It’s Time to Ditch Those Tired Generational Stereotypes

Some workplaces are employing up to six generations who are working together — and more than half of businesses employ three or more generations.

Lazy Gen-Zers. Entitled Millennials. Out-of-touch Boomers. Tiktoker @champagnecruz has earned tens of millions of likes for his lighthearted videos parodying these stereotypes of employees from different generations.

As an elder-but-hopefully-not-entitled millennial, I admit to sometimes seeing slivers of truth in these corporate workplace spoofs — yes, I make too many Starbucks runs, and yes, I roll my eyes when a colleague calls me for something that could have been a quick e-mail.

But TikTok parodies aside, these generational stereotypes have become embedded in our culture as accepted truths, with little space for nuance. And with some workplaces now employing up to six generations who are working together — and more than half of businesses with three or more generations — that may be doing more harm than good.

According to the “Digital Etiquette: Mind the Generational Gap” study from The Adaptavist Group, a group of global digital transformation experts, more than half of workers surveyed believe generational labeling is bad, and four out of five respondents 65 and older negatively viewed categorizing workers by generation.

The study, released in March 2024, surveyed 4,000 knowledge workers across the U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia, and Germany. Those workers reported that categorizing employees by generation would likely result in negative outcomes: 45 percent said it could lead to harmful stereotypes, 40 percent said it was a slippery slope leading to colleagues excluding each other, and 39 percent said it could result in favoritism.

At Convening Leaders 2024 in San Diego, Convene’s digital editor and podcast host Magdalina Atanassova interviewed Jen Vaseleck, operations manager at Maritz, and Nikki Gonzales, chief of staff at Soundings, on how they’re fostering connection between different generations in their own workplaces.

During the conversation (link to the full podcast recording below), Gonzales said that she considers a person’s generation as simply representing the year they were born — it doesn’t necessarily reveal anything about who they — and what their values — are. Gonzales shared some specific examples from her own team: A Gen-Z intern calls herself a “geriatric Gen Z” since she feels like she’s not as on top of trends or technology as much as most would assume, and Gonzales said her older coworkers inhabit more of a “Gen-Z spirit” in how they quickly embrace change, new ideas, and innovation.

According to the Adaptavist study, that is opposite of how both generations are viewed in the workplace:

“I feel like more so than not, we share a lot of the same values across generations,” Gonzales said. “I’ve had a really great experience working with an intergenerational team, because we come from a place of empathy and respect and understanding [of] things… like, mentorship … [and] being able to learn from each other.”

Gonzales said that when pitching a new idea, rather than tailoring her presentation according to a higher-up’s age or status, she instead focuses on their preferred work and communication styles. For instance, “if data is important to them, then I have to back my claims with the data to prove it,” she said. “And if the story behind it is important … then I’ll have the story ready in a deck.”

The Adaptavist study echoes Gonzales’s approach. When respondents were asked what could be done to break down generational stereotypes, suggestions included “open communication, mentorship, and targeted training … to foster an environment where individuals are seen for their unique strengths.” And that “managers who succeed in getting different generations working together on tasks beyond direct business goals will break down barriers, negative perceptions, and stereotypes between age groups.”

There’s also a business case to be made for abandoning this kind of limiting generational thinking. A February 2024 article published in Harvard Business Review by Mauro F. Guillén, “The Future of Marketing is Intergenerational,” points out that putting people into generational boxes is outdated and, as research shows, woefully inaccurate. Successful brands, he said, are “ageless,” choosing instead to find and focus on — sound familiar? — the values their customers have in common.

Jennifer N. Dienst is senior editor at Convene.

Listen to the complete podcast episode below and find a full list of our episodes on the Convene podcast page.

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