Generations can be defined by family structure, stage of life or historical events. But most often, they’re categorised as “cohorts” of people born during a particular period in time. Catchy labels such as baby boomers, millennials and Gen X and Gen Z tend to stick with each cohort, which are assumed to have shared experiences, behaviours and ideals. This is known as a “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/cohort-effect">cohort effect</a>”.



But common generalisations – for example, that baby boomers are hoarding housing, while&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/generation-rent-is-a-myth-housing-prospects-for-millennials-are-determined-by-class-108996">millennials have no hope</a>&nbsp;of buying a home – can distort or mask the inequalities that exist within and across generations. So rather than pitching the generations against one another, perhaps it’s time to unpack some common assumptions, and question how much one generation really benefits at another’s expense.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The name game</h4>



Popular labels are applied to the generations currently living. The “silent generation” are those born from 1925 to 1945 – so called because they were raised during a period of war and economic depression. The “baby boomers” came next&nbsp;<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236216134_Baby_boomers_consumption_and_social_change_The_bridging_generation">from 1945 to 1964</a>, the result of an increase in births following the end of World War II.



After the baby boomers came “Generation X”, from around 1965 to 1976. The term coined by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26339959">Charles Hamlett and Jane Deverson</a>&nbsp;(originally referring to the Baby Boomers in their teenage years), was made popular by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/sep/11/book-club-generation-x-douglas-coupland">Douglas Coupland’s eponymous 1991 novel</a>. The label reflected the counterculture of a rebellious generation, distrustful of the establishment and keen to find their own voice.



The cohort known as millennials – originally Generation Y – were identified by American authors&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials">William Strauss and Neil Howe</a>&nbsp;as those graduating high school in the year 2000. With the popular focus on the millennium at the time, the name stuck. Although the birth date of this cohort can start from as early as the late 1970s, by some accounts, it generally ranges from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s or early 2000s.



“Generation Z” is the current name for the cohort born from the mid-1990s, though iGen, centennials, post-millennials are further possible labels for a generation that has grown up in a hyper connected world. A “new silent generation” is emerging for those born during the early 2000s, since like their great grandparents in the silent generation, their childhood is also deemed to be&nbsp;<a href="http://www.generationaledge.com/blog/posts/genz-like-grandparents">marked by war and economic recession</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">From needy to greedy</h4>



Social and political conflict between generations often boils down to the seemingly unfair consumption of resources by the old. During the 1940s, the “needy” older generation&nbsp;<a href="https://housing-studies-association.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Livsey-and-Price-Paper-for-the-HSA-10-4-13-FINAL.pdf">were seen as a burden</a>&nbsp;on the tax-paying younger generation. From the 1950s, older people were&nbsp;<a href="http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/77346/8/Healthmanagementarticle_with_coversheet.pdf">blocking beds in hospitals</a>, when they should be in their own homes. More recently, older people are being told that they should move out of their homes and stop&nbsp;<a href="http://www.if.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IF_Housing_Defin_Report_19oct.pdf">hoarding family housing</a>.



Today, it’s often said that baby boomers benefited most from the welfare state, during a period when healthcare and education were free, jobs plentiful and housing affordable. There is also a fear that this generation&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-baby-boomers-will-be-the-last-generation-to-have-good-pensions-45008">will be the last</a>&nbsp;to have good pensions.



But all of these arguments conveniently ignore the inequalities within generations, which are greater than the inequalities between them. Not only is there&nbsp;<a href="https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28344/1/CASEreport60.pdf">considerable inequality</a>&nbsp;within cohorts, even greater divides are created by gender, ethnicity, disability, housing tenure and class.



Take housing, for example. While baby boomers are often accused of hoarding housing, the accumulation of housing wealth is more often a reflection of income and regional variances, rather than age differences. Between&nbsp;<a href="http://wealthgap.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2013/02/WealthGap_No_03_Housing_wealth_inequalities_Appendix.pdf">20%</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://wealthgap.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/2013/02/WealthGap_No_03_Housing_wealth_inequalities.pdf">25%</a>&nbsp;of the housing wealth in the UK is owned by those under the age of 65, who are in the top 20% of the population in terms of income.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Society’s limits</h4>



Another example is education. While baby boomers and Gen X may not have paid for their university education, very few were actually able to take advantage. In&nbsp;<a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8151/CBP-8151.pdf">England and Wales</a>, participation was at 8.4% in 1970 compared to 33% in 2000. Overall levels of education&nbsp;<a href="http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04252/SN04252.pdf">have actually improved over time</a>.



The problems facing younger cohorts have more to do with the&nbsp;<a href="https://zielonygrzyb.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/social-limits-to-growth/">social limits to growth</a>&nbsp;than the cost of education. In 1976, sociologist Fred Hirsch&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674497900">suggested that</a>&nbsp;while the economy continues to grow, enabling ever greater consumption, society’s social structures will remain limited.



So, though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/analysisoftheuklabourmarketestimatesofskillsmismatchusingmeasuresofoverandundereducation/2015#age">more people are gaining degrees</a>, only one person can get the job or the promotion. Standing out from the crowd requires ever increasing educational qualifications, work experience or skills training. In Hirsch’s words, “if everyone stands on tiptoe, no one gets a better view”.



With limited opportunities in society, rationing is achieved through higher entry requirements to both the labour and housing markets. The extent to which people can meet those requirements is still a matter of where they were born in the social hierarchy, rather than when they were born.



Indeed, wealth is generally transferred from older to younger generations via inheritance, rather than withheld: the problem is that this reinforces inequalities within cohorts, as&nbsp;<a href="http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/seminarpapers/wpa22062016.pdf">richer people benefit more</a>from transfers of family wealth. People’s access to health care, education and housing are determined by policy and the economy, not their date of birth, and the hype about generational conflict only serves to mask the real inequalities in society.

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Millennials, Gen X, Gen Z, baby boomers: how generation labels cloud issues of inequality

In the next year or two, the workplace faces an unprecedented situation where for the first time, due to the fact that we’re all living longer, five generations may be working side by side: Veterans (pre-World War II); the Baby Boomers (World War II – 1960s); Generation X (mid-60s – late 1970s); Millennials (aka Generation Y) (1979 – 1991); and last, but not least, the largely unknown factor: Generation Z, born after 1992.
It’s estimated that there are <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/get-ready-for-generation-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 2 billion</a> of Gen Z worldwide. In South Africa, a third of the population is <a href="http://www.childrencount.org.za/indicator.php?id=1&amp;indicator=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">under the age of 21</a>.
It may be too soon to be definitive about the characteristics of this generation, but they are <a href="http://www.jennings-solutions.com/international/JasonJennings-BusinessToday.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said to be</a> realistic, cause and value driven, entrepreneurial, financially prudent, and have boundless curiosity.
This is the first generation born into a fully technological environment &#8211; a world of being connected, being digital, and having mobile phones or tablets as a <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/06/30/debunking-the-four-myths-of-generation-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">matter of course </a>. They’re therefore more advanced in searching for information and figuring things out on their own.
It’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2015/10/13/how-to-attract-talent-for-jobs-that-dont-yet-exist/#7182b1767726" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> that Generation Z will have jobs that have not even been created yet. But that’s not the only thing we aren’t sure of. Although there’s some indication of who they are and the influences shaping them, their characters are still forming and their role in the workplace is yet to take shape.
And, let’s face it: organisations are still struggling to analyse the challenge that Millennials pose in the workplace. These include fitting in with organisational culture, their communication style preferences and negative stereotypes of each generation. All these need <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6609-multigenerational-workforce-challenges.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to be managed</a> in the workplace.
What exactly are they going to do when Generation Z arrives?
<h2>Business as usual</h2>
Popular wisdom argues for a fairly predictable <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhigginbottom/2016/03/17/the-challenges-of-managing-a-multi-generational-workforce/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">set of approaches</a> – all of which are wise. And increasingly people are understanding that while there are important <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2017/01/25/how-to-manage-generational-differences-in-the-workplace/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">differences</a> between generations, they can be complementary and there is a significant opportunity for both ends of the age spectrum to learn from each other.
Listed staffing agency <a href="https://www.roberthalf.com/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robert Half</a> <a href="https://www.roberthalf.com/workplace-research/get-ready-for-generation-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">asked</a> chief financial offices where the biggest differences (and therefore opportunities for learning) lay between generations in the workplace. Thirty percent said “communication skills”, 26% said “adapting to change”, 23% said “technical skills”, 14% said “cross-departmental collaboration”, and 7% noted “no differences”.
The gist of tried and tested approaches is to:
<ul>
<li>encourage collaboration between generations;</li>
<li>facilitate mentoring;</li>
<li>allow for a cross-pollination of knowledge, where older employees share their experience, and younger employees contribute technological know-how, newer techniques and innovation.</li>
</ul>
It has also been well argued that managers should take the lead in <a href="http://guides.wsj.com/management/managing-your-people/how-to-manage-different-generations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">adapting</a> their management style rather than expecting staff to change.
<h2>The crucial bridge for Generation Z</h2>
But just how different will Generation Z really be? The Millennials (aka Generation Y) has been described more than once as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/managing-different-generations-in-the-workplace-2011-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“Generation X on steroids”</a>. All indications are that Generation Z will take this up a notch. Emma Davies, Human Resources Manager for South African construction company ALEC, <a href="http://www.alec.ae/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">says</a> the organisation has already experienced this to some extent with work experience students:
<blockquote>They are a very politically aware generation, and they have been taught to question everything, but to do so respectfully. The toddler stage of asking ‘why?’ does not end!</blockquote>
Both inside and outside the workplace, listening skills, patience, tolerance and humility will become more and more crucial for older generations. And two-way mentorship will become even more important than it has been with Millennials.
Generation Y has already pointed to some important changes that need to happen. Because they want involvement and feedback and are generally outspoken they have played a role in creating a more inclusive workplace as teamwork has become central to their work life.
This will be a crucial tool in making the most of the skills of Generation Z. This, combined with their strong communication skills and self-awareness, will emphasise the importance of teamwork.
These integration skills may prove crucial in helping to manage Generation Zs. Millennials, in this sense, may function as a bridge. This isn’t to say it will all be plain sailing, even if older employees are patient and ready to learn from the youngsters.
Generation Y and Z’s desire for connectedness and relationships on the part can be used for more successful mentorships. A desire for learning could also help alleviate tension with Generation Xs, Baby Boomers and Veterans, who may otherwise experience them as disrespectful or arrogant.
<h2>Focus on the similarities</h2>
But stereotyping needs to be avoided. South African organisations are very familiar with the effects that <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-racism-and-a-lack-of-diversity-can-harm-productivity-in-our-workplaces-73119" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">negative racial stereotyping</a> can have on teams and productivity. They need to guard against the same thing happening with different generations. By <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/05/hitting-the-intergenerational" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fixating</a> on minor differences and taking them out of context, and by failing to appreciate similarities, organisations could be missing an opportunity.
More than that, the differences between generations might be smaller than we think. Research from the University of North Carolina showed that Millennials <a href="http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/executive-development/about/~/media/C8FC09AEF03743BE91112418FEE286D0.ashx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">want the same things</a> as Generation X and Baby Boomers: challenging, meaningful work; opportunities for learning, development and advancement; support to successfully integrate work and personal life; fair treatment and competitive compensation.
And all three generations agreed on the characteristics of an ideal leader – a person who leads by example, is accessible, acts as a coach and mentor, helps employees see how their roles contribute to the organisation, and challenges others and holds them accountable.
The chances are, Generation Z won’t be too far off this mark either.
<h2>Respect and common sense is key</h2>
Implicit in this list of characteristics of the ideal leader is respect – of self and others. In business, as in life, the fundamentals of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenmakovsky/2014/04/10/the-respect-factor/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mutual respect</a> go a long way in building positive workplace cultures. Respect will be key in managing multiple generations too.
All that’s really <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/managing-different-generations-in-the-workplace-2011-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">needed</a> is a commonsense approach that maintains a focus on individual needs, honours each person’s contribution, and strives to keep older workers engaged alongside newer hires so as to avoid losing institutional knowledge.
It may also help to remember that each generational shift evolves organically – and so, too, will the workplace, if we are open to allowing it to do so. &#8211; Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/linda-ronnie-351231" target="_blank" rel="author noopener noreferrer">Linda Ronnie</a>, Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and People Management, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town
Originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a>
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Millennials, Gen X, Gen Z, baby boomers: how generation labels cloud issues of inequality

Should we be worried about Generation Z joining the workforce? Here’s why not