Optimistic baby boomers, discouraged gen-Xers and hopeful millennials—a new book co-authored by Linda Schweitzer, interim dean and associate professor at the Sprott School of Business, discusses what different generations expect when entering the workforce.
Schweitzer co-authored her second book, Generational Career Shifts: How Matures, Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials View Work, after more than 10 years of research. Schweitzer worked alongside Eddy Ng, a business professor at Dalhousie University, and Sean Lyons, a business professor at the University of Guelph.
The authors’ collective research investigates four generations of Canadians—matures, baby boomers, generation X, and millennials—and whether they have different career expectations and outcomes. In the research, baby boomers were considered to be born between 1945 and 1964, gen-Xers between 1965 and 1979, and millennials between 1980 and 1994.
Schweitzer said the way they collected research findings was meant to reach a bigger audience than just an academic one.
“We put it all together into a much more digestible format and made it into a book,” she said.
According to Schweitzer, the research was done through two different methods: surveys and interviews. More than 250 people of different generations from across Canada were interviewed, she said.
“They were long interviews and we went through their whole work history,” shesaid. “For example, how many times they changed jobs, why they changed. We asked about their expectations for their career and their work values.”
The authors found that subjects in younger generations changed jobs faster and more frequently, compared to subjects in older generations.
“We also found it interesting that baby boomers, early in their careers, were very optimistic and confident in the workforce, whereas gen-Xers were more anxious and hesitant about their job prospects,” Schweitzer said.
Comparatively, millennials are not as optimistic but have high expectations when it comes to their careers, she said.
“They were raised to have high expectations about how far they’re going to go, how much money they’re going to earn, and how quickly that’s going to happen. They also had parents who were baby boomers, and, by definition, very successful,” Schweitzer explained.
Once they finished the interviews, the authors turned the findings into a Canada-wide survey, completed by 2,500 people in the workforce.
“We’re trying to compare what kinds of expectations they had back then (when entering the workforce), not now,” Schweitzer said.
Schweitzer described the gradual process of generation changes and the fluidity of the change. For example, baby boomers on the younger end of the spectrum did not have good job prospects, just like older gen-Xers.
The authors are currently working on similar research about generation Z, which generally includes those currently enrolled in university and newly entering the workforce.
Schweitzer said she predicts that generation Z will be closer to generation X than millennials, just as millennials are similar in some aspects to the boomers.
Graphic by Manoj Thayalan
