Mary Teresa Bitti, Financial Post
Published: Monday, September 15, 2008
Intergenerational differences in the workplace is getting a lot of media coverage, says Claude Balthazard, director, HR excellence and acting registrar, Human Resources Professionals Association. But the fact remains, these are not new issues. New generations have always entered the workplace, and companies always cope.
“What has changed things is that because of the demographics, the economy, the retirement of the Baby Boomers — which is a bleep in terms of size– that facet has brought the issue to the front burner.”
Interestingly, Mr. Balthazard points out that most of the people talking about intergenerational issues are Boomers. “I have never seen a millennial or Gen-xers give a presentation or talk on what these issues look like from their perspective. It seems to be mostly Boomers that are concerned about the relationship between generations.”
And the focus is always on the differences. “To sell books, people focus on the differences, which is much more entertaining than talking about the similarities,” Mr. Balthazard says. “But, if you talk to people in the field they will say: ‘Talent is talent; good managers are good managers’. In every generation there are workers that you would like to see in your organization and others you would not. As managers, it’s the same basic good management skills that are what you have to bring to the fore to handle this situation.”
