Megan Riksen (00:04):

Hello and welcome to the work-like Laker podcast. I'm Megan Rickson and today my co-host is Brian Basick. Hi, Brian.

Brian Bossick (00:27):

Hi, Megan. How are you doing?

Megan Riksen (00:29):

Good. How are you?

Brian Bossick (00:30):

I'm good. And I'm excited today that we get to talk a little bit about generations in the workplace and how they all work together.

Megan Riksen (00:37):

Yeah, this is, this is a good topic. I'm probably sounding like a broken record. Cause I think I say that every time, but we're always excited about the topics we're bringing all of you. And yeah, today's fun. Cause we're gonna, we're gonna kind of look at what the differences might be within people from different generations and how they're working together in one environment, but we also might find some similarities as well. So to kind of tackle this we wanted to have some representation across at least most of these generations. So we did some informal interviews just to see how the representatives from each generation would respond.

Brian Bossick (01:16):

Yeah. Excellent. And you know, just as a quick question, Megan if you had to like, just guess like how many generations do you think are currently in the workplace right now?

Megan Riksen (01:25):

So I, I think I already know this and it seems like so many and I'm going to say five.

Brian Bossick (01:31):

That is correct. I'm going to pretend you didn't know that and we'll give you credit for, but yes, there were totally five generations in the workplace. You know, and when you think about the breakdown, what we're kind of looking at that like right now generation Z makes up about 10% and we're going to define these generations for you in a minute. Millennials make up about 40%. Gen X makes up about 33% baby boomers, 15% and our remaining percent you're going to see from the, what would be called kind of the, the silent or traditional generation.

Megan Riksen (02:02):

Awesome. That's really helpful. I definitely did not know that millennials made up that much of the workforce.

Brian Bossick (02:07):

I was surprised by that too.

Megan Riksen (02:09):

That's a pretty big chunk. Great. Okay. So let's define these a little bit, just so we're all on the same page. The traditionalist also called the silent generation. Those are folks born before 1945. The baby boomers are born between 46 and 65 gen X is born between 66 and 77. Millennials are born between 1978 and 95 and gen Z are born after 1995.

Brian Bossick (02:41):

Thanks Megan. So, you know, as you mentioned,

Megan Riksen (02:44):

See, I can, I can help you out a little bit here, Brian.

Brian Bossick (02:47):

Yes, you can. Oh, well I was going to say thank you very much. We, we, we mentioned early interviewing earlier, so what we did was selected and not particularly like scientifically one or more representatives from each generation and asked them the same five questions. A previous colleague of mine we'll call him Z represents baby boomers. I'll represent gen X.

Megan Riksen (03:12):

I will represent millennials. And then we also have a sample of seven of our career conductors who are some student employees here in the Career Center who will represent gen Z. So do you want to start us out?

Brian Bossick (03:25):

Absolutely, you know just to get us in the mood for generational thinking Megan, if you had to guess, which generation do you think use a popular slang term groovy?

Megan Riksen (03:35):

Hmm. I'm gonna say gen X, just, I feel like that originated in the seventies, but maybe boomers because they were older in the seventies.

Brian Bossick (03:44):

It was boomer. Boomer. Don't make me that old. Yeah, it was boomers. Okay. That's groovy.

Megan Riksen (03:53):

I feel like I use that term. Is that come back around or I am I just not that cool?

Brian Bossick (03:58):

[Inaudible] It's coming back. Okay. Let's take a look at question one. Are you ready?

Megan Riksen (04:06):

Yes. Okay. Let's do it.

Brian Bossick (04:08):

All right. Number one, Meagan, what do you expect or want, what did you, or do you expect or want from your first job post-college?

Megan Riksen (04:19):

Yeah, so I was kind of reflecting on this and thinking, what did I expect? Yeah, I don't know if I am a typical millennial, but I, I think I was, I did want something that I felt passionate about and that I felt connected to and wanted to stay in for a while. So that's probably not the millennial response necessarily, but and maybe it is, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I had a job for a while working in banking as my first true job out of college knew I didn't want that. So then went to grad school and got into education and, you know, that landed me in higher ed because I was looking for more of that, that connection to what I was excited about and passionate about

Brian Bossick (05:05):

That sounds great. And I think that does, when we talk about millennials some of the things we were seeing at least in the research is finding something that fits for you, right? The, that work is kind of a means to an end for that passion and something that you really want to do. So I think that totally makes sense. Cool. Great. Yeah. when I talked to you a Z, I'm representing kind of our baby boomer generation he kind of said that, you know, the job, the first job was the next step. So it was just kind of expected, I think, which fits with some of the things that you look at out in the research. And the other thing he said that was really important, which I found a little bit later looking some stuff up, those, it had to be like an ideological match, I guess, with baby boomers.

Brian Bossick (05:45):

And one of the things I was reading is that you really want to find something that fits your values and ideology so that when you commit to it, you're kind of committing for the long term. And then I know for myself first job after college was like a postdoc. So I finished part of like an internship and that was all about like finishing out some training and doing some stuff I haven't done before. So it was kind of to refine and challenge, which when I was looking up some stuff on gen X-ers there was that piece there about like, Hey, when looking for your first job to be challenging and kind of push you. So I guess that fits that's great. Yeah. So, and then I, what would you say if you had to kind of guess what do you think gen Z would say where this one?

Megan Riksen (06:33):

Right. So these are people who are kind of just entering the workforce and in the past few years I guess I would think it would be more of a fluid situation, right? Where their expectation probably isn't that they're going to stay in a job for 20 years. It might be that they want to move around within a company. It might be that they want to switch companies, but just a little more fluid would be my guess.

Brian Bossick (07:02):

Yeah. yeah, it's interesting. I think on the, so we had seven students respond, right. And I think that was a big part of it. There was like two things that we saw. Number one, they wanted to make sure that they could find something that did offer flexibility that would fit with their training. But that also offered like some more opportunities for training. So there was almost a sense of like, this is a stepping stone, right. I want to get out there. I want to feel comfortable. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing and then I'll kind of go from there.

Megan Riksen (07:31):

Okay. Yeah. Great.

Brian Bossick (07:33):

So I'm wondering if we could jump to our second question. Okay. So if we take a look at question two what kind of relationship do you expect to have with your coworkers? That was the second question we asked everybody.

Megan Riksen (07:47):

Okay. yeah, for myself, I've always looked to coworkers as, as people I'm, you know, friendly, friendly am friends with. I feel like in every workplace I've been in, my coworkers have been my friends. Not that we're necessarily spending a ton of time outside of work together, but especially within the context of a working day that we're not just having conversations only about work that we're sharing about things that are happening in our lives. We know each other's, you know, kids' names or, you know, we know who somebody lives with, you know, we know what their interests are and what they're into. And we, we talk about, you know, good TV and things like that, things that we're into. So that, that would be my expectation. What about you?

Brian Bossick (08:36):

Yeah, it's interesting. I hadn't really thought about it to be honest. Like when, when it was first kind of finding a job, I was like, I'm looking for a job. And and, but then after kind of working with folks who have become like friends and who I really enjoy, like not just talking about work, I don't think I'd want to go back. So I think when I think about coworkers, yeah, it, it would be people that I can be friendly with and have like, it's all about their family and feel connected. Cause you spend so much time at work.

Megan Riksen (09:02):

For sure.

Brian Bossick (09:03):

It was a little different when I talked to a Z about from our baby boomer generation, I said, w what did you expect? And he said, why I really want to work with people that worked as hard as I would. And there were no shenanigans. They would just get things done. So, which totally fits for knowing Z pretty well.

Megan Riksen (09:20):

Yeah, I also have met this anonymous Z and that word shenanigans makes total sense.

Brian Bossick (09:27):

You know, if you had to guess for like our gen Z or our student sample, what do you think they said when they had to, to answer this question?

Megan Riksen (09:33):

Gosh, I, I guess I would say similar to my response that they, that they would expect some, some friendships kind of developing yeah.

Brian Bossick (09:42):

Six out of seven 30, six out of seven said I would like friends. And really you don't don't need friends, but six out of seven they would expect friendships. And then honestly, five out of seven talked about like more than just kind of like general collegial. They would like to have a deeper connect.

Megan Riksen (09:59):

Yeah. That's great. Nice. Good.

Brian Bossick (10:04):

If we take a look at question three so question three, we asked everybody, how long do you expect to stay in your first job? Post-College and Megan, if you had to guess what do you think our students said?

Megan Riksen (10:20):

I would, I would guess they would say not, not a super long amount of time to kind of going back to my fluidity response that they'd find something they were excited about, but it didn't have to be the, be all end, all perfect position. Which is funny now that I'm saying that out loud, because that's often what I do say to students when I'm working with them as a career advisor saying it doesn't your first job, doesn't have to be this perfect position. So maybe they're already in alignment with me on that. But what, what were the responses?

Brian Bossick (10:52):

They were very much that so many of them said they would see it as a two to three years. And, but they wanted to be invested and basically learn from it and potentially advance. But with the idea that after a couple of years that this would be more of a stepping stone.

Megan Riksen (11:10):

Okay. Great.

Brian Bossick (11:11):

I think they are definitely in alignment with some of the things y'all have been talking about.

Megan Riksen (11:15):

Nice. And what about you? What did you expect?

Brian Bossick (11:18):

You know, for myself? And I think this is where we see a little bit of some of the bigger differences too. Yeah, I think I kind of figured once I found that first job for awhile I don't know that I thought that far ahead, other than it, I I've been in school for so long. I wanted to kind of set down some roots for awhile. So I kind of figured first job and then I'll dive in and see where it goes. But I had probably assumed that five, six, seven years, and it's been longer than that. It's been like 13 now. So you know, but that that's, yeah, I think that was my kind of expectation. And I, I think when I talked to Z kind of about his ideas his thought too, like you get in, you do your work and you advance. So I think there was like a really strong kind of like company loyalty thing kind of going on too, that he talked about, but needing to connect with where he's at. He's like, if I didn't appreciate what they were doing, which did happen at a couple of his jobs, he's like done, I was done,

Megan Riksen (12:08):

Then he was done. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. You just wonder how much like the economic climate contributes to that as well. In addition to just how much the world of work changes now, how quickly the world of work changes and how John, I mean, obviously 2020 was a year that perfectly shows that because we all went from working entirely. I mean, so many of us went from working entirely in person to entirely virtual and these students who are in college right now, these gen Z members, they they're gonna have that recollection of, Oh, I needed to be able to switch to my online classes in a second and still perform at the same level. So I'm sure they'll be able to kind of take that adaptability then to their next roles as well, once they graduate.

Brian Bossick (13:01):

What's interesting. Like one of the articles I was reading was talking about like, and this was before this pandemic hit they called gen Z our career multitaskers, right? Like those that can kind of look at things and, and basically be adaptable to put together things work really well.

Megan Riksen (13:20):

Yeah. I don't know if I really responded to that question as a millennial. I like to think of myself as adaptable, but I also get real nice and comfy and kind of like the comfort of what I'm doing as well. So maybe I kind of straddle the two a little bit. Awesome. Okay. So are we on to number four? Are there already? Okay. so question four, what are your biggest worries about starting your first job after college? So, yeah. I think a lot of my worries were often the things that weren't even necessarily a part of the job, it was kind of all those other pieces that went along to life outside of college. Right. but I think I also had pretty high expectations. You know, I was always a pretty devoted student and I liked getting good grades. So I think I kind of translated that to the work environment as well. Like I have to do really well and it's not good to be criticized and that sort of thing, even though shoot, like you should criticize me and then I can grow and get better. So I think, you know, that that would be a little bit of my perspective there.

Brian Bossick (14:34):

Well, I think that's great. I it's, it's interesting. Cause I think that really fits with, with kind of what I was thinking too. Like when, when I started was being able to perform and kind of adapt from like being that, like you said, dedicated student who knows how to bust it and do well in school and keep up with everything and then how do you translate that to the world of work? Right. And and then I remember thinking at some point too, like it's, there's a different balance there, right? With school, you knew how to have your work-life balance and your school life balance and when it's strictly your job. I think those are some of my biggest fears that I didn't really even know about until probably six months into the job. When you realize like, Hey, maybe something's not working quite right or this isn't what's what's going on.

Megan Riksen (15:18):

Exactly. Exactly. What about for Z?

Brian Bossick (15:21):

Z talked about really wanting to kind of like his biggest fears were not doing, not meeting his high expectations, having others get in the way of him meeting his high expectations. And then also really setting roots, I think for him too, like he had gone into kind of like extended education. So wanting to kind of start life a little bit differently. And if you I'm just thinking about our students were, where do you think they fell for this one?

Megan Riksen (15:53):

Oh goodness. What worries they might have? I'm wondering if some of their responses were more just, well, my like their worries would be, will my company still be around, you know, will I, will I be at a place that I can have some longevity or not? I don't know. I think I would be somewhat jaded coming from, you know, gosh, like the 2008 economic crisis. I can't even think of how old they would have been then, but they definitely lived through it. And maybe saw their families struggle and then to see a pandemic and, you know, from there, yeah. I would have some worries, you know, as they're looking around and seeing businesses close and, and things like that. So I guess that would be my first thought. Yeah,

Brian Bossick (16:41):

I think it's a great one. There were two themes and the first really was that like, what's the next step? So if I find this job, like, is there job security and stability and what else do I need to be thinking about? And then the second theme that we kind of saw was will I have enough training and can I get continued training on the job? So there seems to be this idea that like schools, a stepping kind of a stepping stone, right. And then what I get into the world of work, are they going to continue to train me? So I'm ready for that job too.

Megan Riksen (17:09):

That's great. I like that. I think that that's a great thing to want to know more about as you're going into a new job. Yeah. That's smart.

Brian Bossick (17:17):

Well, that takes us to our last question already. And it was, do you expect to move up in pay or responsibilities in your first job? Post-College and I can share it like for we'll jump to Z for a second. I think his thing, he said yes. But not for some time, I think there was kind of this idea that it's going to take some time I'm going to work and that, that will just kind of naturally happen. And I think for myself it was probably a little bit more of a similar, but accelerated, like it will take some time, but then I want to be a little potential about that at some point. Right. But I hadn't really thought too much about it in the first couple of years.

Megan Riksen (17:56):

I think I agree with you for myself. I don't think I necessarily had that as a value. I mean, it partially it's the career field I chose right. Working in education. It's not the same as working for a corporation where there's a clear structure and, and ladder. But yeah. So did our students have some more expectations to kind of move up?

Brian Bossick (18:21):

Six out of seven said yes, but then those two they really did. And I think it's really interesting cause I think there's that sense of maybe it's that career multi-tasker maybe it's this idea that I have a lot of adaptable skills, so I would like to go in and have some control over what I do. And then if you put that in place with this idea that those in gen Z talked about, I'd like to be somewhere three years and then jump, you almost can kind of start to paint. This picture is like, I want to learn something for a year advance, continue to learn that I want to continue to learn somewhere else. Right. That this is going to have some meaning and I'm going to keep creating it.

Megan Riksen (18:57):

Very good. Yeah. Great. Did we cover everybody there?

Brian Bossick (19:03):

I think we did. We hit five questions in four generations in about 20 minutes.

Megan Riksen (19:08):

Nice and sorry, I guess to all you traditionalist podcast listeners out there born before 1945. I don't know how many of those will have, but hopefully you're not offended that we didn't interview you.

Brian Bossick (19:22):

But if you do reach out to us, we'll do our best to.

Megan Riksen (19:25):

Oh, we would love to do a follow-up. That would be

Brian Bossick (19:32):

Well, thanks everyone in, you know, one of the interesting things I think as we kind of just reflect back on these interviews and one thing that a lot of the literature, it said, it said two big things. Number one, there are definitely differences. You see those, right? But there's a heck of a lot more similarities than there are differences amongst the generation. So some of those might be more personal. Some of them personality one of the things they said is sometimes we see the biggest differences is based on like world situations, right. Or a lifetime situation. So all four of the generations we talk the most about all valued salary and compensation inspirational colleagues and being challenged. And they just said basically the order in which they value those kind of shifted based on the generations or also whatever's kind of going on in the world with there's like a big event. So

Megan Riksen (20:25):

Sure. So, yeah. Right. I mean, I think, you know, we think about our workplace right now. We've all kind of rallied around this similar pandemic, right? Like we're all experiencing this together. So I would imagine our similarities kind of, you see that more in kind of these moments of crisis and things like that. So maybe that's even a mindset to think about moving forward into a job that yeah, we can, we can find those, those common places. And I think it helps to know maybe where people are coming from, but never to really make

Brian Bossick (20:58):

Exactly. Yeah. And one of the things, I think my last thing to kind of say what that would be, one of the things that was said was think about that. Everyone's got something to teach you, right. And that you've got something you can kind of teach them. And so keeping in mind that their skills may not be the same as yours, but that doesn't mean that you can't evolve. Right. And, and work with that. So I found out there's bigger things and clip art. Right. There's other ways to animate and, and that was not a skill as a gen X-er I ever knew I could surpass.

Megan Riksen (21:27):

That's amazing. Yeah. I'm glad you've moved beyond the clip art.

Brian Bossick (21:30):

That's. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Megan.

Megan Riksen (21:34):

So yes. Thank you, Brian, for sharing all your perspectives and knowledge on that topic. Thank you to all of our participants, our students who jumped in and, and answered these questions for us to Z who did that for us so that we could really have some, some good responses here to kind of cover all our generations. So anything else for today?

Brian Bossick (21:55):

I think so. Just, I would echo what you said. Thank you for everyone, for jumping in. And if there are follow-up thoughts or anything like that or questions that you would like us to ask, let us know. Cause this is, this was a fun exploration. We'd be glad to do it again. As we look at generations.

Megan Riksen (22:09):

Absolutely. I think a generations part two could, could definitely be coming down the road. So yes. Give us your feedback. All right. Thanks so much to everyone for listening today, and we hope you tune into a future episode soon.