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Have you ever quit a job? Why? Was it for more money? Better career opportunity? If you said it was because of a bad boss, you would not be alone. According to a Gallop Survey of one million US workers, the number one reason people quit a job
is due to a bad boss or supervisor.  In a book based on this research, First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham, he states “Talented, engaged employees must have great managers, how productive they are and how long they stay is directly determined by their relationship with their manager.”

While that research is a decade old it is more important today than ever before. Over the past five to seven years Generation Y has entered the workforce bringing the total number of generations in the office to four.  Nearly 60 percent of HR managers at large companies have observed office conflicts from generational differences, according to the Society of Human Resource Management.

Who are the generations? They are Traditionalists (1900-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1979), and Generation Y (1980-2000). Each generation views work differently. Let’s take a peek at what makes each generation tick. When talking about the generations, one must look at the events that shaped their character and their personalities.

For the most part the Traditionalists have retired and left the workforce, but many of them created companies and their values and ways of doing things are still in place. The Traditionalists were heavily impacted by the World Wars. The leadership style of this generation was formed by the military. They are very comfortable in a top down management structure. They communicate on a “need to know” basis, and all information must go through the appropriate channels. The Great Depression fresh in their mind, created a cautious generation with an aptitude for saving their earnings and protecting their wealth. Their ultimate aim was to join a company and stay with the same company until they retired. This is not unusual, given their deep devotion and trust to institutions; church, government, marriage etc.

Baby Boomers are the dominant force of the C level today. The time period they grew up in was a bit different than their Traditionalist parents. They challenged the status quo with Woodstock and the Civil Rights movement, which made them optimistic and willing to speak out. Their trust in institutions weakened with events at Watergate and Vietnam. Yet the Boomers main influencer was their sheer size; on most accounts there are 80 million of them. This made this generation very competitive. They had to claw and fight for everything, spots on the sports team in school, scholarships to college and the corner office. They are proud of their experiences and hard work. They are more loyal to a career than a company, but for the most part staying with one company was good for their career. Not wanting to give a leg up to any peer or junior associate eyeing their job they saw information as power and did not always share information openly. While many Boomers are hitting retirement age, most have no intentions of retiring due to their hard work and perseverance in getting to the top (not to mention lousy 401ks).

While Traditionalists and Baby Boomers have significant differences, they are similar in their willingness to stick it out with one company due to their loyalty for that company or career. That changes with the next two generations. Generation X was raised during constant change of the 80’s and 90’s. They saw the advent of the personal computer, 24/7 cable television, and the ever shrinking world. They witnessed mass lay-offs of their parents. This impacted them greatly, since many of their parents sacrificed everything for that company or career. In many cases even families were sacrificed, the divorce rate tripled during the formative years of this generation. This created the “latch-key” kids, who often were left alone in after school programs or at home; creating a fiercely independent group of people. This generation got dubbed “slackers” because they did not have the same work ethic. They did not want to work seventy hours a week like the Boomers. The realities were they didn’t want to spend that much time away from their families as their parents did often. Many became entrepreneurs in order to have more flexibility in their schedules and first coined the phrase “work life balance”. Gen-X saw so much change growing up that when it comes to communicating they want it straight, no BS. How does this impact me? What do I need to do?  Gen-X values the profession above their company or career. If another job offers a better opportunity to sharpen their skills they will take it. They were the first to start “job-hopping”, but not the last.

The traits of Gen-X are shared with Generation Y but often in more exaggerated ways. This generation was marked by tragedy, not in far off countries like their parents and grandparents, but at home.  Events of 9/11, Columbine and Oklahoma City bombing rocked this generation. They are drawn to friends and family because they understand life is fleeting. Another major shaper of this generation was the self-esteem movement. As children this generation was told by teachers and parents they were special and they must express themselves. They were brought into major family decisions and their opinion counted. Parents operated much like consultants giving them feedback on how to make the grade or shoot the basketball. Many of these parents have had a hard time letting go and have followed their children to college and even the office, getting the nickname “helicopter parents”.  Gen-Y is comfortable giving their opinion to supervisors, even the CEO. They want to see how their work counts; they hate the phrase “entry level”.  They are constantly connected to technology due to the fact they were the first generation to have computers from kindergarten. Their comfort with technology gives them a piece of leverage that “entry-level” workers never possessed in previous generations. Many Gen-Y members double as IT people in small companies and are often mentoring other generations. It’s been said this generation is the most talented and high maintenance group than any other previous generation.  They desire as much information as possible. They desire constant feedback from supervisors telling them how to get better, so than can advance.  They value a very relational atmosphere with co-workers and supervisors. They are extremely collaborative and do their best work with other peers and minimal supervisor input. If they do not get what they want from a supervisor or if they decide they would rather live in Oregon they will quit. The key to understanding Gen-X and Gen-Y is identifying where they place work in their values. Traditionalists and Boomers organized their lives around either their company or career. Gen-X and Gen-Y organize their profession or job around their lives. For Gen-X their focus is on family and for Gen-Y, their social life.

As I said earlier, now more than ever companies must hire talented managers. Gen-X and Gen-Y will not put up with managers who do not challenge, inspire or care for them as previous generations might have done. Companies must invest in their selection process especially when it comes to managers. Companies must also look at their mix of generations in the office and especially at the leadership level. Does one generation’s preferred method of communication “win-out”? Does that cause conflict or put up road blocks to getting other talented people in the door?

To learn more about managing a multi-generation workforce and to find out what industry leaders are doing to Hire4Impact, visit VisionSpark.

VisionSpark is the Talent Planning and Executive Search Firm of Alec Broadfoot and Adam McCampbell. For more news and updates, follow the conversation at@Hire4Impact.