The average age of incoming CEOs is around 54. While
American government remains squarely in the hands of baby boomers — and while
its leadership, at least in certain branches, becomes noticeably older —
corporate boardrooms are undergoing a transition. It is Gen X’s moment, that
generation most known for being crowded out of sweeping cultural age analyses
by millennials on one end and boomers on the other.
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Or as Patton Oswalt, a Gen X comedian, put it: “Gen X is
trending, which probably means that, uh … eh, whatever. Nevermind.”
There are plenty of fair critiques of those generational
analyses. People are far more complicated than the year they were born — in Gen
X’s case, some time between 1965 and 1980. But it is still true that with new
leaders often come new rules. For the country’s newest chief executives, that
has meant more trust in flexible and informal ways of working.
Take Darby Equipment, a manufacturing company in Tulsa,
where remote flexibility for years seemed like an alien concept. The former chief
executive, Bob Darby, reigned the company, a family business, with a commitment
to an in-person regimen. People were expected to show up on time, sit at their
desks and stay until evening, no matter what was going on in their personal
lives.
His sons, Ryan and Bobby Darby, nudged their father to
consider when he might step down. But the elder Darby couldn’t imagine the
company functioning without him. Employees called him the “pacesetter”: He
arrived every morning before 8 a.m., which encouraged others to do the same.
When Darby’s sons asked him whether he’d like to carve out more time for
golfing and fishing, he scoffed at the idea.
“He was basically telling us he didn’t think we were going
to be able to keep all the balls in the air,” said Ryan Darby, 47.
Just because you’re born in a certain year doesn’t mean someone knows everything about you.
During the pandemic, the elder Darby decided to retire. His
sons stepped into company leadership with a fresh set of notions about where
and when the work could get done. They’re more comfortable with some employees
working remotely.
Ryan Darby, whose son is a tight end for the football team
and an outfielder for the baseball team, tries to attend all the games he can:
“What is the purpose of having a successful business if you don’t take time to
enjoy your life?” he said.
“Reality Bites,” a 1994 coming-of-age film about straggling
Gen Xers, is about to turn 30. The cubicle dwellers of the 1999 comedy “Office
Space” are now old enough to be the bosses they once detested. TLC’s hits are
classified as “throwbacks.” A Walkman music player is basically vintage. The
culture that defined Gen X is aging — and so are Gen Xers themselves, now
grown-up enough to run the workplace.
The labor force participation of people over 55 was near its
lowest rate in 15 years last fall. And the average age of incoming chief
executives has been on the decline.
Research from Stanford points to generational divides on
remote work. Workers over 55 (mostly boomers) prefer to work remotely around 35
percent of the time, while workers in their early twenties (Gen Z) preferred to
be remote about 45 percent of the time and workers in their 30s and 40s
preferred to work from home closer to half the time. In other words, Gen Xers
have become the unlikely warriors for flexible work.
Of course, stage of life comes into play. A survey of
120,000 American workers, also from Stanford, found that desired remote work
levels were 7 percent higher among those living with children under 18.
Latchkey kids“Gen X are the latchkey kids — we grew up very independent,”
said Robert Glazer, 47, the founder of the marketing company Acceleration
Partners. “Gen X was one of the first generations to expect a little more from
work, trying to set boundaries but not expecting the workplace to change around
them.”
When companies were first calling people back to the office,
many assumed that the youngest workers would be the most rebellious. The
reality has been more complicated. In many cases, executives say, young people
are eager to be back in the office and surrounded by colleagues, while
middle-aged employees with child and elder care responsibilities are fighting
to keep their afternoon freedoms.
What is the purpose of having a successful business if you don’t take time to enjoy your life?
David Burkus, a consultant and the author of “Under New
Management,” advises dozens of companies on management issues, including
return-to-office plans. He’s seen firsthand the generational divisions
underlying them. This was particularly salient for a law firm he recently
consulted for to send some 700 lawyers back to the office.
“Baby boomers, who were predominantly empty nesters, were
pushing to get people back in the office,” he said. “Then you had Gen Xers and
geriatric millennials pushing for flexibility.”
“I went into it expecting it to be clear that the younger
you are, the more flexibility you want,” he added. “I didn’t find that.”
Joy Meier, who runs human resources for the 4,000 employees
at E2open, a supply chain software company, has also watched those generational
differences unfold as she surveyed employees about their return-to-office
preferences.
Meier, 49, found that many young workers wanted to be in
person, sometimes even five days a week, describing a sense of loneliness at
home and an eagerness to jump start their careers; a handful even departed the
company in pursuit of more in-office time. Many senior employees wanted to be
in the office, too, because that was how they’d spent their whole lives. (Some
also had less comfort with technology.) Then there was the Gen Xers, like
Meier, who has four children at home and embraced the company’s hybrid policy,
which requires most staffers to come in three days a week.
“There’s definitely more of a desire for flexibility among
people who are advanced in their careers and have family commitments,” she
said.
Of course, talking about generational divisions can easily
backslide into finger pointing. Management experts point out that most of the
variance in workplace performance isn’t about how old someone is, but how good
their boss is. Broad generational brush strokes can paper over the deeper
conversations needed between workers and their bosses.
“The single best predictor for whether folks will succeed at
work is the competence of their boss, regardless of generation,” said Melissa
Nightingale, a co-founder of Raw Signal Group, a management training firm.
“That boss is on the hook for their onboarding, their feedback, their career
growth and more. If the boss can’t do those things, they’re screwed.”
Still, when old bosses leave and new ones arrive, there are
opportunities for rethinking. Workers who benefit from leaving the office early
for school pickup can say so. Workers who want more feedback can ask for it.
There’s a chance to look at the way things have always been done and ask: Why?
“A lot of experts make it sound like you’re putting people
in boxes based on their birth year, but what we want people to understand is
that generations are clues, not a box,” said Jason Dorsey, a workplace
researcher. “Just because you’re born in a certain year doesn’t mean someone
knows everything about you.”
Generations change as they grow up, too. For years, Gen X
seemed defined by a vexed sense of aimlessness. As Winona Ryder’s character in
“Reality Bites” puts it: “I was really going to be something by the age of 23.”
The angst, for many, is fading. Cue a sense of workplace confidence; they became
something.
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