Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Y and Z

I do not know about this generation stuff after I have gone through a training. So I think that is worth to share with you all about these 5 generations (i.e. Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z). I think it is important to understand the behavior or characteristics of these generations which may help you in all aspects. Here you go the high-level summary of all these 5 generations:


High-Level Summary

	Veterans	Baby Boomers	Gen X	Gen Y	Gen Z
Born Year	< 1946	> 1946 < 1964	>1965 <1979	>1980 <1995	> 1995
Behavior	Very conservative and discipline                   Very respect law and order	Very optimistic and work-centric           Believe employment is for a life.	Well educated generation             Not interested in long-term careers	Very technology wise          Expect great workplace flexibility	Never known a life without the internet    Communicate through social network.

Veterans are very comfortable with directive, command and control management style. They prefer live to be predictable and not willing to change and not flexible. This is probably due to the effect of world war I and world war II because they have seen the worst.

Baby boomers tend to be very optimistic and work-centric. They will never think the employer will fire them. The reason why it is being called as baby boomers in this generation was due to the sudden increase of birth rates after the world war II.

Gen X has the “slacker” or “lazy” mentality because they born with almost everything ready. They are the first generation that has gone through day care, tuition and etc. Thus, most of the Gen X people are well educated. Loyalty is no longer in their mind, they change job or career frequently as long as they;’re unhappy. Work-life balance was invented by this generation!

Gen Y is very technology wise. They love gadget! They are way optimistic than the previous generations. They really want to do something that they really enjoy. Similar to Gen X but more extreme, they don’t give a damn about loyalty at all.

Gen Z is also know as Internet Generation. Most communication are gone through social network (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) and they do not understand or have not experienced the life without an internet.


Conclusion

Well, there is no hard rule. Let’s say if you’re Gen X, you must behave like Gen X. From one generation to another, they are always an overlap. Let’s take myself as an example – I belong to Gen X but I do not change job often, does that mean I”m baby boomer? At the same time ,I love gadget every much too! Well, I love to communicate through social network as well! It seems like I overlap 4 generations!

What it really means here is I can understand all types of generations and be part of them. lol When you’re one of them, it is easier for you to communicate or manage them.

Which generation you belong to? I bet you’re from Gen Y. : ) If wrong, then it should be Gen X! :) lol Hope article is useful to you!