Gen-Mix workplace is a challenge for today’s managers.

 

If Andra Zwick, co-owner of Oklahoma City-based Zwick & Associates* staffing company, wants to encourage her top recruiter, she leaves a Starbucks gift card and note on her desk.
Mother and daughter, Andra Zwick,  and Janee’ Zwick, work together at Zwick & Associates* staffing firm.  “She’s extremely motivated by praise,” said Zwick, who knows her employee all too well. Zwick’s star producer is also her mom, a baby boomer whose generation is known for its work ethic, need for recognition for their contributions and, oftentimes, coaching to learn to  work in teams.  Meanwhile, Zwick, 38, knows she is a classic example of Generation X — today’s roughly 35- to 45-year-old workers who typically want to work at companies where they can advance their skills and career paths, or they’ll move on or start their own businesses.  That’s exactly what Zwick did when she and her sister founded their company three years ago.  “I worked for several staffing firms in Dallas, where I got great training, but knew I’d gone as far as I could go,” she said.

Differences in age, beliefs

Today, Zwick frequently hears from human resources executives about differences, and sometimes tension, across the four generations in today’s workplace, she said.

“Baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) or Veterans (1925-1945) may not think that Millennials (born 1978 and afterward) are working hard enough,” Zwick said. “Meanwhile, Millennials and Gen-Xers may think the other groups are too rigid and unwilling to bend on policies that might benefit the group as a whole.”

Photo – Multi-generational:  Mother and daughters, April Zwick (right), Andra Zwick (center), and Janee’ Zwick (left) work together at Zwick and Associates, the Oklahoma division of Z-Tech Solutions.

 

 

*Zwick and Associates merged with Z-Tech Solution on January 1, 2016.

ICYMI: Gen-Mix workplace is a challenge for today’s managers Local staffing firm featured in recent newspaper article
This story was originally published by The Oklahoman on May  25, 2014.