To a great extent, managing staff (and also understanding the partners) depends on recognizing where each person stands in the generational scale.
Here’s how the generations from the beginning of the 20th century differ as employees.
• The Lost Generation (born 1883-1900). These are the people who fought in World War I.
• The Greatest Generation (born 1901-1924). This is the G.I. Generation, or the World War II veterans.
• The Silent Generation (born 1925-1945). These are the children of the Lost Generation. They grew up in the Depression. They respect authority, they conform, and they are well disciplined. They like one-on-one communication. They put duty and work before personal life and never combine the two. As managers they are commanders-in-chief. They also expect everybody to respect them for their experience. They save their money and they pay cash.
• The Baby Boom Generation (born 1946-1964). The Baby Boomers grew up in affluent times and see themselves as privileged and different from everybody else. They are optimistic and communicative. Many are workaholics and are happy to put in long hours to make more money. They question authority, and as leaders they are chummy. They are team players, and they like to have meetings. They like titles. They want to feel needed. They are also the buy-now-pay-later generation.
• Generation X (born 1965-1981). These are the Baby Busters or the 13th Generation. These people are cautious and conservative, and they cherish their free time away from work. They are the children of divorce, so they tend to be self-sufficient and like figuring things out for themselves. Micro-management won’t work here. They don’t want to spend time meeting with anybody but prefer to communicate fast with e-mail. They are entrepreneurs and will change jobs at the drop of a hat to get ahead. They save their money.
• Generation Y (born 1981-1999). Other titles are the Millennials, the Net Generation, Generation Next, the Echo Boomers, and the Eighties Babies. These people are good workers, good team players, good multi-taskers, and good goal-setters. But they are also impatient and don’t want to wait for recognition. They want immediate gratification.
They want their work to have meaning, and they want recognition for their work, but they question authority. They choose family over work. Many have outstanding school loans yet they don’t hesitate to spend their money.
• Generation Z (born in the mid 1990s onward). This is the Internet Generation, Generation Text, and the Digital Natives. It remains to be seen what type of employees they will be.
• Generation AO (born after 2000). This is the Always-On Generation. They see the internet as part of their brain, and some studies say that because of that they will be quick-thinking and multi-tasking employees but won’t have much patience and will not be known for deep thinking.