So much has been written by baby boomers about their frustration with the millennial workforce. At every Human Resources conference I attend, there are sessions to teach the boomers how to appropriately motivate, manage and reward millennials.
But what about how to handle the baby boomers? A recent Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times by Ann Friedman addressed that very issue, and amused me considerably in the process.
In this article, Friedman had millennials (all under age 33) share their tips for “handling older employees’ fragile egos and hatred of technology” via Twitter. Some of my favorite tips included:
- “If you find yourself demonstrating a new digital tool … NEVER say, this is so easy” because for boomers it isn’t.
- “Ask them how they did it – baby boomers love to be heard and admired.”
- Even if they point out they have children your age, “under no circumstances should you point out that you have parents their age.”
- And my personal favorite “If you are tempted to roll your eyes, carefully fix your gaze on your computer until the feeling has passed.”
For me, in addition to providing several hearty chuckles, this article was a good reminder to always view things from someone else’s perspective. Instead of complaining about millennials (a favorite boomer pastime), maybe we should spend some time trying to understand the workplace from their point of view.