Generational differences at work: myth or reality?

The multi-generational environment in today’s companies is being categorized as the newest diversity challenge for HR in many organizations across the globe. Lots of articles, books, lectures or even TED talks based on surveys and expert opinions are claiming that Veterans, Boomers, Xs and Millennials need to be treated differently because they hold diverse work-related attitudes. Based on these, many organizations are spending unprecedented amounts of time and money conducting training programs and interventions in order to deal with these generational variances. Fortunately, an increasing amount of science is discrediting the notion of generational differences. In this article we will present the counterintuitive results of a very solid and reliable study. What does scientific research say about generational differences? Costanza and colleagues (2012) conducted the first known quantitative meta-analysis published in the Journal of Business and Psychology. Meta-analyses