Generation X, Generation X and Y, Gen X, Baby Boomers, Millenials

Understanding Generation X and Y and Baby Boomers

Comments from an article by Greg Smith

I liked your Generation X vs. Baby Boomers article and I sent it to my boss to help with a presentation we are putting together about generational issues. I was starting to think I was crazy because although I have been very successful in my career and I am highly responsible and skilled, I am not always happy with traditional full time jobs. Turns out that I am just a typical Gen X'er!

One thing I have observed is that as a Gen X'er, it matters more to me to develop my skills so that I could be hired in a variety of positions, both inside and outside the government. That ability to market myself and earn money in a variety of situations makes me feel secure and more confident. Baby boomers, however, do not always value the classes I take or jobs I do outside of my full time government job, even if they are closely related to my regular job. They see work as a very narrow, limited scope. Gen X'ers are more likely to be a Renaissance person and develop a fuller range of experiences and skills, and I just wish our baby boomer bosses found that easier to appreciate and applaud.

Amy A. W. Bonaccorso

Great article on how to manager Gen-Xers! Couldn't have said it better myself! Coming from the Generation X perspective, I can't imagine that people actually thought their companies would take care of them through their retirement and that promotions were handed out almost solely based upon the length of time a person worked at a company. Promoting someone because they've been there the longest is a poor business practice that produces poor business results. One thing you missed in your article is that Generation Xers often bear much resentment towards their supervisors if they are less than qualified for the job they are in. We are looking for a strong leader whom we can respect and aspire to become.

Jennifer
Marketing Assistant
Age: 25

These are sound management principles that you put forth as applicable to Gen X and not Baby Boomers. As someone who falls in the Baby Boomer category, I can say that I want to be treated in the same way as you claim only Gen X does. It comes down to respect for the individual and their contributions.

What Boomers want out of Xers is responsibility & pride in their work, not overtime. Boomers are tired of Xers' incomplete, inaccurate work, poor attitude & smart mouths.

Super article and very accurate. Probably the most accurate article I've seen on this issue. The only things missing (and possibly irrelevant to your article); are that Gen Xers trust and believe in themselves above and beyond institutions of any kind (including parental units) and feel that the social and government systems have repeatedly failed, that most people are stereotyped unjustly and that promises are just used to gain compliance and then withheld.

In addition, they feel that their own beliefs and expectations have been repeatedly failed and undermined by the Baby Boomers. One reason is competitiveness with the 'Old Guard', which also promotes competitiveness as something that proves merit (Gen Xers often feel individuals have merit because they survived this long, and that actions speak louder than words; politicking and game-playing is boring and destructive to Gen Xers, wasting time and preventing necessary work from being done).

Gen Xers are tired of competing with mom and dad (they have their whole lives, first at home, now in the work place) and are aware that they won't have any support from either family or the Federal Pension Funds that are eating away their paychecks. They usually feel this is because the Boomers will have slashed and burned to please themselves at the expense of other generations.

Many Gen Xers resent the Baby Boomers and feel they are the single most destructive generation EVER to have thrived in America, and that they have, Locust-like, destroyed everything they personally didn't like or, worse, threw a monkey wrench into the works just to see if they could, or for the challenge. Right or wrong, Gen Xers believe that Boomers destroyed the media, the government, the family, religion, small business and international and internal relations. Gen Xers feel the Boomers have destroyed the future of all Americans by selling out and then overcharging for the American Dream (home, education, information, services, etc.).

In other words, many Gen Xers feel they are lied to often, and that, in the work place, that they will be both lied to and used for someone else's benefit at their own personal cost. As a result, Gen Xers prefer to act as paid mercenaries or ronins. This armors them, because that way, they aren't taken in by the hypocrisy or wasted when some 50 year old has a bad day on the golf course and decides to lay off fifty people. Thank you for the insightful article.

I am glad you put these ideas into writing, but I wanted to share my view as a Gen-x-er who has spent her whole life struggling in the workplace.

I find that several of my bosses (esp. other woman) have ultimately found me a threat. And sometimes the better I performed or the more earnest I seemed to "be part" of the team, the faster I earned my way to the unemployment line. I had a career counselor tell me not to try so hard, even though I was raised to believe advancement and wanting to be part of the team was tied into performance and longevity. I know this is true with others...many of my friends have been targeted by older bosses who seemed to find excuses to not retain us. However, Boomers shouldn't have the whole bad rap--there's a certain arrogance that exists with some of the X-er boss figures, too. And even with the advancement of on-line job sources, recruiters were so interested in commissions that that I fell into two really bad job situations where teamwork was just a line of chat and not the reality of those workplaces.

Rather than focus on the generation gap, I think the real problem is that we live in a culture of bullies and politics, where certain people who have "different" personalities or even ambitions will be punished by the others. I have worked in boutiques and large corporations, and can't really make clear stereotypes...good people are where you are lucky enough to find them.

As a 50 year old boomer managing 25-35 year old Xer's, I found your article interesting. I actually identified more with X'er values. Recognizing and respecting results vs. tenure. My number one and only conflict is the expectation that inaccurate, half done work is good enough. Here is' an example: an accounting analyst, 4yr degree, two years work experience, presents a spread sheet where totals of columns and rows do not match. She wants to know if it's close enough. I explain that something's wrong if they don't balance. We have to find the problem and fix it. She pouts for the rest of the week. A balance sheet that ALMOST balances is NOT close enough. This is accounting, darn it! I need people who can perform, not pout.

I find it interesting, that I hear a lot of Boomers want younger people that are willing to put in extra hours and show they can work hard. My experience has been the same as many GenX's, when we do show the loyalty and put in the extra hours, weather it was asked or not, then all of sudden we are a threat and shipped to the unemployment line. Can't have it both ways! We work just as hard as any other generation, just because our motivation or work styles are different does not mean we are any worse or lack ethic!
Jessica, 31

You also might be interested in . . .