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Is your version of technology a cordless phone or a phone that doubles as a camera?
What’s your idea of Hollywood? Rat pack or brat pack?
The answer depends upon your generation — mature, Baby Boomer,
X or Y.
Each generation is its own culture, defined by different events, standards and values.
Yet no generation is an island. For the first time in history, four generations are sitting side by side in the workplace, said Mary Lu Gerke, vice president of clinical operations at Gundersen Lutheran Hospital and expert in the generational gap.
The gap will wreak havoc in the workplace if companies ignore it, Gerke said.
Gerke, who has a doctorate in human and organizational development, leads workshops on the topic.
She recently shared her thoughts on the future of the workplace with the Tribune. Here’s what she had to say.
Q: Companies often provide training to their employees on gender and racial diversity. Should they also teach generational diversity?
A: Absolutely. No question. If they don’t change, the next generation just won’t work for them. That’s how simple it is. Because Generation X is such a small group, there will be high competition to get these people. It will be an employee-driven economy. Right now it looks like HR people, managers and supervisors think they have a choice. They’re not going to have a choice.
Q: Businesses are dealing with four generations of employees. How can they please everyone?
A: First, they should become knowledgeable about generational diversity. As a manager, you should know the differences. Second, embrace it as diversity, not as right or wrong. Third, we must pull the next generation into decision-making groups about work environments, strategy, staffing, performance appraisals, benefits and rewards. The Baby Boomers don’t want these retirement ... accounts. The next generation does. They’re much more knowledgeable and savvy about investments.
Q: What misunderstandings do older workers have about younger workers?
A: This is the first generation that says, “I don’t want to work more hours. I want to work less hours and increase my efficiency and productivity.” That’s very strange to the Baby Boomers and the mature generation. They see that as lazy. Part of the gap is that when Boomers entered the work force, we had no computers. Imagine doing all your accounting, all your budgets, by hand. You had to work 40 hours to survive. We don’t appreciate that the next generation is highly productive because they have new tools to do that.
Q: How do different generations affect the American economy?
A: The question is: how will (the Baby Boomers) survive? You guys can’t pay for all of us. We believe the illusion that X and Y will stay in the United States. If they can’t find what they want in work, they’ll go all over the world because they can. There are more American citizens working in foreign countries than ever before. Our most talented people are leaving the United States.
Q: What do the visionaries say?
A: They say it’s going to be a very scary time. They say that China is going to be the No. 1 country for manufacturing. So what’s left for us? Service organizations like health care and educational institutions. The high tech stuff is still in the United States, but will we be able to retain it when people in Japan will work for half as much? If we could figure out alternatives to oil and we could produce that alternative here, that would give us a big boost in the economy.
Q: How will the Baby Boomers’ retirement differ from their parents’ retirement?
A: First of all, they’ll be alive. Many of our parents died before they retired. Our life span has increased. The Boomers, because we can, will increase the economy in the areas of vacations, travel, tourism. The Boomers will also enjoy their grandchildren, spend time with them, travel with them, go to sports events with them. They didn’t do it with their own children, but they’ll do it with their grandchildren. Many of the Boomers still have their parents to take care of, which will consume much of their time. They’ll take their parents to the clinics, or they’ll spend time in the nursing homes. They’ll be very busy in retirement.
Q: If employees do all their work at home, what happens to social interaction?
A: The research shows that they still have socialization skills, it’s just different. The skills aren’t necessarily connected to work. If they work at home, they socialize with friends and family. If they’re in school, there are all kinds of extracurricular activities. You’ll be able to focus better because you won’t have all this socializing distracting you in the work place. You won’t have office politics.
The ages mingle, but how well?
Eight-hundred people. Four generations. One big building.
That’s the challenge Dave Buroker faces. Buroker is the region human resources manager at CenturyTel, located in downtown La Crosse.
Buroker works on employee relations, hiring and benefits. He’s also charged with keeping the employees happy. It’s not an easy feat, Buroker said.
Each generation is motivated by something different, he said. Young people want more money and better benefits. Older people want recognition and to feel like they put in a good day’s work.
The Tribune took a look. Are the generational gaps as wide as they seem?
Four CenturyTel employees — one from each generation — shared their ideas, gripes and expectations about work.
Y-ers are a mobile generation
Most of her friends have not yet started careers: one got married, a few went backpacking in Europe, one works at a Walgreens in Minneapolis.
“I wish I would’ve taken a year off, or just a summer, to bum around and travel,” Carrie Amann, 23, said. “I just worried, ‘what if I don’t get a job?’ I (wanted to) use the degree I paid so much money for.”
That’s why Amann steps into the crowded elevator at 7:45 a.m. She’s wearing a blue, V-neck sweater, holding a purse and coffee. Men in suits move aside to let her in.
Most CenturyTel employees never see the seventh floor, Amann said. She sees it every day. Amann is the public relations coordinator. She oversees the corporate newsletter. When reporters call, Amann answers.
With a lush view of downtown La Crosse and the bluffs, big conference rooms, offices and empty cubicles, the seventh floor feels quiet and corporate. And Amann feels young.
Amann says she’s the youngest person in the building, other than a college intern she supervises. “(She) keeps me sane,” Amann joked. “Normally, when you have down time with co-workers, it’s like ‘my husband this’ or ‘my son that.’ Who can relate to me?” she asked.
Amann sits at an oversized cubicle, typing on a Mac. In front of her is a photo of her boyfriend, a bodybuilder, flexing. To the right, a girls’ night out at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Most of those friends have left La Crosse, but Amann, originally from Racine, stayed. She worked as an assistant manager at Walgreens for six months, waiting for the CenturyTel position to open up.
Learning is important to Amann, more important than money. “Right now it’s just about getting that work experience. Most of my experience (has been) text books and classrooms.”
Being new to the work world, Amann asks questions all the time. “I think a lot of people have the same questions, but they’re afraid to ask. Because I’m young, I can get away with it.”
Her ideal work environment? She’d work from home. All calls would be forwarded to her cell phone. She’d do errands, work out, do her laundry and drop it all when a call came through.
In the office, too much time is spent waiting around, Amann said. “I feel like they’re paying me, and I’m not doing anything. I can’t just sit here. It drive me nuts,” she said.
Amann takes a day off when she needs it. She catches up on sleep, hangs out with friends, or takes care of her mom, who is sick. “I know I think better (after a break),” she said.
Alhough she’s busy, Amann also volunteers in the community. She serves on a UW-L alumni association committee, a Riverfront committee and the Chileda Classic planning committee. Amann teaches second-graders at Franklin Elementary School about money and occupations.
“Not all people our age are doing nothing, drinking and sleeping all day,” she said. “Some of us are going out and trying to make a difference.”
For this X-er, it’s all about good communication
Jennifer Nagy, originally from Tallahassee, Fla., wanted to be a marine biologist. But she went to business school instead. “I figured it was something to fall back on,” she said.
“There’s all kinds of businesses out there that need people with secretarial skills. Anything from law offices to food processing plants to phone companies. It’s cool to (work) at different places.”
Nagy, 34, has worked for the University of Virginia, a health care company in Washinton, D.C., Computer Sciences Corp. in Crystal City, Va., and a food processing company in La Crosse.
Four months ago, Nagy was laid off from the food processing job. Within two hours, she uploaded her resume on Monster.com. “It doesn’t pay to sit at home and sulk. I knew that God would provide for me,” she said.
Nagy now works on the third floor of CenturyTel, a customer service floor. More than one hundred service reps talk on the phone all day, creating a contant hum that Nagy no longer notices.
A customer service specialist, Nagy works directly with managers and supervisors, taking notes during meetings, filing documents, photocopying, ordering lunches, writing sales stats on a white board.
Nagy likes her job, but work doesn’t define her. “Work is important, but you could earn all the money in the world. If you don’t have family, what good is it?”
Nagy spends every lunch hour with her husband, Mike.
Her ideal work environment? Nagy isn’t picky. She wants open communication. “If I don’t understand something, I like being able to ask a question,” she said. “At CenturyTel, I can walk right up to (people) and ask them anything.”
At a previous job, communication crumbled. “There were constant changes, and it was all hush-hush until they’d announce it at a meeting,” she said. “Everybody’s on edge. It’s just not a good atmosphere. Office politics isn’t a nice thing.”
Nagy’s approach to work is no-nonsense. “Obviously it’s something you have to do,” she said. “Why not choose (a job) you’ll be happy doing, one that will pay the bills and help you in the long haul, with benefits and retirement.”
But Nagy hasn’t forgotten her original passion: working with animals. She has four cats, and she hopes to someday volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation center.
Flexibility key to success of workers with a family
Bob Wolfert, 44, never really leaves work. A senior sales engineer at CenturyTel, Wolfert carries a cell phone so he can be reached 24 hours a day.
“It does take a toll on you,” he said. “The work flow never stops, and your life becomes a part of that workflow if you’re not careful.”
On most days, Wolfert meets with customers, finds out what they need and manages the project.
He also fixes “troubles” in the field. He recently worked 24 hours straight repairing a voice system problem at local schools.
The hours are long, but he appreciates a stable job.
After graduating from high school, Wolfert assumed he’d stay in the La Crosse area, get a job with a company and retire there.
That plan was shattered when he was first laid off, Wolfert said. Wolfert, who began his career as a machinest, estimates he has been laid off 10 times.
“It definitely changed my belief about the security of an organization,” he said. “I realized that I had to take care of myself. You have to make yourself marketable.”
So Wolfert went to California, where he attended Devry Institute. Then he lived in the Twin Cities for 12 years before returning to La Crosse.
He has been at CenturyTel for 10 years, and he’s thankful for his job.
Some younger colleagues enter the workforce thinking that this is only a job, Wolfert said, that once they get what they need, they’ll move on.
Wolfert can relate, but it took him years to realize that success was his responsibility, not an organization’s, he said.
Wolfert’s ideal work environment? His top issue is flexibility. Wolfert’s family is used to him working long hours, but now that his children are teenagers, Wolfert realizes how quickly time flies.
Wolfert is a busy man. He sits on the Campbell Town Board, he’s a volunteer fire-fighter and his kids are very active, he said.
Wolfert also wants the latitude to make decisions instead of going up the chain of command.
Common sense, good work ethic will get you far
Iron wire telephones. Rotary phones. Crank phones. DSL.
Bill Crogan, 65, has seen it all. For 26 years, Crogan worked for the phone company, now known as CenturyTel. He retired last month.
Crogan looks forward to tinkering with old cars during his retirement. He has built three cars already. “People say, ‘Don’t retire.’ You’ll be bored.’ I don’t think that day will come,” he said. “I worked 45 years for somebody else. I figured it was time to work for myself.”
Crogan buried cable, located cable, repaired cable, installed wiring and installed in-home DSL Internet. Before that, he climbed up telephone polls and untangled wires. He went to people’s homes and installed their phones, asking where they’d like the phone, what color they wanted, how long a cord they needed. It’s not like that anymore, Crogan said.
“In the early days, it was understood that if you paid your phone bill you got your phones fixed. People were paying for a service. Today the company is out to make a profit.”
Before working for the telephone company, Crogan built underground, missile-launching sites for Boeing. He lived in a mobile home with his wife, son and daughter. While his children were growing up, Crogan often worked the second and third shifts. In 15 years, he moved 17 times. The Cold War ended, and he moved back to Wisconsin, taking a job with the telephone company.
“Enjoy what you have today, because you’re not sure what tomorrow will bring,” Crogan said. “It’s nice to plan for the future, but you can’t always depend on it.”
Crogan, who grew up on a dairy farm, has worked most of his life. It wasn’t like an office job, he said. Sometimes it was cold, wet, muddy, hot or smelly. But it was useful. He wishes some of his colleagues had a similar work ethic.
“I’ve noticed as the years went by that there are more people trying to get out of work than do it,” he said. “(They’re) highly educated, but they’re stupid. They don’t have the common sense that you learn farming. It’s a different kind of education.”
Kids today grow up with video and computer games. Everything moves so fast. If you screw up, you press the button and start over, Crogan said. It’s not like that in real life. At least it didn’t used to be.
Crogan doesn’t know how to advise his grandson about an occupation. Crogan remembers his father’s and his aunts’ goal in life: get a job with a company and stay with the company until retirement.
“Nobody in his right mind would do that today,” Crogan said. “Four years from now, that job probably won’t even exist. It’ll be changed in some way.”
Jenny Dolan can be reached at (608) 791-8220 or jdolan@lacrossetribune.com.
