What to know when five generations share an office

“I think it’s a generational thing.”

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard that phrase throughout my career (and sometimes used it myself) to explain away confusion, miscommunication, contrasting points of view, or different styles of working. It’s been happening a lot more lately, though, and with good reason: For the first time in history, five generations are colliding in the workplace. They are:

• Generation Z: born between 2001 and 2020
• Millennials: born between 1981 and 2000
• Generation X: born between 1965 and 1980
• Baby Boomers: born between 1946 and 1964
• Silent Generation: born between 1925 and 1945

Their office interactions are often framed as negative—Boomers as resistant to change, or Gen Z glued to their phones—but experts say they don’t have to be. In fact, it’s essential for a healthy workplace that they aren’t.

With so many different people at different life stages making changes right now, that’s no easy task. A recent LinkedIn survey finds 72% of Gen Z-ers and 66% of millennials are contemplating a career change in the next 12 months. Another EY survey finds almost a third of Gen X respondents who intend to quit their job say hybrid or work-from-home options would change their mind. For employers fielding demands from five distinct generations making demands on employers, the juggle is real. Yet keeping inter-generational peace seems key to a harmonious work culture.

“We’re seeing younger workers go digital nomad or taking early-career pauses, mid-career folks returning to school to reskill, parents taking breaks, and people of all ages juggling care responsibilities,” notes Marci Alboher, vice president at CoGenerate, a nonprofit focused on bridging generational divides. “People are abandoning retirement to pursue encore careers that combine purpose, passion, and a paycheck. So it results in workplaces with a combination of people of all stages needing to partner, support each other, and collaborate with whomever is nearby—across a lot of lines of difference, including age.”

Last week, I attended a panel discussion sponsored by Alboher’s organization titled “Get ready for the 5-generation workforce.” Here are some takeaways from the event, combined with context from recent trends, studies, and sound advice to get through.

Generation is one just layer of identity.

Beware of using a “generation” as a catch-all for blame versus considering the entirety of a person’s life experience. For example, a Gen X manager might want to pause and really deliberate before they greenlight a new strategy, not because they are slow and resistant to change, but because they laid off 50 employees in their last startup and don’t want to go through that again. Or a millennial worker might have his phone off on weekends because his partner works in another state, the kids go to bed at 7 p.m., and their family time is sacred on Saturday.

“People say, ‘Well, I’m an older millennial’ or ‘I’m a younger baby boomer,’” says Megan Gerhardt, author of Gentelligence: A Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce. “That’s because age and generation can show up very differently in the way that you view things in your experience. You can also put gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, where you are in the world or any part of your identity that can fit into this.”

Choose curiosity over judgment.

Along the lines of the above, dig deeper to understand what motivates colleagues of different generations. A simple phrase like “Help me understand why you see it that way” goes much further than “I don’t understand why you see it that way.” One is a request, while the other is a judgment.

Only once these conversations take place can two parties establish the trust needed to have a working relationship.

Method of communication is really, really, really important.

Toggling between Slack, text message, phone calls, Zoom, Teams, Google Hangout, and email (and, perhaps occasionally, in-person conversation) is chaotic enough. We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by assigning entire generations a preferred mode of communication, versus understanding that, like all things, styles really vary individually. Without that nuance, misunderstandings can run rampant.

“The fact that older people are presumed not to know how to use technology is completely inaccurate. Where complexity in evidence matters is that we do know that older people are sometimes less interested in using technology as constantly or as pervasively as younger people,” says Gerhardt.

For example, she recalls an employer where younger people would often text their ideas and questions to one another. The older people would not respond, though, and the younger colleagues felt disrespected and thought it was because their elder counterparts were not enthusiastic. It turns out that the reticence to engage was driven by evening hours being reserved for personal time or family, and the feeling that text was not the right forum for work communications.

“Very quickly, something that seemed minor ended up escalating to a tension that had to be addressed directly,” Gerhardt says. “It’s not my way or your way, it’s: Can you help me understand why you’re not responding to those texts, or why you choose text over email? What’s our team norm going to be? What’s our goal? How do we reach it together? What’s going to make the most sense for the way that we work together and something we can agree upon?”