Let's just get along Younger managers and an older staff can achieve productivity and harmony. Here's how: Throw out all your assumptions and stereotypes. Older workers are individuals just like everyone else in your group. Treat them as such. Communicate. Don't assume the older workers know what you expect of them. They don't have the same background as you do. Value their life experience. They have been around. Recognize the value of their experience and learn from it. Train them. Don't assume older workers can't be trained. They can and, in most cases, are quite willing. Meet their security needs. Older workers probably need benefits more than younger workers. Make sure your benefits plans meet their needs. Motivate them. Perhaps recognition of a job well done is more important to them than advancement in the company. You don't have to be "the boss." Older workers grew up in a hierarchical society. They know you are the boss. You don't have to rub it in. Be flexible. Older workers may want alternative hours. You need their talent, so work with them. Use them as mentors. Let them coach and encourage younger workers. Source: About.com's management expert, F. John Reh.

Dana Knight
The Indianapolis Star
July 11, 2005

"She's my son's age," said Cobb, 51, who works for 31-year-old Mears at ESCO Communications Inc., a telephone and voicemail company in Indianapolis. "Of course I notice her age because she could be my daughter, but what overrides that immediately is her knowledge, how well she communicates with people. You're in awe of that."

More and more older workers - particularly baby boomers - are finding themselves reporting to fresh-faced bosses 20-plus years their junior. And often those bosses have differing values, management styles and attitudes about workplace dynamics.

A report on older employees in the work force by the Families and Work Institute and American Business Collaboration found 56 percent of today's workers are 40 or older compared with 38 percent in 1977.

Of that growing pool of aging employees, many are supervised by bosses who are "significantly younger," mostly in the Gen X category (ages 25 to 39).

Of boomers (ages 40 to 59) surveyed, 23 percent said they have significantly younger managers. Of those categorized as mature (ages 60 and older), 71 percent said they report to significantly younger bosses.

"You have this cadre of young professionals who over time are overtaking some of the older people, and there is some angst," said Robert Wendover, managing director of the Center for Generational Studies in Aurora, Colo. "There's a resistance sometimes."

That age-related challenge is one reason more companies are implementing management training tailored for younger bosses.

Among the suggestions for managing an older work force, according to About.com's management guru F. John Reh, is for young bosses to throw out the stereotypes they might have about senior employees. Value their life experience, and communicate that to them. Train them the same as any employee, and use them as mentors.

"Let them coach and encourage the younger workers," said Reh. "Most older workers have a wealth of experience that they would love to pass on."

Mears, a commercial sales manager at ESCO, said she is grateful for the experience her seven-member team offers. Five of her subordinates are older than she.

"I admit, I think at times it can be intimidating," said Mears. "I don't think it's so much the age that becomes the issue. It has more to do with expertise and experience."

Older employees and their experience bring with them generational differences in the workplace that younger bosses must be aware of, said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute in New York.

For example, the institute's study revealed that boomers are more likely to be work-centric, putting work first, while younger generations are dual-centric and strive to find a balance between work and family.

"The way we're raised and the values we grew up with and the experiences that have shaped our lives do make a difference (in the workplace)," said Galinsky. "I have always thought they made less of a difference than what this (study) said."

Despite the differences revealed in the study, most older workers said they were pleased with their younger bosses when it came to competency. They also said they feel highly supported on the job. And more than a third of older workers said they believe their young bosses are highly responsive to personal and family needs.

"For most people, it's working out," said Galinsky.