You’ve all heard the terms: traditionalists, baby boomers, generation X, generation Y/millennials.  These represent the four generations that exist in our VCE workforce today.

So what does this really mean?  Well, the importance is that individuals from each generation bring different values to the workplace that influence how they work and how they interact with others.  A generation is based on the range of an individual’s birth date and the traits they develop in their formative years, which is influenced by economic, political, and social events happening at that time.  For a more information on this, see Understanding Generations by the West Virginia University Extension Service.  Also see The Value of a Multigenerational Workplace for a very enlightening business perspective.

From my perspective, I believe that generational diversity exists in VCE and can be challenging and also opportunistic to deal with in our professional relationships and work.  What do you think?  Here are two questions to start the discussion:

1. What have been your experiences in generational diversity in your VCE work?

2. How can we leverage generational diversity to benefit our VCE work?

Mike Lambur