What is the biggest source of conflict across generations in today’s workplace?
By far the biggest “bone of contention” is philosophy around work ethic. Radio Babies and Boomers are more likely to expect employees (including themselves) to acquiesce to the organization’s existing policies on work hours, benefits, and retirement. Gen X and Gen Y employees will question existing policies in order to understand why they’re in place and why they must rigidly be applied. Boomers and Radio Babies more often identify work ethic as willingness to do things you don’t want to do in order to advance one’s career and Gen Xers and Ys are more likely to characterize work ethic as ability to produce results.
