Head Tale

My mom retired this year after 33 years as a registered nurse – three years in Regina, four years off to have kids then thirty years at the Indian Head Union Hospital.  Shea, Pace and I went to the local health district's annual long service & retirement tea (well, actually “dessert bar” so I wasn't complaining!) and watching all the 25 and 30+ year tenure people walk across the stage made me wonder if there will even be these types of ceremonies in thirty years?

My generation (the X'ers) is well-known to have a generational characteristic that we don't stay in jobs very long.  I've been in the workforce for ten years since convocating with my BA in 1997 and have had four jobs since then.  When you consider that one of those years was spent in Li'l London doing my Masters, that's a pretty short time frame per job. And I don't think I'm terribly out-of-line with many of my contemporaries. 

From the above article:

In general, Generation X employees are
those between the age of 19-34.
Unlike their parents and grandparents, Generation X employees do not plan on
staying with one job or company throughout their career, nor will they sacrifice
their family for their job.

I had a funny image of myself attending some public library function at some point in the future: “Jason Hammond is our longest serving employee having spent the last five years in our collection development department.  Mr. Hammond, here is your silver wristwatch.  Congratulations on your dedication, service and commitment to our library!” 

I recently read (and enjoyed – whereas my younger self woud've punched my current self in the mush for even picking up this book) “Motivating the “What's In It For Me” Workforce: How To Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits” which, once you got past the business/corporate/profit theme, provided a decent overview of the inter-generational conflicts that can occur in today's workplaces which may contain up to four generations – the Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y (aka Millenials/Net Generation) with the middle two groups making up the bulk of the current workforce. 

Also from the above article, some insight into how my generation differs from the one that came before it:

Generation X employees tend to be less
motivated by promises of overtime pay and more motivated by personal
satisfaction with their jobs. They want to grow in their jobs and learn new
skills. They will change jobs often as they seek jobs that offers them both
better benefits and more opportunity for professional growth as well as personal
fulfillment.

Generation X employees want, and
expect, their employers to hear what they have to say. They want to understand
the “big picture” for the company and how this influences their employment
and growth. They are creative thinkers, independent, results oriented and bring
with them a healthy dose of skepticism.

So is there a grand unifier?  One characteristic that all generations share?  I'm not sure but I think it's a love of silver wristwatches.