Generational Differences - The New Numbers November 17th, 2008

Heather McCulligh

We’ve talked a lot here about how to effectively manage generational differences in the workforce. I was cruising around recently and found this great list from Jeanne Meister, who you may know from the New Learning Playbook. She is currently doing research on generational differences, and shared some interesting stats about the impact of having four generations in the workforce.

Check these out:

• Someone in America’s Baby Boomer Generation turns 60 every 10 minutes.
• Of America’s entire workforce holding executive and managerial positions, 19% will be eligible to retire by 2012. But, McKinsey Global Institute has a frightening statistic - with the current downturn in the economy, professionals and workers will have to continue working until they reach the age of 70 in order to keep the same standard of living.
• Couple this with the fact that Millennials, those born after 1981, make up 22% of the workforce and by 2014 they will represent 47% of the workforce.

In our recent Halloween survey results, managing generational differences ranked fairly low as a concern for HR professionals. But given these numbers, it should probably be a bigger concern, even if it isn’t impacting the workplace today.

You can participate in Jeanne’s research by taking the survey here. She will be examining the results in terms of what they mean for recruiting, developing and motivating four generations of employees. She’s also looking for personal stories - you can learn more about sharing them with her here.

Tags: Generation Y, talent management