The Generational Challenge

Spent the morning dealing with an issue that can always use more attention: the generational divide, and the hefty challenge of attracting and retaining younger employees in our workforces. Neil Howe, noted author and demographics expert, was the keynoter at an event sponsored by the Greater Washington Board of Trade. Some may remember Neil's first book, Generations, co-authored with the late Bill Strauss, which told the history of America in terms of successive generations. For the purposes of today's meeting, he focused on the five generations presently in the workforce: the GI generation (1901-24), the Silent generation (1925-42), the Baby Boom generation (1943-60), Generation X (1961-81), and the Millennials (1982 on).

Never before have so many different generations (and generational ideas) shared the same office space. While all come to the table with relative strengths, it's the Millennials who will fill in our future manufacturing workforce and thus on whom we need to start focusing. Their career expectations are much different than Gen Xers or Boomers -- Millennials are the most technologically savvy generation ever (I should know, I'm raising two of them), not to mention the most diverse, among the most connected, and probably the most structured. All of which makes this  an issue on which our associations will have to focus, considering our members' success depends on creating a workspace these newcomers want to inhabit for the foreseeable future.