Talkin ‘bout my (and your) generation

We are living and working longer – with workplaces today often encompassing six generations.

“Every person is like a work of art that you should look at with open curiosity.” – Andy Kei

Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and Zillennials are said to have different expectations and attitudes when it comes to work and life in general.

So how to find a common dialogue? After all, it is recognized that a workplace flourishes when it embraces the diversity of its employees.

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In a bluenotes podcast discussion, one of ANZ’s newer staff members Andy Kei - a graduate in Communications & Public Affairs - chatted about the topic with ANZ Group Executive for Talent & Culture, Elisa Clements.

Both agreed organisations benefit massively when they embrace the similarities and differences between generations to create better and more diverse and inclusive workplaces.

Corner shop to corporate

Both Andy and Elisa started their work lives while at high school - Andy at a fish and chip shop and Elisa at a health food shop. Their next steps on the corporate ladder showed how the workforce has changed over time.

“I expected the corporate world to be very monotonous and extremely boring. People just sitting in their cubicles,” Andy says. “But to my pleasant surprise there was a lot of autonomy.”

He describes an early manager – who became a friend and mentor – who trusted him. She provided him with tasks and the flexibility to achieve them how he saw fit.

“I felt like my opinion was really valued. So that was what really surprised me. I thought it was hierarchical at a corporate. But in my experience, it wasn't.”

Elisa said her entry into corporate life happened 30 years ago at a professional services firm in London. She said it was much more hierarchical.

“What surprised me back then, I remember thinking that there was this distinction generally between men and women,” Elisa says.

“Men had the senior roles or the dealership sort of roles and women tended to be in the administration roles.”

Below the surface

From her experience Elisa says the best way to learn from other age groups was to not assume people of a certain generation were all the same.

“The first thing is not to assume that if I worked with Andy, for example, that people in his generation are all going to have the same expectations and norms.”

Many more experienced workers had learned great skills of adaption and perseverance after going through different economic cycles, she says.

“But similarly, the older generations can learn from the younger generations in terms of bringing a new perspective.”

Andy says learning from older generations is important to him.

“One thing I was made aware of when I was doing my internship, was that a lot of knowledge is really bespoke and not recorded. And when people retire a lot of that is just lost.”

A useful technique Andy has used is seeking to engage with people in a unique way.

“Every person is like a work of art that you should look at with open curiosity,” he says. “That means even if I don't get it at first, I can assume that ‘this work of art is at a museum, so there's probably something that I don't get’.”

Multiple careers

Both agree it’s generally accepted people will change careers several times in their lives.

“People want to have a very fulfilled life … they want to try different things,” Elisa says.

“One thing we're thinking about at ANZ - is it's less around having clear career structure and it's more about being a skills-based organization in which individuals continuously develop skills they can transfer to other roles.”

Andy began his career before changing to banking. The concept of a varied career excites him.

“I find being able to flex and being able to move into different industries and different roles is much more satisfying.”

A sense of purpose

But no matter the generation – people are always seeking a sense of purpose in their work. This became clear to Elisa a decade ago when talking to a close friend.

“My friend was sharing a story about how he had a terrible manager at a particular point in his career, and it really impacted his mental health,” she says. “It also impacted the way he took up his role as a father and as a husband.”

“He encouraged me to think about my role in Talent and Culture, which is essentially trying to create an environment where people enjoy coming to work and they're respected and included.”

It’s important to recognize the common humanity of the workforce and how people also exist in a broader society outside of work, Andy says.

“Now that I'm in a big corporate, I see the wall between my bank and the rest of society is not really a wall. There is no wall per se. There's no division,” he says.

“I think working for a purpose and for a connection is a path many people naturally figure out for themselves.”

As workplaces become broader and more diverse, Andy and Elisa both show that embracing the differences is what make companies like ANZ better places to work.

Jeff Whalley is a Journalist for bluenotes.