Goodbye to retirement, hello modern times

they have done enough and don’t have to prove anything.

The generations have different learning styles. Veterans prefer a classroom, boomers tend to like something that’s one-on-one and facilitated, gen Xers do it independently and for gen Ys, it’s totally collaborative and networked.

Gen Ys want feedback on demand, gen Xers would like it on a weekly or daily basis whereas Boomers will settle for something once a year. Veterans would say that no news is good news.

Furthermore, each will struggle with their own issues. Traditionalists tend to have difficulty dealing with related medical issues or depression and in some cases, consequences of their lifestyle behaviours, including smoking and alcoholism. They might also have issues with diversity.

Baby boomers prefer face-to-face interaction, consensus decision making, and they tend toward self-absorption. They do not like the strict management styles of their bosses from earlier generations. It was the boomers who introduced us to group decision making and made us focus on the process rather than company policy or procedure. Boomers are likely to struggle with issues such as the nontraditional work styles of generations X and

Y, sharing the appropriate level of praise and rewards, technology replacing human interaction and work/life balance. Gen X and gen Y would also say they struggle with practising what they preach.

The best of gen X are competent and know how to take risks. Generally, generation X will struggle with issues such as work-life balance, office politics and multi-generational team projects.