Motivation by Generation: From Matures and Baby Boomers to Gen Xer's and Beyond!

What motivates you to do your job well? The money you earn, the hard work you accomplish or… your generation? Many of us do not consider our generation to be a factor in how we work, but it may play a bigger part than you think. Karolyn Rubin, senior vice president for Bonded Collection Corporation, spoke on this topic at IACC’s 36th Annual Convention during her session, “Motivation by Generation: From Matures and Baby Boomers to Gen Xer’s and Beyond.”

Before going into generational differences in the workforce Rubin began her presentation by going through some of the basics. “It’s as important to have an understanding of the basics as it is to understand generational differences,” Rubin said.

One of the basics is to know why employees stay with a company. They may stay for many reasons, some include:

• Interesting work
• Appreciation of work
• Feeling “in on things”
• Job security
• Good wages
• Promotion/growth
• Good working conditions
• Personal loyalty

If you take this same list and put “lack of” in front of any of them it will also be the same reason why employees leave. One statistic shows that half of the workforce would leave their current job for $1000 in equity or 10 extra vacation days per year. These are the trends we are starting to see in the workforce and when talking about what motivates generations, these elements may become the most important motivators to your employees, said Rubin. 

To understand the needs of an employee Rubin referred to Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” and how it may affect an employee. Maslow, a renowned psychologist, studied human behavior and determined there are five components of human behavior, or need levels, that every person must meet to continue to grow and to fulfill achievement.

Rubin explained each need briefly as it pertains to your employee base and organization in general. The needs include: physical, security, social, esteem and self fulfillment.

Physical
This is the most basic level of the needs. In this need employees are mostly concerned with the basics: food, water and shelter. This is not ultimately the need that will drive your employee to have successes within the organization.

Security
This is the second level of the needs. The individuals concerned with this need are those that are employed for life. These employees are thinking about their 401Ks, their pensions or their medical benefits.

Social
The employees that fall under this level are more concerned with what other people think versus how they actually perform. These employees like to be recognized.

Esteem
These employees want to reach a status within the organization. To these employees titles and the meaning behind them are important. They tend to be the driving force or the authority setting the rules, but also like to teach and mentor. These employees are essential and you can’t afford to let these employees leave. Tap into this resource and let these employees be mentors and coaches for the younger generation coming in, Rubin said.  

Self Fulfillment
This is the highest level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These are the creators and visionaries of the company. They are the self starters and leaders. These may not be the top ranking employees of the organization necessarily, so you need to be aware of the visionaries around you.

These are all the needs that affect the employees in your organization. It’s up to you to recognize these needs and make them meaningful to your workforce. This will also help you to recognize that benefits and compensation may need to be looked at based on the individuality of the person and generational needs to motivate each employee.

Rubin continued by explaining the make-up of our workforce today based on generation. Currently there are four generations actively in the workforce. This is the first time that all four generations are in the workforce. The four generations are matures, baby boomers, gen xer’s and millennials.  

Matures
These employees were born prior to 1946. They are devoted to work and grew up in war time and economic depression. These employees are thankful to just have a job, are self starters and have the skill set to build a career for life. These employees generally should have retired at 65 but remain in the workforce because of the satisfaction of being devoted to their job, not necessarily because of the check they receive every two weeks. And, these employees can be important to an organization because they bring with them four decades of experience, Rubin added.

Baby Boomers
These employees were born between 1946 and 1964 and grew up in the age of economic expansion and “ease of use” products introduced into society. Their work habits are modeled after matures and their identity is evolved around their occupation.

Gen Xer’s
These employees were born between 1965 and 1980. This generation broke the mold of the matures and baby boomers’ work ethics. They don’t equate productive work with long hours, they find creative ways to work smarter and have a balance of work and personal life.  

Millennials
These employees were born between 1980 and 1999. This could possibly be extended, but there is another generation being studied that is coming up. This generation was born into an age of technology and rapid change. They are influenced by the functionality of computers. The need for stimulation is a must and they also need to be constantly challenged to keep from becoming complacent. Like Gen Xer’s this generation also values a balance of work and personal life.

“I suggest that you go back to your office and take a survey of your employees. See what’s important to them and that will motivate them to do a good job. Revisit this list over time and see if it still holds,” said Rubin.

With each generation comes a different level of importance to certain incentives and rewards. In order to make an incentive or reward meaningful to the employee you need to keep in mind their needs and their generational differences. Depending on what a particular generation deems important; whether it be their job, work/life balance or technology, will change how they feel about incentives offered to them.

For example, matures may prefer monetary incentives such as annual increases, 401Ks, airline tickets, gift certificates or personal development such as training seminars or education classes. For non monetary incentives matures may prefer a certificate of recognition, verbal recognition, extra time off or flex time.

For baby boomers they look for some of the same monetary incentives as matures such as the annual increases and bonus plan, but they also prefer things like free daycare for a week, lunch with the boss or membership to a favorite club or organization. For non monetary rewards baby boomers prefer things like employee of the month, parking pass or flex time.

Incentive rewards for gen xer’s on the monetary side may be annual increases, tuition reimbursement, weekend getaways and professional development. On the non monetary side these employees may look for flex time, leader of new project or development, home office environment (working from home) or customer recognitions.

For the millennials we start to see different types of incentives. For the monetary incentives they may like things such as tickets to an event, gift certificates, lottery tickets, Ipods/computers/televisions or professional development. On the non monetary side it might be extra break time, extra time off, flexibility in decorating work environment or customer recognition.

Remember, incentive and reward programs will provide employees with recognition, raise satisfaction, creates positive work environment, reduces turnover, promotes productivity and creates a common goal.

“All you want to do is run a business, but it takes more than that to support the employees you want to run. Generational differences can be seen and make the difference in your employees,” said Rubin.

Rubin concluded the session with the question–What can you do to cultivate generational workforces? She answered by saying; Accept differences, you don’t want everyone to be the same; you wouldn’t be able to grow. Promote respect, enforce “zero tolerance” company policies, create a positive/comfortable work environment, promote team building/coaching and improve your generational workforce awareness.

This article is a summary of the session “Motivation by Generation From Matures and Baby Boomers to Gen Xer’s and Beyond!” from IACC’s 36th Annual Convention.