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Common Ground: Bridge Generation Gaps in the Workplace
Author(s) -
Mestayer Kathi
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
opflow
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1551-8701
pISSN - 0149-8029
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8701.2008.tb02956.x
Subject(s) - workforce , baby boomers , socioeconomic status , context (archaeology) , demographics , generation y , diversity (politics) , public relations , bridge (graph theory) , work (physics) , sociology , demographic economics , political science , economic growth , geography , marketing , business , economics , population , engineering , demography , medicine , mechanical engineering , archaeology , anthropology
This article discusses how to interpret and use demographic data to better manage diverse workforce populations. The article presents a broader understanding of the 4‐generations found in the current workforce in order to provide the context in which the workforce can begin to understand each other to enhance working relationships. The article identifies the four generation‐groups as Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, and Generation Xers and Y/Millennials. Socioeconomic trends are discussed, including four categories that U.S. citizens are grouped into based on their movement across income‐level groups over time. The article identifies a sustained decline in social engagement, and the changes that contributed to this decline that are outside any generation's control. Potential strategies are provided for identifying new generational dynamics and how to work with, not against, them.