The 2026 State of Generations at Work: Rethinking Generational Differences

MEGHAN STETTLER: Welcome everyone, and thank you for joining O.C. Tanner's webinar, The State of Generations at Work: Rethinking Generational Differences.

I'm Meghan Stettler, Director at the O.C. Tanner Institute, where our research and education on workplace culture, the employee experience, and recognition help organisations and their people to thrive.

Before we begin, just a couple of housekeeping items. First, this webinar is SHRM and HRCI certified for credit. Those codes will be available at the end of the webinar.

The session is also prerecorded so we can broadcast it across various time zones at more appropriate hours for you. That said, our local teams are here live and ready to answer any questions or comments in the chat.

And final note, while we'll be highlighting some regional insights, the session is not intended for comparison or benchmarking against regions.

Each area comes with its own cultural, economic, and even organisational nuance. So our goal here today is to understand those insights in context and on their own terms so we can better appreciate the very diverse ways that success can be cultivated across a multinational workforce.

Okay. Let's begin.

I think it's safe to say that age is one of the most misunderstood, underestimated forces shaping today's workplace.

Generations are talked about constantly, but too often they're reduced to really easy or quick stereotypes, the eye rolls about entitled youth, out of touch leaders, clashing communication styles, life priorities. Oh, the drama goes on and on, doesn't it?

Well, for the first time, we have four generations working side by side, and each one of them are shaped by very different economic realities, technology journeys, expectations of leadership, and even definitions of what success looks like. And the bottom line is that those differences that we sometimes make fun of, they directly affect how teams collaborate and even how they perform. So when those dynamics are minimized or oversimplified, the cost is very real for organisations.

But also the reality is when leaders take those differences seriously, it can really become their new competitive advantage. So today we'll draw on the insights gathered from over five thousand seven hundred employees across seventeen countries, nine focus groups to examine what leaders need to know about managing a multigenerational workforce and how to unlock those individual strengths.

First, we'll begin by understanding the contracts or the expectations each generation has with work, how to achieve what we're calling generational synergy, and then how to deploy those principles across areas where tension can show up quickly, but where synergy can be a game changer in bridging those divides across well-being, technology adoption, and recognition.

Well, joining me to unpack these findings are Daniel Patterson, Manager of Research and Assessment at the O.C. Tanner Institute, as well as Cristen Dalessandro, Principal Researcher and Sociologist at O.C. Tanner. Welcome, you two. So great to have you on the webinar today.

DANIEL PATTERSON: Thank you. Great to be here.

CRISTEN DALESSANDRO: Yeah. Hi, everyone. Great to be here with you today.

MEGHAN: Well, I know you guys are regulars on the webinar, and we're really excited to give everybody a download of the latest trends and insights happening in generations. And as we step into that, this isn't the first time that the Institute has really approached generational focused research.

It's always been a part of past projects, especially global culture reports, but this is our very first dedicated publication to the subject. So as you two began this research endeavor, maybe you can begin by telling us a little bit more about the foundational approach that you took to understanding those different generations and why that was really critical to the overall success of the project. What really sets this apart in the market, Cristen?

CRISTEN: That's a great question, Meghan. To give everyone a little bit of background, there really are a few reasons why we decided to do this research now. And first and foremost, we wanted to do this research because well, there's a need for it. And what I mean by that is that while the topic of generational differences has gotten a lot of attention from scholars, existing studies tend to do two things that have really left us with a few knowledge gaps.

So first, this past research often focuses on certain countries or regions in lieu of taking a global approach. And second, they also often tend to put a heavy emphasis on identifying how generations are different, but then stopping there. So we don't see as much dialogue around strategies for promoting generational understanding or reasons why we should pursue it.

So in our new research, we take a global approach that doesn't just outline generational differences, but goes one step further by investigating how embracing differences rather than shunning them can create super powered teams and organisations.

MEGHAN: Yeah, I think that's really important to underscore.

No prior past research in the market has intentionally focused on solutions, just differences. Is that right? Did I hear that right?

CRISTEN: Right. Especially if we're thinking about the kind of research that we do on workplace culture. There's already a body of research out there on generations, but solutions can sometimes feel like an afterthought, especially depending on the research outlet that we're looking at or the study that we're examining. So of course, as we'll get into later, this is something that we specifically sought to remedy in our own work. In addition to including a global sample in order to see how global nuances may or may not differentiate workers' generational experiences.

MEGHAN: Fantastic. Maybe Daniel, you can go a little bit more into that global approach for us as well.

DANIEL: Absolutely. Well, I think it probably goes without saying that the challenges and opportunities that come with having a multigenerational workforce, that's not just a Western workplace phenomenon. To simply capture North American perspective, would really miss out on some nuanced insights that if understood and controlled for, could really help us provide more actionable strategies for organisations wherever they are. So this meant taking into account factors like attitudes and often changing norms around authority, autonomy, teamwork, and collective identity.

Of course, putting these factors into socioeconomic context also plays part in understanding the intergenerational story. And all of this not only allowed us to see a richer set of generational patterns, it also helped us begin to see where generational differences could actually be leveraged as strengths to create significant cultural and business ROIs for organisations.

So in short, for this report to really truly have a meaningful impact, we had to take an approach to research design that adopted a robust global perspective.

MEGHAN: Yeah. I love that. Solutions oriented, intentionally designed for leaders of global workforces in a high stakes economy.

Well, let's get into what you all have uncovered. What were the underlying patterns or differences that you discovered globally in how each generation defines what matters most in their relationship with work?

DANIEL: Well, before we can understand the patterns, we should first start with a little bit about the theoretical framework that informed how we got there. And I can really sum that up in one word, and that's contracts.

So contracts, I mean, that's a familiar term for for most of us. You know, we have contracts when we buy a car, purchase a home, or even rent a bike. It's a formal agreement that says, I give you this, typically money, and in return, you give me something that I want or feel owed, you know, in that exchange.

And if we look at research in psychology or sociology, there's a deep body of literature that considers the informal ways that human relationships operate as a form of contract. That is, people have subjective expectations when they interact, often unspoken or unwritten, about what they feel they owe each other. And we see the same thing in the workplace.

At its most basic, you can think of it as employee expects that they give the employer their labour, and in return, they get a paycheck.

Now, of course, there are a lot of other more intangible things that are shaped by this contract, things like trust, security, respect. And where it gets interesting for us is when we start looking at this contract and those expectations from a generational perspective.

So let me ask you this. Do you think a twenty year old employee and a fifty year old employee are gonna have the same expectations of what their company owes them when it comes to individual autonomy or say work that aligns with their personal values?

MEGHAN: Yeah. I really don't think so. Right? They're in totally different phases of life, different perspectives, experiences. Yeah.

DANIEL: Yeah. I mean, and exactly. And that's when we start to see that generational tension. The underlying question here is what are those underlying dynamics that are shaping these differences?

Now our generational contracts model addresses this with an approach based on the idea of the psychological contract in the workplace. It's rooted in employee experiences coming of age in the labour market and the relationship they initially had with work.

CRISTEN: Yeah. Exactly. Thanks for explaining that, Daniel. You know, and though researchers have covered the psychological contract before, this isn't necessarily something that we, that we're the first to talk about, right? There's some previous research on this already.

But another cool thing about our research, if I can emphasise the global point again, is just the sheer scale of our project.

Because rather than one or two countries, which is what we see in a lot of previous research, we actually gathered the perspectives of employees from seventeen different countries across the world.

Because we tested our patterns globally, we were able to parse out how workers from each of the generations are similar despite being from so many different places. So this approach allowed us to consider nuances while also mapping out commonalities that workers of each generation share with each other, even though they're spread throughout the world.

MEGHAN: So, so take us through each generational contract. This isn't a new concept, as you had mentioned, Cristen, but what our research has discovered about the approaches to work, the strengths, the struggles has really allowed us to identify the true opportunity for organisations.

CRISTEN: Right. And so I think a good strategy here is to just go through each of the contracts that each generation has in-depth. So, Daniel, shall we split this up? Do wanna go first?

DANIEL: Absolutely. Okay. So first up, let's start with the baby boomers. Now these are the workers born between nineteen forty six and nineteen sixty five, and they have what we call the industrial contract.

Baby boomers began working at the end of the postwar prosperity years. And for them, loyalty was the driving value. When it came to their understanding of the workplace contract, they believe that loyalty is and should be rewarded with their other prized values, primarily things like job stability and security.

Now what we found with each generational contract is they have both strengths and struggles. So for the baby boomers, their strength is that they are incredibly loyal and very hardworking, making them absolutely invaluable organisational supporters and champions.

MEGHAN: Yeah. I'd imagine then, Daniel, that also on the flip side of that is kind of the downside. Their hardworking nature also means that they often struggle with working too much, and they frequently expect the same level of loyalty and dedication from both their employer as well as the other generations that they work with. When they don't see it, that can easily cascade into frustration. So where's the opportunity here?

DANIEL: Good call out. You're spot on. And the opportunity here is that organisations can help baby boomers collaborate more effectively with other generations by honoring their contributions and commitment, providing them with clear structure in their work, and setting healthy expectations around work. So by aligning practices with the values of their contract, baby boomers can become actually a real stabilizing force in the workplace.

MEGHAN: It's interesting. It makes sense like what you're saying. Right? The historical undercurrents that drove this generation to success and how they value that sense of loyalty and security.

And we see this playing out often with senior leaders. In fact, a member of my team just came back from an event where someone came up to him after and said, Hey, our executive, incredibly loyal, works hard, too hard, demands that of others too. And really what's great about this research, as well as the other research you all have done with our twenty twenty six Global Culture Report, is that it just sheds new light on defining and achieving success in ways that honor the baby boomers contract while also understanding and providing the expectations and support needed for others to also rise to that occasion.

I would recommend anyone viewing this webinar also go check out our Global Culture Report on healthy performance cultures. Next, Gen X.

DANIEL: Gen X. Okay. These are my people. Born between nineteen sixty five and nineteen eighty.

Gen X workers have the performance contract. So Gen X started working at a time when corporate downsizing was prominent. So for them, security wasn't about loyalty or tenure like baby boomers understood it. It was more about skill.

Gen X cares about work, but rather than prioritise institutional loyalty, they value self sufficiency and independence.

Really, that independence from, like, micromanagement and hierarchies. So as a result, Gen Xers are very pragmatic realists that are independent, balanced, and very focused on results.

MEGHAN: Yeah. So in other words, their safeguard is themselves.

DANIEL: Absolutely.

MEGHAN: Their security is their skills themselves and how they've invested in themselves.

And then I would imagine the challenge for that is that they have very little faith in their organisation as an institution of care. And therefore, as we've seen in our research, they have some of the lowest scores when it comes to trust in organisations, as well as senior leaders.

And they really struggle then to understand a baby boomer's fierce loyalty to the company, again, creating that, that tension that we often see in the workplace.

DANIEL: Yeah. Now that said, when organisations provide Gen Xers with autonomy and trust while calling out their skills, their pragmatism, their self sufficiency, then they're actually more likely to collaborate and become very powerful connectors across generations, even with baby boomers.

MEGHAN: Yeah. Isn't that so interesting? To give this generation their own psychological sense of security, they need to be valued for their independence. I love that dichotomy there.

Well, Cristen, next comes my generation, the millennials. Sock it to me.

CRISTEN: Yes. They're my generation as well. Let's get into it. The millennials.

Moving down the list, we next have the millennials, and these are the workers with birth years between nineteen eighty one and nineteen ninety six.

So millennials have what we call the purpose contract with their employers. Now millennials came of age during a time of rapid economic change, but also during a time when social responsibility was a big emphasis culturally.

So connected to this, we found that it's really important for millennials to have values alignment between themselves and the organisations where they work.

So millennials, we found in our research are some of the most passionate and engaged workers out there who really care a lot about an organisation's ethics, but they struggle when they perceive that the organisations where they work aren't acting in ways that they deem consistent with their own values.

So this can be something like, for example, a millennial really values something like honesty and work life balance, but maybe they find themselves working for a place that, they perceive has unclear communication practices or encourages employees to be available at all hours, prioritise work over well-being doesn't really support that balance.

A situation like this could translate very easily to a values disconnect for a millennial employee. And, you know, you can imagine they would not be happy if this disconnect continues and that's when we could really start to see them start to disengage.

MEGHAN: Yeah. It becomes like this internal continual wrestle and struggle, which I think puts millennials on a fast track to burnout, which I think we'll be uncovering in our well-being section coming up.

CRISTEN: Exactly. And that's just what we found in our research. Right? We found that one of the consequences to values misalignment is that millennials have a high risk of burning out.

Now, the opportunity here is that when millennials can find values alignment, they can really help inspire a stronger sense of purpose, values, and engagement in workers from other generations who might struggle with those things a little bit more.

MEGHAN: Yeah, I see. So they can be the purpose connector for those go it alone, gen Xers or the baby boomers who may minimize meaning and impact over security when it doesn't have to be a zero sum game. Even Gen Z who's really trying to figure out what purpose is in the first place, which really leads us to our final contract, Cristen.

CRISTEN: Yes. Last but not least. Let's talk about Gen Z. We found that Gen Z, and these are those workers with birth years between nineteen ninety seven and twenty thirteen, they have what we call the community contract, which basically means that things like inclusion, community, and belonging are primarily what they're looking for at work in order to be engaged.

So I say all that to say, don't believe the stereotype of the average gen Z worker who maybe just wants to hibernate and be left alone, stuck to the computer all day. You know, compared to other workers from different generations, these workers did grow up in the most digitized era and a lot of their formative years were influenced by COVID. So because of this, we found that they are actually longing for authentic human connection.

MEGHAN: Yeah. And this is a common thread that we've seen in our research since COVID, others research since COVID, really debunking that myth about those younger generations, not wanting connection or community or belonging when in reality it's the exact opposite. They're really craving that in person, that connection because they've never had it to the same degree as other generations.

CRISTEN: Exactly. It's looked a little bit different for them, which I think is important, it's an important point for older generations in the workforce to kind of keep in mind as well.

Some of Gen Z's strengths as workers are that they're ready to learn, take initiative, they want to collaborate with others, but where they're struggling is finding their communities at work.

So what we argue in the report is these folks can actually be an untapped resource for organisations when it comes to things like building connection and strengthening community.

This is actually what Gen Z told us they want. It's what they told us they're looking for. So letting them shine in this way can help build community and connection across other generations as well.

MEGHAN: Yeah. I think that's also an important thing to call out. Maybe think about this certainly for the incoming generation, but frankly, for any new hire, how are you working to connect them in formal and informal ways to help them learn about your culture, your norms, your ways of working, what success looks like, because frankly, they just don't have visibility or understanding into what that looks like so, so early on, but especially this incoming generation.

CRISTEN: Exactly. You know, it's difficult to become socialized to any cultural environment.

So in other words, to learn the norms, the expectations, the lay of the land. This is difficult if you're not having those little informal interactions and opportunities for observation regularly.

And since Gen Z is still pretty new, especially relative to other generations, they're eager to jump into work and their enthusiasm around building connection and community can really help revive other workers who maybe have gotten into a little bit of a routine or maybe become a little disillusioned.

However, in order to do this, they need the support and opportunity to accomplish their sort of community centric goals. You know, they can't build community alone. They need the help and the buy in of essentially what we might call community champions, from other generations as well.

MEGHAN: Well, listening, you know, to you both describe these various psychological contracts, it's, it's very clear. Obviously the tension comes from misunderstanding and even dismissing how these different generational experiences shape our expectations at work, causing, you know, loyalty to look like rigidity or independence to feel cold or purpose to feel just a little fluffy or a desire for community to be ignored.

You know, these individual strengths are frankly being misread as friction when they really could be leveraged as a real competitive advantage.

CRISTEN: Exactly, Meghan, you know, and I think that's actually what we're trying to do with this report. You know, unfortunately there's a lot of misunderstanding that still exists and we're, we're sort of hoping that by illuminating where each generation is coming from, we can, at a very base level, you know, just increase knowledge and awareness that helps combat some of these potential conflicts that, at best we joke about, and at worst we see becoming a real issue in the workplace.

MEGHAN: Well, that's what I love about your report because it really takes a sharp pivot here because instead of again, framing these differences as something to fix separately, your work calls for synergy.

So tell us a little bit more about what you mean by synergy and why that represents such a meaningful and different shift to how organisations have traditionally approached managing that multigenerational workforce.

DANIEL: Well, at its most basic generational synergy happens when employees work together and leverage their differences to produce better outcomes than they could have alone or within their generational silo.

So instead of seeing differences in perspective or ways of working as a source of friction, synergy sees them as complementary forces that actually can produce really amazing outcomes.

CRISTEN: Right. And in our research, we've identified that there's really five key areas that characterize generational synergy in the workplace: collaboration, communication, inclusion, professional development, and recognition.

And these elements have an impact on how individual employees across generations experience the workplace as well as how organisations function as a whole. So it's individuals, but it's also sort of describing more generally how things are going, within organisations.

You know, for example, synergy translates to baby boomers having better boundaries at work. To gen X feeling a stronger sense of organisational trust. To millennials having less stress and to gen Z having a stronger sense of community. So for these individual employees who belong to these different generations, you know, this is something, synergy in the environment can have a real positive impact.

But it also, as we can see in the table here, has a positive impact on, organisational outcomes too.

So businesses benefit when synergy is present in ways such as they have lower turnover, they have increased innovation, they have higher customer satisfaction, and increased organisational trust.

So, you know, it's not just that synergy impacts individual employees in different generations, but there's sort of a domino effect where we see a broader positive impact with the organisation as a whole.

That goes for not just, the environment in the organisation, but also when it comes to things like, you know, the quality of products that organisations are producing or how satisfied customers feel.

So it's really kind of a fascinating, phenomenon.

MEGHAN: Yeah. It's always the power of putting people at the centre of strategy and then being very wise and intentional about what that means generationally, and being attuned to that.

So let's get into the nuts and bolts of everything, right? Let's put these findings into action, contract, synergy, and apply them to three areas where employees frequently talk about in our research, but where misalignment can quickly show up.

Synergy then has the power to make that notable impact. So well-being, technology adoption, and recognition. Daniel, let's start with your area of focus here on well-being first.

DANIEL: Well, it's a great place to start, Meghan, because well-being is the absolute foundation for sustainable high performance cultures, and organisations know it. I mean, since COVID, well-being programmes have become an essential offering across all industries and all markets.

But, unfortunately, most of these offerings are frequently one size fits all initiatives that typically fail to connect with employees to the extent that they should. And this is especially true when it comes to different generations.

I mean, the the need for well-being is universal, but each generation defines and prioritises well-being and burnout in very different ways.

And we found in our research that employees define well-being really on a spectrum from security to enrichment. And where employees kind of fell along this spectrum corresponded to the values associated with their generational contract.

So for example, programmes and offerings that meet the needs for stability and security. So here we're talking about things around, you know, those financial needs, you know, primarily. These were top priorities for baby boomers.

Now Gen Xers, who, you know, equally aligned with security, they were also drawn to additional things that promote flexibility.

Now for millennials and Gen Z, security is really just kind of a baseline. Things like purpose, values, and growth are what most strongly tie into their conception of well-being.

MEGHAN: Yeah. So when we take all of these factors into account, what does well-being look like now from a global perspective?

DANIEL: Well, the good news is that when we look across our four main regions, so we're talking about APAC, IMEA, Europe, and the Americas, everyone scores above average in well-being.

Now this suggests that a lot of basic elements for security and stability are in place for most workers in most regions.

And as I had mentioned, while there are differences in how generations understand well-being, security is a foundational element for everyone.

Now that said, we do see a dramatic difference between regions. For example, APAC is just barely above the midpoint threshold with sixty percent reporting they're satisfied with their well-being at work. Now that's a full twenty six percentage points below workers in IMEA. Now we also know that across the board, Gen Z workers are particularly struggling when it comes to well-being.

MEGHAN: Yeah, that's a big disparity. So how can leaders address these regional differences when the gaps are frankly pretty wide?

DANIEL: Yeah. No. And that's a really good call out. So we understand that well-being looks different, not only for generations, but obviously it varies based on regional norms as well as challenges and opportunities that are gonna be rooted in local demographics, economics, and market trends.

So for example, surges in technology development in one region present security and stability challenges, particularly for older generations. Now here, synergy can actually play a really powerful role in turning what would otherwise be seen as a challenge into an opportunity.

So let me explain. One of the key factors in synergy that Cristen mentioned earlier was collaboration.

And one way we see that manifest in the workplace is through mentorship. Now when we think of mentorship, we typically think of older workers helping younger workers, passing along helpful institutional knowledge, and that is still a very important practice and one that obviously every organisation and leader should be advocating for.

But collaboration can and mentorship can actually go both ways. So in the case of, say, rapidly advancing technology and if here, of course, the elephant in the room talking about AI, you know, Gen Z and millennials can play an important part in helping their older colleagues upskill in a way that contributes to their sense of stability and security.

And the great part is that this act of mentorship also benefits the younger generation by connecting them with those enrichment factors that are important to their well-being, things like purpose and growth.

As I pointed out, Gen Z is struggling with well-being, and a simple strategy that will help them and the organisation is to enlist them as your champions for those things that matter to them, like purpose, community, and long term development.

MEGHAN: Understanding how generations divine well-being isn't all there is to this story.

Tell us on the flip side. Tell us about what you found when it comes to burnout.

MEGHAN: Yeah. That's another great catch, Meghan. No. This isn't all there is to the story. So as we know, on the other side of well-being, there's burnout.

And we've all experienced it. We all have an idea of what that looks like. And typically, it's too much work, too little time for recovery, where we just feel wiped out and we have nothing left to give until we can recharge.

But something really interesting that emerged from our focus groups and then was really kind of confirmed in our surveys was that something more than just fatigue was going on.

In a lot of cases, was a deeper identity strain happening that pushed us to look more closely at some of the underlying factors that might be informing burnout.

MEGHAN: Yeah. So in other words, burnout is more than exhaustion. So what are we looking at exactly?

DANIEL: So the short of it is, and there's a lot more people can read about in the report, we found that there were early warning signs happening, things manifesting in how employees talk and act, things that were reflective of deeper things that they were feeling that really turned out to be stronger indicators of future burnout than we'd previously understood.

And these aren't just about workload. They're about an erosion of self identity and trust. They're tied to organisational practices and policies and the increasingly complex nature of the workplace that puts employees in situations where they struggle to make sense of their work experience.

Often, this results in feeling like they have to be someone they're not or compromise their personal values to get ahead. In the resulting model we built, this early warning system identified four key areas of concern, and those were identity strain, moral conflict, cynical withdrawal, and ultimately, energy depletion.

CRISTEN: So this sounds like it could be really damaging to the employee experience in my view. I mean, it's not just about rightsizing workload to get people back on track. If identity and authenticity are threatened, no amount of resources or recovery time seems like they're going to be able to fix it.

DANIEL: Exactly, Cristen. And now that said, recognition and generational synergy are actually really powerful antidotes to this.

So organisations with integrated recognition actually see a nine times increase in the odds of employee well-being. They see a thirty two percent decrease that employees are gonna feel disconnected from the people they want to be at work, and they see a forty three percent decrease in the odds of early warning experiences.

So, you know, yes, that early warning experience that those potential kind of challenges and threats to identity and security, they are significant.

And a lot of the language that you hear, you know, coming from employees and, again, we unpack a lot more of this in the chapter. This is to be taken seriously, but the good part of this is, and we're gonna get into more detail as we we go along here, recognition and synergy are incredible ways to really sort of counter this and create that more positive experience for our employees.

MEGHAN: So let's talk about technology adoption then. Cristen, I'm gonna shift this back to you, to help us unpack.

CRISTEN: That sounds great. Now let's talk about technology adoption, which is another one of the sections in the report. Again, just a little plug, you know, that we are going over a lot today, but I would definitely recommend reading the full report as well because we're we're not able to hit on every single interesting thing that we found.

But thinking about tech adoption, many organisations today see technology use as a way to facilitate communication and collaboration. And that makes a lot of sense, right?

Thinking about just some of the things we use all the time. Zoom, for example, allows us to meet virtually. We don't have to be in person to have meetings anymore. Programmes like Slack or Teams allow us to communicate and chat with coworkers, even if we're not in the same office.

You know, and last but not least one more example, recognition software is the kind of thing that allows us to send ecards or, you know, send appreciation to each other, regardless of whether we're five feet away from each other or five hundred miles away.

MEGHAN: All good things, all fantastic things, right? We've been able to close the distance in many respects, but as our recent state of employee recognition report called out that there can be a downside to some of these, you know, features and it can turn into much more of a transactional culture than one of purpose, meaning, impact, and belonging.

That breakdown can come with an over-reliance on technology use. And it's interesting and unfortunate that technology can actually be damaging in these connections rather than a helpful connector.

CRISTEN: Exactly. You know, that's one of the sort of, unfortunate ironies here is that even though organisations are using or hope that technology will help with connection, technology overuse can possibly actually have the opposite effect. Right? But the good news is that organisations that support generational synergy don't seem to have this problem.

So for instance, one of the elements associated with synergy in the model that we showed you all earlier is communication. So organisations that we would characterize as having good communication practices are those in which employees are communicating effectively, not just across generations, but also using different communication mediums. So not just virtual strategies, but in person and virtual strategies in order to communicate.

When synergy is lacking, we see that employees sometimes come to rely too heavily on technology in lieu of social connection. You know, for example, it could be the case that gen Z employees find themselves asking Google or ChatGPT for answers rather than going to maybe that baby boomer or Gen X employee who has more experience and insight that could actually have the answer that the Gen Z employee is looking for.

DANIEL: You know, Cristen, this actually really hits home for me, and it goes back to that idea of mentorship.

An over-reliance on technology, it kinda creates the illusion not only of connection, but actual meaningful answers. I mean, just because AI says that, oh, these are the three most important things a new employee should know, that doesn't mean that it's providing the full picture or the really rich context that the individual needs.

And, critically, it misses out on the chance for younger employees to, you know, connect with tenured people in the organisation who can pass on their insights and that institutional knowledge.

Now it also reminds me of one of the quotes from our focus group research. "Technology can create a false sense of connection. People feel connected because they see uploads, but they don't know that person."

MEGHAN: Oh, that's such a good quote. I love that we see this in our recent research. I've seen it also validated elsewhere. Recently, you know, a Harvard researcher also surfaced this notion of collective illusion, right?

The feeling that we have a sense of connection to people, to ideologies that we perceive as popular or with the majority when in fact it's, it's false. It's an illusion. And so it's, also to get more personal, the reasons why I remove myself from social platforms, because there really is no substitute for genuine connection for conversation and learning that can take place when it is authentic.

And then when you bear that with the right technology strategy, it all can come together for your workplace.

CRISTEN: Exactly. You know, and just to add to what I said earlier, you know, I gave that example of sort of the gen Z employee asking ChatGPT maybe before going to a Gen X or a baby boomer employee. You know, that's not necessarily a Gen Z issue either. Right?

You know, this, I think it's tempting regardless of what generation you come from to sort of use this new technology maybe as the sort of first, the first thing you go to as opposed to a person for a lot of different reasons. Right?

Maybe we don't want to bother somebody or we want to be efficient, and we think that, you know, using, using Google before, seeking out a person might be a more efficient way to do things.

But we, but what we actually found is that, you know, across the board, if we get into the habit of doing that, again, regardless of what generation we're coming from, we do sort of inch dangerously close to building an environment where we don't have the connection and collaboration that we have if it's more of a mix, right?

If it's a mix of technology and a mix of going to colleagues and collaborating in that way. And so, because of that, our research suggests that organisations have to be really careful around their messaging when it comes to technology.

I think especially with some of the new technologies coming out in the last few years, there's been a lot of buzz around AI use, and a lot of, a lot of push on the part of organisations to have employees try out these new technologies and adopt them as quickly as possible.

But we have to keep in mind that technology should be a way to facilitate collaboration and communication rather than completely replace it.

Rather than asking Google first, employees should be encouraged to seek out peers, seek out mentors, look to colleagues for insight.

Programmes and strategies that encourage this kind of communication and collaboration across age categories and across different mediums are what help build community and help quell that over-reliance on technology that can sometimes lead to negative outcomes that we don't want to see.

DANIEL: We actually saw this really supported in the data in our research. For example, forty percent of employees said that technology actually makes it harder to collaborate with employees outside of their generation, and forty four percent, nearly fifty, said that the push to use AI has made them less likely to seek out subject matter experts in their organisation.

Now, conversely, we come back to generational synergy. When that generational synergy there is in place with an organisation, we see a dramatic increase in connection and collaboration across all generations.

MEGHAN: Well, let's go ahead and layer in that extra component, which is the different regions across the world. How are they making sense of how technology impacts their ability to either support or challenge this notion of synergy?

CRISTEN: Yeah. And that's a great question, Meghan. I think it would be insightful to add some additional global nuance here, before we move on to our last topic of discussion for the day.

So of course, you know, one of our key arguments in the chapter of the report on technology is that technology should not hurt employees' ability to collaborate and communicate with each other.

In our research, we found that the extent to which employees believe technology can make it harder for them to collaborate with their coworkers does vary by region.

So for instance, here's the percentages responding to the question of whether or not technology does indeed make it harder to collaborate. So what we see here is, you know, in APAC, it's about thirty two percent of, of survey respondents saying this thirty three percent in Europe, thirty eight percent in the Americas, and fifty five percent in IMEA.

So unfortunately, yeah, the survey suggests that workers in IMEA in particular are having a slightly more difficult time compared to those regions.

And when we think about this, it actually seems to make sense because we also found that workers in this particular region really value collaboration across different generations. Seventy four percent of workers in IMEA, for example, say that intergenerational collaboration is something that they actually deliberately seek out in the workplace.

So it makes sense that because this is something that they're really valuing, that they might find technology frustrating when it comes to collaboration.

Because again, they're trying to find that collaboration and they are seeing a little bit more frequently than others that it's getting in the way of that.

MEGHAN: So how would you suggest that we address an issue like that?

CRISTEN: Great question. So I think that one solution here is actually recognition. You know, when we run the numbers, recognition actually seems to be a big help.

So we also found that with integrated recognition, for example, employees in IMEA are thirty times more likely to experience generational synergy at work. And this is the highest of any region by the way. So it has a really, it has a really big impact in this region in particular.

MEGHAN: Yeah. So almost flips those statistics and those outcomes for this particular region. And it makes sense, right? When we talk about integrated recognition, this is something that's given, received, it's observed often, it comes from all areas of the organisation, peers, leaders, the organisation itself, and it's given in very meaningful and very purposeful ways.

And so over time it feels less like a transaction that happens once or twice a year, but really a genuine reflection of the relationships, how work gets done, and how success is cultivated.

So that really segues nicely into our last and final section, which is really the role recognition plays in knitting together a multigenerational workforce and achieving overall synergy. Daniel, can you lead us into this section?

DANIEL: I would love to. So obviously, I mean, it shouldn't be any surprise coming from us that recognition is going to have a powerful impact on any aspect of the employee experience.

Now what, when we really start unpacking recognition in the context of generations, there were some really interesting things that started to emerge.

So first, an understanding of the generational contract gives everyone, and that's leaders, peers, teams, it gives everyone a new targeted framework for personalising recognition moments in a way that's gonna resonate in a really meaningful way.

So take me for instance. As a Gen X, things like autonomy and skill mastery are particularly important when it comes to how I understand my relationship to the organisation. So if my leader highlights this in my recognition, calls out how I use my particular skills to contribute to the success, that's actually going to really resonate with me. And I'm gonna feel much more authentically seen than if it was necessarily hitting on something about purpose or growth.

Now, also important here and something that kind of touched on is that idea of being seen. The most common source of generational friction is when one generation feels like their needs and perspectives aren't seen or understood by other generations. And recognition cuts right through this, and it really bridges that generational gap.

Recognition done right, it says, I see you for the unique contributions you bring to the work and the organisation and that those really matter.

CRISTEN: Yeah. Thanks, Daniel. And, you know, additional ways that recognition supports synergy are through equity and variety. You know, organisations need to ask, do all employees have an equal opportunity to give and receive recognition here?

And are there a wide variety of recognition experiences available? You know, as Daniel mentioned, recognition should speak to each generation's contract and the more variety that we have, the more likely we are to have something for everyone.

So just kind of to give you an example, as we touched on earlier, you know, supporting a variety of recognition strategies is one way to foster inclusion when it comes to synergy, since employees have different preferences when it comes to how they want to be recognised, as Daniel sort of hinted at above. You know, and in order for employees to feel a sense of inclusion, we need to honor their preferences.

At the end of the day, we want to make sure recognition is as integrated into the everyday flow of work as possible in order to make the biggest impact.

MEGHAN: Yeah. So purposeful, meaningful, a variety, in person, online, etcetera, building out that holistic strategy. Again, let's layer in the global nuance here, Cristen.

CRISTEN: Yes. There's also some, of course, some global nuance here as well that I think would be illustrative. So for example, when we compare regions, APAC followed closely by Europe, unfortunately tend to have lower levels of integrated recognition, or just to kind of put it very simply, employees are not seeing recognition integrated into the everyday flow of work as much in these regions as they are compared to our others. But, so this is unfortunate, but what happens when they do have it?

Let's first look at Europe. You know, across the entire sample, so this is Europe, this is all four of our regions. When we look at, the impact that integrated recognition has on the odds that employees will have trust in their leaders, we see that integrated recognition amplifies this by twelve times. And it also amplifies the finding that employees will have trust in the organisation by nineteen times.

So, so remember those two numbers, twelve times and nineteen times trust in leaders and trust in the organisation. So when we look at Europe in particular, you know, and we ask ourselves, what is the impact of integrated recognition in this region?

We see that integrated recognition amplifies leader trust fourteen times. So that's up from twelve times compared to the entire sample and it amplifies organisational trust twenty five times. So again, that's compared to nineteen times in the entire sample. So compared to the entire group, integrated recognition has an amplified impact in Europe.

And similar patterns also hold for APAC. So just to kind of give you a few stats here, you know, when we look at our employees across the world, working at organisations with integrated recognition, they are seventeen times more likely to believe their organisations have a culture of honesty and eighteen times more likely to believe their organisations actually care about their employees.

So when we look at just APAC, you know, sort of separate them from the rest of the group. And we look at these same statistics, we find that organisations with integrated recognition in APAC have employees that have a twenty two times increased odds of believing their organisations have a culture of honesty.

So again, that's versus seventeen for the entire sample.

And they have twenty times increased odds that they're going to believe the organisations actually care about the employees. So that's versus eighteen times in the entire sample.

So in both of these regions, both Europe and APAC that we find have a little bit lower frequency of integrated recognition compared to the others, implementing integrated recognition can make a really big impact.

And if you're in those regions, listeners out there who are in those regions listening to this, this can be a really significant differentiator that can help organisations outperform the competition in several important metrics.

MEGHAN: Trust, honesty, care. These are things that any generation is really struggling to experience right now at work.

As you all know, I'm deployed, you're deployed in many different parts of the world, obviously around North America, but, but these are the issues that keep rising the trust, the care, the honesty, and transparency in a time of great transformation and transition. And so the more we can do to help flip the equation, the better. And as you had mentioned, recognition can be, a very powerful solution. So how is O.C. Tanner bringing this to life in organisations?

CRISTEN: Yeah. That's a great question because I think, you know, it's one thing to just talk about the, in theory, here's what recognition can do, but let's look at how specific examples that O.C. Tanner offers can actually speak to some of these, some of these issues that we talked about. Right?

So for instance, you know, if we look at our anniversary solution, and this is our solution that celebrates career milestones, this is a great way to honor employee loyalty and build belonging.

So this is something that can speak to multiple generations. Right? You know, just off the top of my head, I'm thinking about the importance of loyalty to baby boomers. This kind of on the other end of the spectrum, belonging is something that's really important to Gen z. So anniversaries is something that could mean a lot to them as well.

So in addition to that, you know, everyday performance recognition, things like ecards, nomination based awards, these are strategies that can help recognise employee skills, expertise, and growth, as well as keep organisational purpose and values sort of front row and centre for employees. So this sort of makes me think of, I guess, off the top of my head millennials, right? You know, millennials are really concerned about values.

Again, just to kind of reiterate what we talked about earlier. So, these moments that really draw on those values and kind of demonstrate, but also remind employees what the values are. Those can be really impactful for millennials and for all employees as well. But especially thinking of, because we're in the generational conversation, I think that's sort of a neat link that we can make there.

So just another strategy, company celebrations and recognition that highlights life events, these are also recognition strategies and offerings that can help build community, connection, and belonging for employees.

Ideally, just to kind of, one other thing I'll say here, we would also advocate for not just leader to employee recognition. I think sometimes there's sort of a knee jerk reaction to think of recognition as what we might call top down, right? This is something that leaders are giving to direct reports. But we would actually also advocate for peer to peer recognition as well.

Making sure that there's options available for colleagues to recognise each other. That's a really key thing to focus on if we're trying to build synergy.

And also including offline options too, right? Because we want recognition to be equitable. We want it to be inclusive. And including offline options are gonna help build community. They're going to address the recognition needs and work realities of, of all employees who might not be at their desk all day.

MEGHAN: Yeah. So really it's about building recognition into the social infrastructure, which is also what we talked about in our state of employee recognition report, because when you do people don't just feel valued. Think you said it very, very well, Daniel. People feel seen.

They feel seen for their identity, for those psychological contracts that are very important to them and their work experience, their strengths, their preferences, what matters most to them. That's really what turns recognition from a transactional prize into a multigenerational connector that can fuel your results and your success long term.

So thank you both for joining us today, and unveiling these incredible findings and really what makes this report such a differentiator in the market. Solutions oriented, global in nature, geared towards leaders who are managing in very high stress, and in pressured environments.

So as we wrap up today, I love this final quote that I just want to read from our report. "People come to work for more than the paycheck. They wanna feel like they're part of the organisation. And the more you engage people through recognition, you're checking in, you're making them feel like they belong, the more they'll give back to you and the more they'll want to stay."

So, Cristen, parting words, you were in the weeds with this report. What's one last thing you'd want people to remember?

CRISTEN: Yeah, that's a great question. And there, there's a lot of information here. It's really dawning on me as we've gone through this conversation and to think that there's still more in the report that we weren't even able to to cover here. There's a lot. But that being said, I think if I had to boil it down to, you know, a very basic level, what do I want people to take away from this?

I think my big takeaway is that I would like folks to maybe take away from this report to maybe not be so afraid to reach out to folks in the office from different generations, if that is something that you're struggling with.

You know, resist the urge to go to technology to answer all of your questions first. Try to find folks who might be a good resource and who would be open to collaboration. And, you know, this goes both ways. It's not just this advice isn't just for gen z that's starting out in the office.

This is advice that applies to anyone. You know? If you feel like you are kinda talking to the same people all the time, especially if they're in your same generation, challenge yourself to branch out, to talk to folks from different generations who may have different experiences or a different view or see things through a different lens.

That's how we accomplish great work is by looking at things in ways that are different from ways that we might be able to look if we were only staying in our own silos or working alone.

MEGHAN: Daniel, twenty seconds. What's your top level finding and key takeaway here?

DANIEL: Synergy is just, it's endless opportunity. A lot of the differences that we see, they really are opportunities for connection and growth, and really supercharging your teams and your people.

MEGHAN: All right. Well, we have covered so much, but also left so much more available to you in the report. So go ahead and download that at octanner.com. Well, thank you so much for attending.

That concludes our webinar for today. For those who are interested in getting that extra education credit from SHRM or HRCI, here are the codes available to you.

And I can't believe I'm saying that, but we'll probably see you back here in three months, near the end of September to unveil our twenty twenty seven Global Culture Report. So thank you so much for joining us today, and we'll see you back in a couple of months.