Here’s a brief look at the generations in today’s workplace.

Boomers (Born 1943-1960)

  • Children during society’s Golden Age; raised in an indulgent manner
  • Inner-focused, principled and resolute
  • Focused on meaning, purpose and calling
  • Perfectionists and workaholics
  • Society’s senior leaders now

 

GenXers (Born 1961-1981)

  • Children during the Consciousness Revolution; under-protected as children
  • Bottom-line focused; market ethic
  • Pragmatic, hands-on survivalists
  • Creative, out-of-the-box thinkers
  • Society’s midlife managers now

 

Millennials (Born 1982-2004)

  • Children during a “carnival culture” era of bad manners; raised in an increasingly protective way
  • Focused on teams, collaboration and success
  • Desire a well-rounded, conventional life
  • Society’s young adults now

 

Silent Generation (Born 1925-1942) — not so many of them still working

  • Children during the Great Depression through WWII, the “winter of society”
  • Kind, sensitive and polite
  • Fight for the underdog and innocents

 

Homelanders (Born 2005-2027-ish) — not net in the workplace

  • Children during the “winter of our times” (similar life path to the Silent Generation
  • Dutiful, overprotected and well-behaved
  • Will bring refinement of process and procedure to the workplace

Gen Y and Gen Z refer to the second half/latter third of Gen X and Millennials, respectively.