Four Generations Working Together

From the 1960s through to the late 80's the workplace had two generations of workers, traditionalists, born between 1900-1945 and baby boomers, born between 1946-1964. For the most part, this worked well; there was respect, a thirst to both teach and learn, and a sense of common benevolence. By 2020, the world experienced the tech revolution, the great recession, 911, the introduction of Twitter and cryptocurrency, and the workplace has changed, from having two generations to five.

The multi-generational workplace is not necessarily functioning to its utmost capacity. As employees get older, some begin to doubt their value, they are insecure about being replaced, and quite often refuse to try to change with the times. As GEN Z (1998-) begins to enter the workforce, they are recently educated, digital natives, who are eager to get their careers going. Many don't remember the impact of 911 and certainly have only heard of the protests around the Vietnam war. They are typically well mannered, will take the coaching if they can get it, and many also grew up with helicopter parents and were overly sheltered.

By using human-centered design theory, we will

• dig deep into the root of multi-generational tension

• empathize with the members to recognize why/how they feel this way

• ideate possible paths to the elimination of multi-generational tensions