Generational Approaches To Current Nursing Issues Edition #6 June 2004

Georgia Nursing, Feb-Apr 2005

A Publication of the Center for American Nurses

Nursing that Works

Today's workplace is the home of several generations of nurses. Each generation shares some characteristics but also has many characteristics distinct to their generation. Creating a work environment where older nurses feel appreciated and younger nurses feel welcome is a challenge. This article explores the basic characteristics of the two major age cohorts in the workplace at this time: the Baby Boomers and the Twentysomethings. Current nursing issues are advanced with insights as to how each of these generations would approach problem solving and management in today's healthcare chaos. Differences and similarities are showcased, and ideas for future workplace harmony are identified. This discordant tug-of-war between two distinct generations is driving both of them toward anger and frustration. Can two, three, four generations survive and thrive in the workplace at the same time? The answer is... what choice do they have? This article is aimed at helping nurses who find themselves in an intergenerational work environment to not only endure each other, but maybe actually enjoy and celebrate their differences and their similarities. One small step toward peaceful coexistence might be to encourage some understanding of the irritations which both groups equally inflict and endure.

How Younger And Older Nurses Can Coexist

by K. Lynn Wieck, RN, Ph.D.

Generational Approaches To Current Nursing Issues

"Young people today have no work ethic!" complains an older nurse on break after trying to help an unappreciative new graduate manage his time a little better. "Puhhhhleeeze, I want a life!" moans a twentysomething nurse as eyes roll in exasperated disbelief at being asked to work on a well-deserved day off.

What the Baby Boomers Want in a Career

Baby boomers are those currently in charge. Born between 1946 and 1968, this generation is notable as the parents of the twentysomething generation. Raised by survivors of The Great Depression and the Great War (World War II), they were young rebels and proud of it. They burned their bras during the women's movement and marched through the streets to demand civil rights. They were reactionary and vocal, nonchalant and self-absorbed. Now, they are in charge and bring distinct expectations to the workplace.

Baby boomers seek at least part of their future security from their employment (American Association of Retired People, 1999). They both identify with and depend on their job as a means of having social relevance and stature. They have a great degree of loyalty to their employers, and most plan to stay there until they retire (American Association of Retired People, 1999). They are comfortable with decisions based on what's best for the organization.

Since they plan to stay for a long time, boomers have been content to wait for their chance to advance. Their idea of career development is patience. Promotions based on length of service seem very fair since they have been waiting for that opportunity. They stay at jobs they may not even like because they believe that the organization will take care of them. They feel fierce loyalty to the management of the organization although they reserve the right to criticize. But the management is a long-term partner, so they are often supportive even when they do not understand the long-term plan. On the other hand, many boomers nearing retirement are feeling their "career clock" ticking and may be willing to make career changes in order to achieve the stellar career they have always anticipated (Lancaster & Stillman, 2002).

Baby boomers are comfortable with being told what to do and when to do it. Their tolerance for directive management is high (Kersten, 2002). They are from an education system where individual attention was the focus. During childhood, they were more likely to have two parents present with a mother who did not work outside the home. Therefore, homework and chores were done in the presence of and often with the assistance of a parent. As they learned new tasks, such as changing the oil in the car or making macaroni and cheese, they had a parent watching them, standing over them, commenting, encouraging, critiquing. They are used to having someone else involved in the process of their learning and actions.

Boomers are trying to work their way to the top, a career goal many of them crave and value. It is a position of prestige, respect, and envy. The person at the top deserves respect just for being there and is almost always right. Their idea of career advancement is being recognized by people in high places and being allowed into that management circle. They think of themselves as the "star of the show" and believe they are destined to be at the top (Zemke, Raines, & Filipczak, 1999).

Job commitment is almost a religion to the baby boomer generation. They have faced every age with a sense of passion and commitment. Their young teenage years were spent protesting the war in Vietnam. They passed their youth in bell-bottom trousers singing "Kum Ba Yah." In their thirties, they reluctantly grew up and moved their commitment to their workplace. They spent their forties and fifties presiding over aerospace and technology breakthroughs unimagined in previous generations. Now entering their sixties, they share an expectation of respect and a commitment to preserving the high lifestyle they have relished in the past.