Characteristics of the Baby Boomers,

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Characteristics of the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y The workforce today is made up of three different generations, in which demographers have named as the Baby Boomers, Generation X (Gen X) and Generation Y (also known as Millennials or Gen Y). Different generations have different values and beliefs regarding family, career, the work/life balance, training and development, loyalty, gender roles, the work environment and expectations of leaders. The values of each generation have been developed from their social environment during their early years. They have different characteristics, behavioral traits, and value systems. We have to be careful not to categorize someone based solely on the year he or she was born, but it is helpful to understand typical behaviors and values of each generation in the workplace. In turn, this means different needs and working styles which can cause conflict in the work environment. However, this tension among the generations seems to be overlooked or ignored. These conflicts play out on a team level in ways that hinder productivity, increase turnover, lead to frustration and poor morale. Not everyone agrees on when each generation starts and ends. There is an element of false precision when setting the chronological boundaries, but none the less, a line must be drawn (Pew Research Center, 2010). The boundaries provided by Amber Paley (2012) will be years referenced throughout the remainder of this paper. Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, while Gen Xers fall between the years of 1965 to 1979 and those of the Y Generation were born between 1980 and 2006. “The generation to which a person belongs may have a strong influence on his or her work behavior and attitude” (DuBrin, 2007). Each generation has their own idea of the look and feel of the workplace and more than likely will disagree with one

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