Leveraging Generational Divide In The Workplace

Leveraging generational divide in the workplace¹

1. Introduction

A generation is defined as a large group of persons who were born around the same time period and also share common significant life events and trends (CIPM Study Pack 2018).²

There are two prominent views on the concept of a generation. The first view postulated by Zemke et al (2000) states that although individuals in the same generation might be diverse they, however, share the same thoughts, values and behaviors because they have experienced similar events.³ The second theory is that although there might be disparities throughout a workers' life cycle, ultimately, employees may be generic in what they want from their jobs, and trying to divide the employees by generations may be misguided (Jorgensen et al 2003).⁴