Building a Thriving Multigenerational Workforce

Hello, and welcome to another episode of WorkHuman Spotlight. I'm Eric Mosley, c e o of WorkHuman, and I'm here at the WorkHuman Live Conference in San Diego for the latest edition of the HR and Leadership Talk Show. Thank you for joining us. On today's episode, we're talking about a challenge that most large organizations have begun to grapple with the generations gap as baby boomers, gen X, millennials, and now Gen Z are all working side by side, trying to find ways to collaborate and find common language. Companies have navigated multi-generational workforces for as long as there have been companies. However, the challenges we face today and the tools we can leverage are very different than in the past. Now, it can be a bit tricky to speak about entire generations as if they're monolithic, homogenous groups because at risks overlooking an individual's needs and identity, but it's equally misguided to assume that all workers at all ages have the exact same needs. And that each generation isn't a product of unique external factors that have shaped it. How they communicate, what attracts them to a company, what motivates them. Getting that right is the difference between a winning talent strategy and a failing one. At one end of the spectrum, our baby boomers and Older Gen Xers, they face such obstacles as ageism and a perceived skills gap and uncertainty about retirement. In fact, hidden within the Great Resignation where a number of older workers who didn't actually resign but were let go during the pandemic and retired before they wanted to because they were unable to find work causing organizations to lose decades of skills and earned knowledge. At the other end of the spectrum is the younger millennials and Gen Z, they grew up digital natives having seen two once in a lifetime, economic downturns and a pandemic that changed the very nature of work just as they entered the workforce. To paraphrase, planet Money co-founder Adam Davidson in our previous broadcast, they have a relationship with work and society, very different from their parents and grandparents. Generations economies rise and fall, but one thing that's certain is that the talent pool will only get more and more competitive. Demographically, the working age population in the United States is getting smaller and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As Bert rates drop to a centuries low, attracting, engaging, and retaining talent will take meeting the unique needs of these generations and individuals to help you do just that. Joining us for today's broadcast is a fabulous panel all recorded in front of a live audience. At our most recent WorkHuman live conference in San Diego, we've also sent our camera crews out to hear firsthand how the humans on the street feel about the generations gap. And we'll feature a conversation with one of our WorkHuman customers. It's a packed show. So thank you again for joining us, and let's get started. We are gonna jump right in. Okay. Martha, I'm gonna start with you, and I would love if everyone would feel comfortable to weigh in with your thoughts afterwards. But Martha, in your work, you have cautioned us against generational caricature, and you're saying that stereotyping tends to block a deeper, more nuanced understanding of meaningful differences and similarities between people. Now, with that in mind, how should we be thinking about generational identity and to lay a foundation for this conversation? Why should we be focused on it? Well, I think the why is, is evident to all of us, which is that we are in the reality of multi-generational workforces. Um, and I think for me in particular, when I think about this, what happens is, as a, as a way of talking, we use these, these, these titles, these names. But what that does, unfortunately, there's a slippage and what happens is we begin to think, uh, we begin to, to sort of lose the nuanced thinking around how people are fundamentally different in ways. For instance, the technology's then been exposed to the sort of law events in the world that they've been exposed to, and that does create differences. And as an anthropologist, my main thing is really around understanding how people make meaning in the, in the life that they lead. And they do that through the context of their growing up. And we grow up in different ways. And so I think that it's really more about giving, um, respect to the, the, the context that people call reality. Wonderful. And I have a few questions that I wanna ask, but before I do that, I think it would be helpful for the audience to know a little bit about how each of you thinks of yourself. Could you each share a little bit about what generation you identify with? Alright, want me go first? I would like you to go first. You're looking at me. You're the closest to me. Okay. Uh, I identify with Gen X and I just barely, ma I just barely made it. People Are here. What about you, Martha? Well, I identify with Gen Z, but I'm actually not a member of Gen Z. Theoretically, That's an important, I am a millennial. Um, shout out millennials. Yes. Um, let's see. I would say also something that if you want to get to know me, you have to understand that I like to watch. Love is blind. I told my wife I wasn't going to cheat and watch you on the plane ride home tonight. So, um, that's what we do in my household. So, Keisha, I know you and I had this conversation, I am on the cusp. So I am, I'm technically a millennial, but I, I identify as being Gen X. I remember mix tapes and VCRs and V H Ss. So I can't, I, you know, We, we know that stuff. We did have this conversation and realized that we were the same age, and I was identifying as an elder millennial, so that was the terminology I was using. So, 'cause it's a big range. It's a big range. It is a range. Yeah. And assuming what people identify with or what, how they see themselves is one of the pitfalls here, I would say. Right. And it depends on what day. Some days I'm a millennial too. Well, hello, happy Thursday, Fridays. So with these labels, I want to specifically check in with you Jim and Porter, millennials. And I'll say baby boomers probably are often the target of meme a mentality, meaning we're getting attached to these generalizations about what happens inside of any given, um, generation. Yeah. We got the entitled and sheltered millennials, we got the selfish and grouchy boomers. These things get repeated and they can be particularly counterproductive. How can we loosen people's attachments to these stereotypes? I'll start with that. Well, I'll start, uh, you, first you have to understand the damage and how damaging it is to our society, and particularly in organizations, uh, organization like mine, 150,000 employees where we're struggling in healthcare with staffing, nursing shortages, all of that. I, the last thing I need is for any population of the workforce to be disengaged because of these. So, uh, you have to one, as an organization say, this is not gonna be tolerated here. Some jokes can be a little funny, but not too funny. Uh, there's all of these types of talented people in every generation, and we have to learn how to respect them all. So we make sure that we have tight policies around that. I really, I'm pretty hard on it. I'm pretty hard on it, I'll say that. But in terms of just in general, as a person, you have to realize and think back, I'm 55 now, and I remember when I was 20, 21, and I was always having my parents and family say things like, well, you know, you're a generation. And I would think to myself, well, you would like me too. You just too old to remember. And I would, I wouldn't say it. I would think it. And so now I've become that person where I'm in meetings with my team who are all 10 and 15, 20 years younger than me. And I'm thinking, you are not getting it in my head. I would never say that. So you just have to be intentional about where you are, uh, family, upbringing, how you see things. Sometimes you bring your own situation from home to the workplace. Just because your son does not want to come out of his room off the computer does not mean everyone his age at work is just like that. Mm-hmm. So I'll stop there. Mm. So I think you're spot on. Um, I think you have to understand the context of people. You have to understand how they're entering the room. And so for me, like as I think about it, especially with my parents being a different generation, uh, it goes back to kind of the founding story of, of JobWell. Uh, I remember at the time I was working at Goldman Sachs, I was three years into my career and you know, from all metrics, I was, I was successful. Uh, but I always felt like there was more I wanted to do. And I remember it was Christmas 2014, I came home and I thought I was given this incredible Christmas gift, this letter to my parents about why I was gonna quit and go build a diversity recruiting platform, uh, and how I was gonna tilt the world in a positive direction. Like, in my mind, this letter was awesome. And as I'm getting like the climax of the letter, I'm like, looking at my parents, I'm thinking they're gonna like stand up and, and clap. And I remember my dad just looking at me confused, and he was like, that's like a terrible decision. And that's like, who do you think you are that you can go out and build this business? Yeah. And the context is that my dad is from the Bronx, first person in his family, and go to college, uh, became a lawyer, a general counsel for a publicly traded utility company, and then became a state judge and, and retired. So the pathway to success was you put your head down, you do the job, and, and, and that's what you do. And so to take that kind of, you know, path that they didn't approve of at the time, it was missing the context. Now, flash forward from that conversation. Eight years later, jop Will's become the largest diversity recruiting platform in the country. Like my parents are very excited about that. Uh, and, and a lot of amazing things have happened along the journey. And from the first lens of being a parent talking to my dad, I was like, you know, I now understand why you told me don't do it. And looking back, it's because you weren't talking to me. You were talking to yourself. You were talking to the person that didn't have the safety net that I had because of the work that he did. So the advice to not take that leap of faith was more about you couldn't do that. And so, as I think about generations, his natural impulse was, you, millennials, you think you can just go build stuff. Well, yeah, we have the internet. Like it was easy. Like it's, it's not as hard as what, you know, you didn't have that opportunity. And so I just think it's so important to understand the context if we want to give good advice to people. And, um, so that's, that, That's a great example. Thinking about the different context that shaped your father's expectations and things that he would need. Now, Kabrina, I wanna ask you, as a leader of a multi-generational team at WorkHuman, how has your awareness of the different, say generation specific experiences kinda shaped your understanding of people's needs? So I'm gonna build off of what Porter shared because it's similar to the conversation Keisha, you and I were having. I think, um, it go, it goes back to the context of not just our generation, but what the other generations have handed over to us. So I think as a Gen Xer slash millennial, I have the privilege of what our, my parents' generation didn't have of not making that assumption. So there is not one pathway to success. Um, there's the freedom to ask questions, to lean into it. And so what's really worked for me is not making some of those assumptions across the team and really being able to ask, what does success look like? What is, what are you, what are you striving for? Because again, for some to your dad, to your point about your dad, it is the career growth and what that allows you to buy the home, the kids, the, the security. But financial security isn't necessarily as important to different generations as it was to maybe my parents' generation. So just really leaning into trying to get a better understanding. And, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna pivot a little bit and share what I said before. I think it's a fascinating time to be a a 43 year old woman in the workforce. It is a good time for me, and I am for the first time in my life, I think an experience what privilege does look like. And what I mean by that is it is not, um, it's not typical for me not to have career advancement opportunities. I'm able to build off all the work that has happened. I'm really in a really good spot. But I think 25 year old Cabrina probably had a very different experience. And 65 year old cabrina might be on the stage saying something completely different than what I'm saying right now as it relates to being in the job market, career opportunities, growth, what success looks like. So I've been allowing those experiences, um, to inform how I work, but realizing that that's not probably what my team is experiencing as a different generation and not being cognizant of that and not asking them specifically what is important to them, where they like to go, how do we build that versus assuming that it mirrors what my journey has been and what I've wanted it to be has been kind of critical to the success. So long-winded way of saying really a lot of open conversations with the team about what their desires are and just understanding that it is, um, wildly different than it was for me. And even what it was for me when I was 25. When I think about the younger generation that's joining the workforce now, they're even having a very different experience just based off of yeah. All the work that we, our generations have done. They're having a really different experience in life and that's gonna shape their needs and expectations. I'd love to ask you, Porter, because of the work that you do with students, what are you taking into account as you consider their needs and expectations as job seekers? Yeah. These kids, Uh, you know, there's like this shift of, of of, of a belief that forget about work life balance. It's like life work balance. Mm-hmm. That's like the first thing. And then the second thing is like, what's the employer gonna do for me? And so I remember when I was going through like, interview processes when I was in college and, uh, and starting my career, it was so much of me trying to have the leverage and trying to figure out how do I get the leverage in this conversation. I feel like the younger generation steps into these, these interviews with the leverage. And so they really are putting it on the company to, to have a real clear understanding, uh, and being able to articulate, like, like, why should I work for you? And so, like, employer branding matters. Everybody has to be a D E I expert. You have to be able to speak intelligently about the things that are working and things that aren't working. And so I think it raises the game for employers when you're put on the, on the spot where you have to, you have to sell yourself. And I think a lot of the younger generation, because there's so many different ways to make money. Yeah. There's so many different ways to make money that, like, that traditional career path doesn't, that's, that's not, you don't have to go that route anymore. And so I think employers are really starting to recognize that and they're stepping their game up. And I think the younger generation has done a great deed for everybody. Um, as it's changed, the leverage between the employer and the employee Applicants have the leverage. Now, there was a person in it, and I can't remember the position, applying for an IT coder, and he wanted to know where our organization stood around environmental sustainability. Now we have policies and all of that, but I've never had anyone say, I need to speak with the head of HR to discuss those policies before I accept this coder job. Wow. Now my generation would be offended and say, okay, next. But it hit me. I had to do it. And I did it because that leader was understaffed. And she said, Jim, I know it's different, but the world is different now, to your point. So the lessons that we're learning as we come together is that, um, as it relates to generational, people have different needs, right? We may all have burnout in healthcare, but there are different factors leading to that burnout. Mm-hmm. So for maybe baby boomers, it's like, all right, I'm getting a little older. Uh, I'm a nurse. I, I can't do the lifting and walking that I used to do. Is there an opportunity for me or do I need to leave now? Hence, enters virtual health during covid. So we're now able to transition a lot of those baby boomer nurses to virtual roles where they are, they're behind the screen and they're able to translate their skills and knowledge to the front line. So that's something we see there. Uh, millennials, flexibility, belonging de and I is big you because the millennial and population and Gen X and a lot of people, they wanna bring them their whole selves to work now. And regardless of how you look at it, covid, George, Floyd De and I and a lot of societal things really changed how people see not only work themselves and themselves in work. So there's a social contract that we have to negotiate now that we have not had to do in the past. One of the things that we started, um, advocate Health during Covid and George Floyd was a series of courageous conversations, is what we call them. And at that time, everyone was in pain. You had leaders not knowing how to have the conversations with their teams, uh, teams not knowing how to have the conversation with their leader. I don't really want her to know me personally like that. So we have a framework and we train all of our leaders to say, you will have to have those conversations. If it's not comfortable for you, then maybe leadership is not for you. Mm-hmm. You chose to be a leader. You apply for this job, or we tapped you on the shoulder. Either way, you, these lives under you, you're responsible for them. And with that, I tell you what, the millennials, those who move into leadership in that capacity do way better in terms of the transparency, uh, checking in on staff. So we're just teaching people to do that. 'cause leaders who've been doing it one way for 30 years and you four years from retirement, do you really want to go through all of that? Or do you wanna, sometime they're like, Jim, I'm gonna try and if it don't work, can I get a package? I'm like, no. Well, let's not talk about a package right now. I need you to make it work. 'cause you have 2000 people under you. So we're trying one step at a time. Now, Martha, I wanna, I wanna check in with you as our resident anthropologist, the needs and expectations of different generations coming together in the workplaces can sometimes cause a culture clash. And some managers might have the reflex to try to go for harmony as a goal. I wanna smooth things out. I'd love to hear your reaction to those managers that are trying to go for harmony across. Yeah. I mean, I think, um, I think most of us try to like, move toward some balance. I think it's just human nature to, to not want, um, too much conflict. Mm-hmm. Um, but I think there's a form of of friction that we should all be embracing and encouraging. And it's like creative friction. And the best way to have creative friction is to have people from different experiences coming together and, and thinking, you know, thinking, thinking ideas and, and figuring out what's the next thing to do. Yeah. In, in this world where we are always striving for seamlessness, like seamlessness in our technology, seamlessness in our day-to-day, it's like in that seamlessness, we're really missing those kind of border points that create change. Yeah. And, and if, if nothing else, I mean, I think Gen Z's doing us all a big favor by driving some of these, um, you know, some of these frictions more to the, to the fore. So yeah, I mean, I'd say embrace messiness because humans, if they're one thing, they are very messy. You have to be self-aware. Um, you have to try and be intentional to find and tease out your own blind spots because we all have them. What do you do for a living? I stream on Twitch. I'm a geriatric nurse care manager. I own my Own cleaning business. I'm A K five principal in the city Of Detroit. I just launched an ed tech company called Short Answer. I'm a sales enablement coach. I work in human resources. I am A D E N I coordinator. I Currently bartend. I Want a nonprofit organization. I am a game designer. I am the president of a global nonprofit organization. Nothing. And I love it. And what generation are you part of? I am Gen X, Gen Z Millennial. Gen X, gen X. Yes. I am a part of the baby boomer generation. I'm actually a millennial. I am Generation X, the forgotten ones. I'm a millennial. I didn't know that. Gen Z, gen Z. Gen X. Yes. I am Gen X, but my daughter calls me a boomer In the workplace. What do you think is different about your generation from others? Our generation has been a little bit more scrappy. We were the latchkey kids. We don't need as much of that kind of, me, me, me. We're more by the book and wanna make sure that we're following through with exactly what was asked of Us. We saw how much our parents generation had to struggle and how hard they worked. So we kind of want better for ourselves and for our future. I wanna do it my way. I would let, leave me alone. You told me the job, let me do the job. Our generation had more work ethic. It seems to me like kids nowadays could care less whether they go to work or not. I would Say my generation we're more outspoken and we're more willing to advocate. And the workplace, what's the one thing people get wrong about your generation? They Think that we're lazy. That We're Slackers, that we have everything handed to us. We're all idiots. I think people get wrong that we're naive, That we're not interested in actually being mentors for the younger generation. People Assume that what they did in their generation applies to what's happening now. They Don't wanna listen to us when we give them advice. Most generations after us think that, you know, we're not flexible. We don't understand what it means to be creative. They think we're old footie duddies. And I think we know a lot. How does your company recognize your success and growth? Well, uh, frankly, bonuses Relating to people and, and having, you know, compassion for them, showing genuine curiosity. We have culture hour every Friday, and in those we share like highs and lows from the week. And oftentimes that means celebrating successes. That's one, uh, of the reasons I guess I left the, the company I was for. Like, I aspire to a, like a, a, a better position. Uh, and it just wasn't happening there. I think that Gen Z likes to have genuine connection and to just, you know, take down the, all the facade of like, workplace politics and just just connect person to person. And I think that really encourages you to do your best work because you know that you're fully seen and appreciated for who you are as a person, not necessarily your your job title. It's no, no secret that work human is a recognition company and be transparent about that. So I specifically wanna ask you, Corino, what role do you see recognition playing in this? And how different generations, are there any differences between how people like to receive it, how it impacts them? I, you know, this, I'll be concise because it's really simple when it comes to recognition. I think there's different expectations across some generations I've seen. Um, I think of, I I think of even my nieces and nephews who are a little bit younger, where there's, um, an expectation that you tell me I did a good job, even if I, you know, all I did was show up. Um, and I'm, I'm talking about my niece specifically, but I think different generations have certain expectations of what, um, what they should be recognized for. And I think I'm gonna use a generalization right now, and that it's a part of my, my age, uh, my generation. But with growing up in a generation where a lot of people received awards and everyone got a trophy. My mom, when my nephew plays basketball says his team came in second. We all know there's just two teams that are playing. So everyone wins. And, and I think that that informs sort of that expectation sometimes of, um, what I should be recognized for versus some different generations where your paycheck really was your recognition. And anything above and beyond is seen as above and beyond. And you need to do something, you know, exceptional in order to deserve that. So I think across the board, I see difference in expectations of what is recognition, recognition, recognition worthy. But in general, showing gratitude has, you know, no limits to the impact. And it is not informed by your age, your gender, your race. It's informed by being human. So I think everyone deserves and wants to feel appreciated. And I think the impact that someone gets from feeling appreciated is the shared experience across, again, all of all of the things, all of the intersections. So I would just say that it's, I, you know, I have executives sometimes who think it's just for their lower career levels. And, you know, people at Martha's level and and Jim's level won't really have the same impact. That's for me and Porter. And the data shows us that across the board, everyone receives it and sees the impact the same way. So that, I think recognition has a role because again, I think of it as gratitude and there's no limit on who deserves gratitude. Yeah. And I would say also the specificity of the gratitude, right? Absolutely. Like, 'cause I've received like, oh, um, you made people, you know, think, okay, well, okay, that's good. But I mean, is there, was there a specific event where it made them Think? I think about, yeah, I mean a specific situation. The The one thing I've always say, if you really wanna know how to recognize me, ask me. So what we've started is to ask, as part of our onboarding process, before you start work, there are a series of questions that the talent acquisition and HR business partners will ask. And we've only started this about 90 days ago, so I don't have a long data point, but it's, it is working so far. Um, how do you like to be recognized? What are your favorite sports? Whatever. You just feel that it's a general conversation. It's not, we put it in the database and no one can see that. But you, I mean, but HR and your leader and the leaders are being trained how to follow up on how to do that. Let me give you an example of where we wanted to recognize a couple people and it backfired and we thought we did a great job. So we had a succession, high potential succession program. Uh, this is when I worked at another health system, uh, in Cleveland, Ohio. You could take the clue from there. And, um, we showcased the 10 academic, I mean the 10 clinical leaders who were next in line for promotion. And we thought that was great. We want everyone to know these are our shining stars. What do you think happened? Their lives were turned upside down because at that point people knew who was next in line for succession and they were just throwing daggers at them. Half of 'em ended up resigning. Had we not put it out there to recognize them in a way that they didn't ask to be recognized, they probably would've stayed. So I say ask, and not only would do do we do it during the, uh, onboarding period, we checked back in with you at 90 and 120 days. 'cause it could change. You could have had a child and now it's childcare that you wanted. So just different things you have to ask the question. Thank you for sharing that story. Wow. All right. Well, I'm gonna go to you Porter for a second now. I obviously, recognition isn't the only thing that we can do to help foster these relationships. Um, so if I'm a leader in hr, I'm an HR professional, what's one thing that perhaps I can do tomorrow to start bringing out the benefits of my age diverse workforce? What do you think? Oh, um, well to what, uh, it's what Jim was saying. I think one of the things that are so important is that as a person's engagement drops too, to know how to pick back up their engagement so that they're not a flight risk. And like being specific around what's going to most likely hit that person in the right way to start to collect that information, I think is super important. Um, but to the question of like, what can you do tomorrow? It's the same thing with, with diversity. Like the power of diversity is the different context, experiences, how you step into the room, how you look at a problem is going to differ based on your life experiences. And so being able to have people from different generations and figure out a way that most authentically allows those individuals within your own, own organization to come forth and share from their experiences and context, which is, that's how you look at the, you know, how, how are you looking at the world and, and, and really getting into the why or are you experiencing it that way? It's around the storytelling. It's around all the things that we're hitting on right now. Um, but it's getting to know your employees. It's getting to know their context. It's collecting the data and the information and then figuring out the, the smartest, most authentic ways to then leverage that information. Um, but it really just touches on all the things that we're talking about today. And, and before you could do all of this work, and I agree with all of it, you have to be self-aware. Um, you have to try and be intentional to find and tease out your own blind spots because we all have them. Mm-hmm. Become self-aware because there are things that we all do and say, and it's not intentional. Mm-hmm. Uh, and once you do that, then I think that opens the door for you to also listen and learn and realize that there are things that every generation can learn from you and vice versa. I would love if you all could help us distill what's been discussed today a little bit. Are there things that you have learned today listening to each other, or had moments of aha that you can share? And I'm gonna start right here next to me, Jim. Okay. What's something you've learned today from this discussion? Life is not transactional. Um, we all feel and have moments of the same disengagement, pain, frustration. It just may present itself differently. So that is where we have to be self-aware in how the discussion, and I learned a lot of that from here. Thank you, Martha. Yeah. I think for me it's like, it's, it's less about being surprised. It's more about always, you know, reflecting on the gratitude I feel for being able to spend time with people who have something to offer maybe a different perspective than my own. Yeah. Um, but then I go away thinking, you know, this, I've, I've, I've learned something by virtue of embracing the opportunity to spend time with people who have something to share. Yeah. And to me, that's just, that's, you can't get better than that. So I thank you all for your part in that, Uh, I take away I power in narrative, power in storytelling. Mm-hmm. I think so many of the conversations around the different generations revolve around to context. And I think we've hit on that. And so if you can take the time to hear somebody's story, then you'll, you'll start to see that person. You'll create more empathy, the better teamwork. So I take that away from, from the conversation, Just thinking about Porter's example, when we opened with the excitement, you went in with your email to tell your dad and family about your new adventure and your dad giving you one loving advice, but advice that came, came from his experience. Terrible advice. I'm not gonna say that about your dad on tape, but, um, but that was informed by his experience and just thinking through, um, especially as a leader and parents are leaders, but as we're in, in roles of leadership as well, ensuring that, um, one, that the importance of acknowledging that excitement and that enthusiasm when it comes and making sure that the, the advice that I give is not guided simply from where I'm at in my experience in life and my perspective. But really just trying to dig in and understand, uh, the, the life that they're leading and, and make sure that I can give guided advice there. Wonderful. I wanna thank all of you so much for joining us today. It has been of joy hearing your insights. Everyone give it up for our panelists. And so it's really about, you know, understanding those differences. And what I think about is like the motivation, like what motivates certain generations When our new hires come from a company that made them feel invisible, it shows not literally, actually pretty much the opposite. Do I have anything in my teeth? That's why we use WorkHuman employee recognition platform to celebrate our people's great work. So they feel valued and well seen. If your insights were any more spot on, they'd be cheat. A print. Nice. We're Human. Hi, I'm Kiana Schmidle, chief Human Experience Officer at WorkHuman, and I'm here on site today at Eaton in Cleveland, Ohio. Joining me today is Ms. Monica Jackson. Monica, could you tell us a little bit about who you are, your role here at Eaton and what Eaton's all about? Yeah, I love it. Um, I'm Monica Jackson, vice President, global Inclusion and Diversity for Eaton. Um, Eaton is an intelligent power management company, so think planes, electric grid, um, hospitals, data centers. That's what we do. We are, um, dedicated to improving the lives of, uh, people and everywhere through power management technologies. A company that started 1911, um, we have over 85,000 employees globally and operations in over 170 countries. So that's who we are. Okay. So Eaton's been around for a while, and in addition to being around for a while, kinda have a, a similar feel to you about wanting to help people make the experience for people better, not unlike WorkHuman. And so you've been a long time partner of WorkHuman. So for this conversation that we're having today, I'm excited to be discussing this topic around the multi-generational workforce. So I would love to hear a little bit about your experience dealing with this multi-generational workforce at Eaton. Okay. I'm looking forward to sharing, you know, I'll start with, um, maybe describing a little bit about our workforce in terms of the breakdown as it relates to generations. As I mentioned, over 85,000 employees. When you think about the breakdown, probably I'll say 10% of them are, um, baby boomers, if you will. Okay. Uh, another 35, um, in the Gen X, um, category, and then probably 40% millennials. And then the remainder, uh, gen Zs, uh, we have office operations, but honestly, um, the majority of our operations are in our manufacturing facilities. We are a manufacturing company. So you have employees that sit in our sites that produce our products. They're, they're, they're working right on the line In the different populations that you have. We talked about more of the, it may be office based, but maybe they're more hybrid at this point. But then you also have manufacturing and you have folks out in the field. So there's less flexibility in terms of where you work if you work in the manufacturing, on the manufacturing side of things. So I'm wondering if you see what are some of the similarities and differences in the motivators Yes. By generation, but even across these different kind of working types. Absolutely. You know, when I think about the work that I do from diversity, equity, inclusion standpoint, you know, there are differences. And I think it's important that we recognize the differences, right. In any kinda demographic. But then there also are commonalities, right? And similarities. And so it's really about, you know, understanding those differences. And what I think about is like the motivation, like what motivates certain generations. And then we can talk a little bit about not even stereotyping even the generation in whole. Yeah. 'cause each person is different, but what motivates them? How do they learn, uh, what are their expectations? What are their choices? Even because that even plays into, you know, as we focus on things like turnover and retention and valuing and recognizing employees, which obviously is, you know, near and dear to, to work humans, um, heart. Those are things that we have to factor in and be considerate of, if I work on the manufacturing line, I have to be, you know, tied to that equipment. So maybe flexibility in that regards, you know, isn't as important because they understand the nature of the work. Like, this is what I do. But then there are other things that are important. Maybe this is where security does come into play. Mm-hmm. This is, do I, I learned this piece of equipment, then I go over here. Because again, it's the challenge, right? Am I learning something new and am I learning something different? You know, recognition in terms of anniversaries, that's, that's always been something in, in, in those environments that is so important. How we celebrate and how long have you been here? It goes back to the do we understand the motivators? Are we asking, are we, um, reading the signals from employees? Well, and I think we've seen it even in some of the benefits that do eventually become legislation. But it seems like, you know, one company does it, then every company does it in terms of time off, no longer referring to it as mat leave, right. Calling it family leave, so that you start to have some of these expectations. But much like you said, that feels like a generational shift. Absolutely. Right. That was not the experience even when I had my kids. Absolutely. Right. It was 12 weeks and that started the day that you left. And it does not matter what went on between now and then, and then you're back. And so I'm wondering how your experiencing the generations through the benefits and how you're able to kind of recognize this is what folks are looking for and start building out some of those plans. Yeah. I love that too, because I think it is, it's, it's generational and may not necessarily be age, right? Because the definition of a family, for example, has evolved from the boomers, right? What, what you may define as a family to some degree, um, has evolved. So in terms of your benefit offerings, absolutely. Right. What are you offering? Are your benefits inclusive and rec and recognize the, the evolution of families and what's acceptable. So you mentioned motivators, and I'm wondering if you see any trends in your data around what some key motivators are by generation? Yeah. That it's a, it's a great question. Um, and when I think about, you know, our data as well as even more broadly, so I mean, obviously we're not making, um, assumptions or stereotypes as we discussed earlier. You know, there are some generational differences. And, and I think a lot of that is the determined by, you know, society as we, we talked earlier, um, you know, options if you will. You know, maybe previous generations were, um, more loyal. There was a need for security. Again, I think it goes back to the hierarchy of needs. Mm-hmm. You know, in terms of security, um, obtaining employment remaining there, right? Um, so you have this loyalty factor, then we can, you know, maybe fast forward to maybe current generation. I think again, it goes back to, you know, choice experiences, maybe a little bit more of this entrepreneurial spirit, um, this recognition, um, for my, my expertise. So that's where I think it's still about understanding the motivators of individuals. Although we can maybe group and say, oh, there was more loyalty and need for a sense of security, but as time has evolved, you know, maybe that security isn't needed as much because you even have generations. No, I, listen, we could spend so much time just, just unpacking this. I think, um, as you mentioned, if we go back to that leadership development and saying a lot of the folks now are coming straight in from, from university, you know, one of the things that has always frustrated me in d e, and I work is this sense that people naturally gravitate towards, well, you gotta just start bringing in the representation. And they immediately go to the lever of talent acquisition and recruitment. Right? And so I'm wondering how you all are thinking about that here at Eaton, and not just from an age diversity standpoint, although that does come into play, but across the dimensions of diversity. Yeah. I, I love this question as well because, you know, we were actually probably in the last few months having a discussion around retention mm-hmm. Because to the earlier, you know, point that one is a little harder to, to manage and control, sometimes it feels like it's just happening to us. Mm-hmm. Were we doing anything to, to prevent it, to mitigate against it? So we've started looking at leading indicators and you know, and recognition is a key indicator of retention. You know, our data will tell us that, you know, individuals that receive so many touches, you know, we have a slightly higher retention. Mm-hmm. So now you're saying, okay, let's go give the touches. Right? So if we know that, how do we use that? How do we activate around it? And so it's really about, you know, gleaning those insights from the data and then sharing that with our leaders and others so that they know this is important. This is important to ensure, you know, that you're using what we have available. I mean, we've used, um, data from, you know, our recognition platform and we can, again, slice it and dice it by generations. I mean, we can slice and dice by gender, ethnicity, all of that. And we can seek patterns that may, you know, prevail. And we can then encourage, you know, certain populations, you know, if I can be transparent, you know, where we have opportunity to retain talent is in that earlier career, we'll call level. And then when we look at our recognition data, it also would suggest that we have opportunity to increase our recognition even at that level. So I'm like, hmm, that's a lever that we can go pull, right. To see if it makes a difference. So the insights from the data is just extremely helpful. Yeah. And when we think about the working world, there has been this shift of, well, companies aren't loyal to me, so why should I be loyal to them? So what can I get out of this place to then prepare me for the next thing? Absolutely. And so I'm wondering if maybe that comes into play around this tension around what do you mean by career advancement? Mm-hmm. And how do organizations keep up with this expectation? Yeah. No, I think it's, um, it's a very valid question. And again, we have to seek to understand what is important, because we will say, what do you mean lack of career advancement? We have opportunities here. We have thousands of jobs posted right now. What do you mean? Right? But something's not connecting. Mm-hmm. So that's where you have to dig deeper and understand. And, and maybe, and this is maybe, maybe part of this is about the process by which you advance. How are opportunities presented to me? How do I think about it? Are we still using, you know, an approach that worked, I don't know, 20, 30 years ago? But generations that's not how they consider it. I mean, let's think about things like Uber and, I mean, it's so many ways that people do things differently now. And do you see any data that shows up in recognition that feeds into that, or that actually counters that, or that starts to show a path on how we can address some of those gaps? You know, what the data does tell us, I mean, the data that you all provide us is that leaders set the tone when it comes to, you know, the culture of inclusion, the culture of recognition. You know, is this a team where we recognize and celebrate each other? My organization, we, we work really hard to send recognitions when there are, you know, major efforts going on. Our employee resource groups, they do a lot, a lot of work. And so I, I make sure that we have a process by which we can recognize their efforts because they're passionate, committed. And so we do that through the platform. And so what, what I love sometimes is once they go out and then they, I get the responses, thank you. Oh, this is great. And so it makes my day when I get these responses back, you know, from them because they appreciate that recognition for the work that they do to really advance our culture. Um, and so not taking that for granted, but we have a tool that allows that, and it's just continuing to encourage to use it. So I'm thinking about this early career. Maybe it's not a conundrum, but it's certainly something that you're, you're kind of looking at because you see the data, it's telling you the story of there's some work to do here. And at the same time, you have leadership development. You, you have senior folks who have been here a long time. And so I'm wondering about things like mentoring programs. You know, we talked about social recognition. Do you see anything coming out of either the data in your social recognition or in other ways that, that indicate for you mentoring programs are the way to go? And, and maybe how are you thinking flexibly about the shape those mentoring programs might take? Yeah. You know, you're absolutely right. We, we do have a global mentoring program, um, where we make, you know, pairs and connections across the organization. And we've had that in place for quite some time. 'cause that, that is very important. Um, what that does too, I think is we're talking about this topic of, you know, generations. It allows individuals, right, who really are at different generations to connect and they can learn from each other, right? So it's not just a one way street. Um, you know, sometimes you say, oh, you should have a reverse mentoring program. And I'm of the opinion, if you have a mentoring program, it goes both ways. Mm-hmm. I don't need a separate one for it to be reversed. Right. Let's just have the conversations, let's learn from each other, you know, in that relationship. Um, so the data, you know, coming out of our mentoring program, um, is actually, you know, pretty good. It tells us that those who are participating, again, our retention, you know, so many years later is, um, is pretty high. So we know that we kinda, you know, have a little bit of a, you know, clutch into them if we, if we do that. 'cause it's just important. It's establishing those relationships. So Monica, I think for the folks who are listening, we've heard a bit in a number of ways about your recognition program as well as some other programs. I'm wondering about tactically, how do you set up design a recognition program that takes into account all of the things that you've said about, you know, seeing the individual hearing from folks how they would like to be recognized? What does it look like to set up that program and some key components of it? And, and one category, obviously, that i I care about is, you know, inclusion and diversity. That is a category that someone could select and recognize someone, you know. And, and, and honestly, I love monitoring those annually to see how many inclusion and diversity recognitions, you know, this year that we have. Um, because that's another indicator of what people are observing. So, I mean, tactically, it's just what are those areas that we wanna reinforce and align to maybe are your values as a company, the behaviors, you wanna see those actions, and those can be the categories. And then what are, um, maybe what's the, the magnitude of the effort that you want to recognize? And so those prompting questions really help with that. You know, I think about, you know, what's important to people, and as we were preparing for this, I was thinking about Maslow's hierarchy Uhhuh, right? Because at the end of the day, even though there are generations, we all still have a, a need and desire to belong. Right? I love that. And I, and I love that example because it's also highlighting some of how you've talked about how you work the program, right? So you've got the tactical, like alignment to the values and the behaviors. And, you know, the other thought I have in, in terms of recognition and probably learning from a generational standpoint, um, we have a few other things that we do that allows for, you know, these generations to come together and, and learn and connect. Mm-hmm. And I'll share, you know, maybe one or two, uh, we do these things. Um, we call, we call 'em popups, and they're like, well, 30 minute, really like a popup. So let's say last night at seven o'clock, we may have sent you an email that saying, we're having a popup tomorrow. And it's a topic that, you know, may be, and it's usually d e I related, so I'll take, I don't know, um, you know, transgender day of visibility, maybe something like that. And again, from a generation standpoint, that's an evolution. Mm-hmm. Right? You know, maybe many generations ago we wouldn't have talked about that at work. We wouldn't have had, you know, some conversation about it. And so we did that. And, um, the amount of people that join that 30 minute dialogue, and usually what we'll say, you can come listen, you can learn and you know, and or you can share your experience. And so we had this session, and what I think about is there was one individual, an employee who, who came off of mute. And he said, you know, I've been here like 20 plus years. And, um, I never thought a day would come where I would see us talking about this at work. So when you talk about generations, 20 plus years, he said, right. Never thought we would, or he would see a day that we were talking about this at work. And that's the evolution, that's the how do we bring, you know, generations together. So as I think about this conversation that we've been having, there's clearly a passion that comes from you on behalf of all of Eaton, for all of this work that you're doing here. But I'm wondering, what's the driver behind that passion? Why is it so important for Eaton to get this right? Yeah, no, that's, um, that's a, it's a great question. It's a, it's a big question. Um, look, at the end of the day, this is about winning in the marketplace. If I, if I just start there and, and you do that and, and it's, it's dependent on the talent that you have, right? And then, you know, the diversity of that talent that really drives the innovation, the innovation that drives, you know, your competitiveness. And you know, there again, going back to your ability to win, that's why it's so important that we, we say many times around here that, um, it's the power of perspectives. Mm-hmm. The power of perspectives, right? Um, we're power management, you know, company. And those perspectives drive innovation and that innovation will allow us to win. So that's really what it's all about. I love that. I wanna thank you for your time. This has been such an amazing conversation. I have been taking notes as we've been talking, and I'm sure that there are takeaways for our audience as well. So I just wanna say a sincere thank you for your time and congratulations on everything you're doing here at Eaton. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having, I'd like to thank you for joining us today. Hopefully we leave you with some new insights and inspiration for better supporting your workers of all ages. If you'd like to learn more about doing so with social recognition, we'd love to set up some time to chat. That's it for this episode. Thanks again to all our guests. We'll see you next time. What generation is most likely to want recognition? Most frequency, like several times a month? Boomers. Millennial. Millennials. Millennials. Millennials. Yeah. Either millennials or Gen Z. The younger generation. The Gen Z. My daughter's one of them. Yes. I know this. In 2018, millennials became the largest generation in the workforce. What's number two, I Assume US Boomers. Boomers. Probably Gen Y. Gen z, boomers. Baby boomers. Gen X, right? Gen X. They have to be Gen X. What The average worker? Age 55 to 64. Stay with an employer for about 10 years. How long do workers age? 25 to 34. Stay Five to seven. Yeah, definitely under 10. Five years. Five years. Well, I haven't been with an employer for longer than three years, so I'm gonna go three years. Three years, two years. Oh gosh. Less than two. I'm gonna guess one and a half to three years. Roughly. Around two to three, 2.8 years. Your generation. They know that answer. Yeah. How long did Walter Orthman work at a textile company in Santa Caterina, Brazil? To set the gist book of world records for the longest time at a company in 2022, It's multiple choice. I have no fricking clue. 38 years. 42 years. 50. I'd say 50 years. 50, yeah. Uh, 60. I'm gonna go over and say 60 years. Yeah. 65 years. 78 years. I would say 80 years. 80 years. 84 years. Really? Oh my God, that's awesome. According to the Yuga poll of a thousand Americans, what generation likes or loves avocado toast? More 18 to 44 or 45 and up 18 to 44. The younger group. 18 to 44. The first, not the older folks. 18 to 44. I would say 45 and up. I'm gonna go different than you. I'm gonna say 45 and up. Well, as an avocado toast lover, I think I have to say 45 and up.

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