Generation Y entering the workplace,” Gavatorta describes how he personally experience these objections daily about Generation Y in the workplace, and how the older generations protests about Generation Y and the communication barrier with technology, their sense of entitlement, and their work ethic. Generation Y’s differences compared to the

The growing workforce today is forever changing. The first generational age group of baby boomers are starting to retire from the workplace. With this they are taking years of knowledge and experience with them while the new generation “X” and generation “Y” are rapidly increasing in and becoming the next leaders.

Before we look at any issue, any good psychologist will first evaluate their own bias. Although it is impossible to eliminate bias from any situation, it is important to, at the very least, identify the source of said bias. So before this essay considers the question of millennials in the workplace, let it first be known that the authors are, if not millennials, riding very closely behind millennials’ coattails.

Managing multiple generations can pose a challenge for employers. Managers have to find a balance. Taylor (2014) state “The modern workplace is no different than those of years past, with Generation Y, Generation X and baby boomers all coexisting in the same office. But as more boomers work past retirement age, and tech-savvy millennials continue to graduate and enter the workforce, the stark differences in the values, communication styles and work habits of each generation are becoming increasingly pronounced.” (Taylor, 2014). Taylor (2014) also states “"As new generations join the workforce, there is a period of adaptation that 's required on both ends," said Rich Milgram, CEO of career network Beyond.com. "New talent needs to respect and assimilate, while established talent needs to adjust and remain flexible. Companies should challenge their employees to rise above [generational differences], think outside their comfort zone and tackle problems together."” (Taylor, 2014).

In her article “The Tethered Generation,” in Society of Human Resources Magazine, writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that people born between 1978 and 1999, also known as the Millennial Generation, would bring challenges to the workplace, attributing early access to technology and a “perpetual connection to parents” as causes. The article’s central tenet is that through technology, this generation’s “tethered” relationship with peers and parents has shaped communication, decision making, and need for connectivity. Tyler identifies the following Millennial traits as challenges to organizations: “unrealistic expectations with respect to goal-setting and planning;” “only adequate professionalism and work ethic, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking and problem solving;” and lack of autonomy and “sense of self-reliance.” The article ends by recommending that human resource management prepare for the Millennial’s “high maintenance” and their parent’s “helicoptering” with policies and training programs (Tyler, 2007).

Today there is a critical shortage of “qualified” workers. There are both worker shortages as well as skill gaps in addition to low unemployment rates which are making it very difficult to recruit talent.

The workplace consist of four different generations. These generations are, the Silents, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and the Generation Ys of the Millennials. All four generations contribute to the workplace whether negative or positive. The millennials are technological advanced and view work as an essential part of life, Silents generation is retiring, baby boomers are making changes to fit their post retirement while still in charge and the Generations Xers trying to maintain a balance between their work life and their personal life. With this being said, each generation continue to interconnect and causing a change in the work place. Not only that but the younger the generation, the more unique and advance things become and this is the

Subsequently, this strategy will create an enabling environment that is biased in hiring process like in the case of the Maldives, where foreigners were given job opportunities because they had the right attitude yet, the natives had more outstanding qualifications for some of the jobs but they were denied the opportunities (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013). Therefore, the organization should reduce the act of employing foreigners in its different branches across the world and focus on the natives of the given states dwelling more on their qualifications rather than their attitudes. This would lead to employees feeling more comfortable in their work environment and having a workforce that understands the culture the business is established in as well as being well skilled and educated in their

Millennials, individuals born between 1980 and 1995, are characterized in the workplace as being egotistical, lazy, untrustworthy, and overall disrespectful. This type of typecasting unfortunately contributes to the misconception that millennials have a difficult time communicating and building relationships in the workplace with other generations such as baby boomers and Gen Xers, and also the widespread concern that this can affect a company’s performance. Organizational leaders must learn to look at the positive qualities that millennials have the luxury of possessing and how they can benefit the company. As researchers Myers and Sadaghiana (2010) explained, millennials work well in teams, are motivated by the impact they can make on a company’s success, they prefer to communicate openly and often with their managers and coworkers, and most importantly, especially in today’s workplace, they are at ease with communication technology (p. 225). All generations that exist in the world today are constantly affected by circumstances in the work place that drive change. As Howe & Strauss (1991) noted, changes in any tiny aspect of the workplace can trigger change within an entire organization. Tomorrow’s success for these organizations that are around today will depend on how they develop and respond to change (p. 93). Baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials all communicate and build relationships differently in the workplace. Organizations that embrace the change that

America has legitimate concerns over the growing war for talent. It has reached global proportions, as a number of high skilled immigrants who were educated in this country are now embedded in key positions in corporate America’s workforce, and are being drawn back to their native countries.