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"Kids today got itmade."

"OK, boomer."

"I need a teenager to make thisgizmo work."  

Stereotypes can be an easy way to organize adisorganized world, handy shorthand for complex issues and easygrist for standup comics. 

But when it comes to craftingpolicy for their workforce, employers should be wary ofgenerational labels that can result in mismatched job assignmentsand overlooked potential, according to two recentreports.

While age and generationalexperience do help shape workers' life perceptions, otherconsiderations such as where they are in their career, how they'refixed financially and what they want out of life are more accurate— if more complex — indicators of who they really are.

A report released this week bythe National Academies ofSciences, Engineering, and Medicine said employers who rely ongenerational assumptions should instead concentrate on workers'individual needs.

In their study, "AreGenerational Categories Meaningful Distinctions for WorkforceManagement?," researchers found that the fast-changinglandscape for workers resulting from globalization, technology andchanging workplaces — think telecommuting and, particularly in theCOVID-19 era, Zoom conferences — have spurred employers to changetheir own management practices and expectations.

But those same employers havesometimes fallen into a trap of making assumptions based onworkers' age group and presumed affinities, rather than taking amore individualized approach, it said. 

According to industrialpsychologist Nancy Tippins of Greenville, South Carolina's NancyTippins Group, who chaired the committee producing the study,research into generational characteristics has fallenshort.  

"Much of the research that's beendone to date on the differences between 'Gen Z' or 'boomers' in theworkplace has serious limitations, and can mislead employers aboutwhat their workers actually need," said Tippins.

"Our report explains howresearchers could improve future studies on how age and societalchange affect an individual's values and behavior, and make theirresults more useful for informing management decisions," shesaid. 

Most such research has beenconducted through surveys that can gauge respondents' replies at agiven point in time, the study said, but did little to show howtheir generational attitudes and goals may have changed overtime.  

"Studies that have foundmillennials are less concerned with career advancement than withachieving work-life balance, for example, can be better explainedby age differences or current work conditions," said a synopsis ofthe report. 

Contrary to widely acceptedgenerational generalities, it said, deeper investigation revealsthat people of the same generation are no more likely to share thesame expectations and values than those from othergenerations.

Another study released by theEmpower Institute stressed the same point for financial plannersand retirement advisers. 

The whitepaper, "It's Not About Generations," said that factorssuch as life experience, current and hoped-for financial status andretirement goals are more important considerations than when aperson was born. 

The report breaks downgenerations and some the more common stereotypes associated withthem: 

• Boomers are conservatives whowant to work in offices on business-hour schedules, and are "set intheir ways," for example. 
• Gen Xers? They're perceived assarcastic, debt-laden skeptics who like to communicate by email ortext.
• Millennials are entitled,self-absorbed, lazy text messagers who need "meaningful work,"while Generation Zers are tech dependent, preoccupied with theirhealth and "want to do things, not buy things."

Nice and easy categorizations,but not necessarily true.

"The problem with using theselabels isn't just that they're inaccurate," the study said. "Recentresearch also shows that generational stereotypes can affectbehavior."

One study revealed that traineesperceived to be older were rated lower by trainers despite theiractual performance.

In a survey, Empower researcherssaid 65% of respondentsthought generational differences are "overstated."

53% said their "ideas andfeelings about money varied greatly from life stage to life stage,"and 40% "identify more with others who are going through the samelife events than with those in their definedgenerations."

Workers have always facedcompeting pressures and financial demands, some foreseen and someunexpected.

"For those in the middle of majorlife transitions, juggling a number of competing financial demandstoday makes saving for tomorrow's retirement difficult," the reportsaid. 

"It is important to note that theglobal pandemic will likely affect many of these in events, such asa job loss, medical emergencies and the recession, to name a few.Because of this, we will likely see changes in how retirementinvestors behave, but with so much uncertainty, it is too early totell how behaviors will change."

The survey said more than 25% ofrespondents said they "face too many big expenses to focus onretirement."

"It doesn't make sense to lump anentire generation of millions of people into one group and assumethey all have the same experiences or think about financialplanning in the same way," said Empower Retirement President andCEO Edmund Murphy III in a statement accompanying the report'srelease.

"Financial planning and goalsshould meet people where they are in life, consider their lifeexperiences and personal characteristics, and then lay out astrategy that helps get them totheir savings goals," said Murphy.

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