Three Generations. One Workplace. And a Completely Different World of Work.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

Helen Keller

Think about the workplace today.

Someone on your team may remember starting work before email was part of everyday business.

Someone else watched the internet completely change how we communicate and work.

Another may have grown up never knowing a world without it.

Now they're sitting in the same meeting, working on the same project and being managed under the same policies.

That's pretty incredible when you stop and think about it.

Today, three generations make up a significant part of our working lives:

• Generation X: 1965–1980

• Millennials: 1981–1996

• Generation Z: 1997–2012

These commonly used generational boundaries are useful reference points, but they aren't hard scientific categories. Pew Research Center cautions that generational labels can easily lead to stereotypes and oversimplification.

And that's important.

A generation can help us understand someone's world. It shouldn't be used to define the person.

Think About How Much Has Changed

Gen X entered a workforce that looked very different from today's.

Technology evolved enormously throughout their careers. Many experienced the workplace before the internet, smartphones, instant messaging, video meetings and hybrid working became part of everyday life.

Millennials came through during the rapid rise of the internet and digital communication and experienced major economic and technological change as they entered adulthood.

Then came Gen Z, a generation immersed in the internet from an early age and now beginning their careers in a world of smartphones, remote work and AI.

Three generations.

Three very different experiences of growing up.

Now put them into one workplace.

Of course they're not always going to approach things in exactly the same way.

Why would we expect them to?

Different Doesn't Mean Wrong

This is where I think workplaces sometimes get it wrong.

We hear:

"Gen Z doesn't want to work."

"Millennials want too much flexibility."

"Gen X doesn't like change."

These statements might make entertaining conversations, but they're not a great way to lead people.

There's usually far more variation between individual employees than a generational label can explain. Gallup makes a similar point: generational perspectives can differ, but individual strengths are more meaningful when understanding how someone thinks, behaves and performs.

Maybe the employee asking for flexibility isn't entitled.

Maybe they've simply realised that excellent work and a good life can exist together.

Maybe the experienced employee questioning a new system isn't resistant to change.

Maybe they've seen three previous systems fail and have knowledge worth listening to.

And maybe the younger employee asking "why?" isn't challenging your authority.

Maybe they genuinely want to understand the purpose behind what they're doing.

Ask before you assume.

What People Want From Work Is Changing

Recent research gives employers something worth thinking about.

Deloitte's 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, covering more than 23,000 respondents across 44 countries, found Gen Z and Millennials focused on a combination of money, meaning and wellbeing. Learning and development, work-life balance and meaningful work also feature strongly in what these generations want from their careers.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Perhaps the workplace is simply evolving.

We've moved from conversations largely about "Where do you work?"

to also asking:

How do you work?

Who do you work for?

What are you learning?

Are you supported?

Does your manager actually develop you?

Can you have a career and a life?

Those are healthy questions for employers to be challenged by.

Managers Are in the Middle of This

Imagine managing a team of ten people across different generations, cultures, personalities, experiences and stages of life.

One employee prefers a phone call.

Another sends a Teams message.

One wants independence.

Another wants regular feedback.

One has twenty-five years of experience.

Another has two years of experience but brings knowledge of technology that could change how the entire team works.

Your job as a manager isn't to decide which generation has it right.

Your job is to bring those strengths together.

That requires conversation.

Ask people how they prefer to communicate.

Be clear about expectations.

Explain the "why" behind decisions.

Provide development.

Create opportunities for experienced employees to share their knowledge.

And be willing to learn from younger employees too.

Leadership isn't about knowing everything because you're the most senior person in the room.

Imagine What We Can Learn From Each Other

This is the part of the multigenerational workplace that I think we don't celebrate enough.

Think about the knowledge sitting inside one team.

Years of industry experience.

Knowledge of what worked before and what didn't.

New technology.

Fresh perspectives.

Different cultural experiences.

Different approaches to communication.

Different ideas about leadership, careers and life outside work.

There's an enormous opportunity there.

Deloitte argues that organisations need employees of different ages and backgrounds to collaborate and that doing this effectively requires understanding people's individual skills and strengths.

Instead of asking:

"How do we manage Gen Z?"

Maybe ask:

"How do we create a workplace where different people can do their best work?"

That's a much better conversation.

The Click Talent Take

We are living through an amazing period of change in the workplace.

Three generations can walk through the same office door carrying completely different experiences of technology, education, leadership, communication and life.

That's not a problem to solve. It's an opportunity to manage well.

Don't expect Gen X to become Millennials.

Don't expect Millennials to become Gen Z.

And don't manage someone based solely on the year they were born.

Get to know the person.

Understand what motivates them.

Listen to what they bring.

Set clear expectations.

Train managers to lead different personalities and working styles.

And create opportunities for generations to learn from each other.

The experienced employee might have something invaluable to teach the person starting their career.

But let's not forget that the person starting their career might have something to teach them too.

That's the exciting part.

The workplace is changing, and it will keep changing.

The organisations that get this right won't spend their energy complaining that the next generation is different.

They'll work out how to bring the best out of every generation.

Because the future of work isn't Gen X versus Millennials versus Gen Z.

It's all of us figuring out how to work better together.

By Amanda Dubier