FROM: “Understanding the Multiple Generations in the Workplace”

Lynne Green, Samantha Heather, Lane McKittrick, Adrian Naranjo, and Christy Ward

Baby Boomers

Boomers were raised in the post-World War II era of social stability and relative prosperity. Divorce was relatively rare; schools were safe, and jobs secure. Single- earner households with a clear division of labor between men and women were normal, for perhaps the only time in U.S. history. Boomers' parents were loyal and committed to the organizations, learned to pay their dues patiently and wait for the opportunity for advancement, and largely defined themselves and their success in terms of organizational rank. If they worked hard, were loyal and productive employees, and followed the rules of the organizations, they expected to stay with their organizations as long as they chose to do so, to be rewarded for their contributions, and eventually to be supported during their golden years by an adequate pension (Conrad and Poole, 2005).

Personality Characteristics of Boomers

Generally speaking, those who are Boomers tend to be:

•Optimistic and involved.

•Independent.

•Goal oriented.

•Competitive.

•Work-centric

Some of their workplace characteristics include:

•Being a team player.

•Loves to have meetings.

•Prefer in person communications.

•Appreciate money and title recognition as rewards.

•Want to feel valued and needed.

Personal Experiences

I still feel America is the land of opportunity and that hard work and commitment will get you where you want to go. The ethics and values of working hard and working efficiently are motivations that drive me daily. I feel called to champion a cause and react strongly to the motivation that I am needed and valued. As I grow older I wish I had had more balance in my family life. Communication: in person is still best. I don’t love the phone, but it is WAY better than email, or any other form of technology. I often marvel that I, a tech challenged individual, chose to do an online program! Old dogs really do learn!

So if we want to work together, here are some DOs and DON’Ts to keep in mind when working with Boomers:

DO •“encourage and respect their contributions. In turn, they will prize the opportunity to work closely with, and learn from, more-seasoned professionals” (Rickles, 2011, p. 21)

• “Let them know they are valued, and you will engage their loyalty and, to a degree, their patience”

• Give them some flexibility • Utilize technology • Give them good training opportunities for professional development so

they can stay marketable

DON’T •Tell me that I need to take more vacations or I will experience overload.

• Ask me to work independently all the time. • Criticize me for working outside of the 9-5 hours. Call me anytime.

An excerpt from: Boomers Got It Right (Mostly) Whatever this generation has and hasn't done, it's worked By humorist P.J. O'RourkeJanuary 5, 2014 (This article is adapted from The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way And It Wasn't My Fault and I'll Never Do It Again .)

How the Experiment Turned Out The Baby Boom was a carefully conducted scientific experiment. Take the biggest generation in the most important country, put them in excessively happy families, give them too much affection, extravagant freedom, scant responsibility, plenty of money, a modicum of peace (if they dodged the draft), a profusion of opportunity, and a collapse of traditional social standards. You get better people. Well, not better. Taken one by one, we’re as maddeningly smug as Abel and as vile as Cain, the way people always have been. But we’re better behaved. Although better behaved isn’t the right way to put it either. We’re willful, careless, rash, vain, indulged, and entitled — with larger than life personalities, providing the world with amusement, hearts in the right place even when our private parts aren’t, thinking noble thoughts somewhat thoughtlessly and being high-minded in a mindless sort of way.

-0- FASTER NOTES Home Health ON-LINE 2015 TOP 5 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION

According to “The Silent Generation, “The Lucky Few” at Forbes.com, “…this is the only living

generation that could half-believe, along with Woody Allen, that ’80 percent of life is just

showing up,’”

Caring for the Silent Generation should have been easy because of their trust in authority and

willingness to follow instructions compared to what’s coming with the Baby Boomers, a group

that believes in creating their own rules. Here are the top 5 defining characteristics of the Baby

Boomer Generation and how to curve your treatment for a successful home health approach:

HARD WORKING AND GOAL ORIENTED Baby Boomers don’t shy away from a

challenge. From the civil rights movement, to the women’s movement, to landing on the moon;

this generation ushered in some of the most important achievements of our time, in almost every

genre. When treating the baby boomer patient, set realistic goals and re-evaluate often to keep the

motivation up.

COMPETITIVE Baby Boomers were born into an unusual spike in birth rates, leading to

their name. This meant that there was more competition for what they wanted throughout their

lives, compared to the Silent Generation. This generation is defined by their need to win. You can

play on these emotions when discussing their treatment plans. Share positive statistics of people

in similar situations to give your patient's something to strive for. This generation will generally

not be complacent about reaching goals others have reached.

NONCONFORMISTS Having lived through and causing many great social changes, Baby

Boomers believe in challenging authority. Don’t expect your Baby Boomer patient to blindly

listen and accept your information and instructions like your previous patients have before. When

caring for people in this generation, be prepared for questions and make sure you can explain why

you are giving the instructions you’re giving.

INDEPENDENT This generation is strongly defined by their independence. Losing any

level of that will be difficult for the Baby Boomer patient. This attitude can bring with it a

tendency to under report conditions. When treating the Baby Boomer patient, make sure you pay

special attention to non-verbal cues and outside factors. If there’s a caregiver or spouse, involve

them in the evaluation and care process. You can also keep the motivation up by reminding them

of the end result of achieving their health goals or by accepting their conditions, like focusing on

the independence and safety brought by the use of a walker.

WANT QUALITY Baby Boomers are the “in between” generation that bridges the frugality

and low expectations of the Silent Generation and the consumerism of Generation X. Baby

Boomers want quality and are prepared to pay a high price for it. Thus caring for a Baby Boomer

requires a deep focus on value perception. If you provide quality care, co-pays or high insurance

rates will be OK. However, if they perceive their care to be sub-par, they will be prepared to

challenge it or can threaten to not pay for it. This can be in the form of complaints to supervisors

at the home health agency or as far as complaining to the insurance company or governing body.

7 Reasons Why Marketing To Baby Boomers Is Unique JUNE 2015 Steve Olenski CONTRIBUTOR Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Have a drip coffee machine lying around? Don’t throw it out – baby boomers go for those things, so you might be able to eBay it into some ready cash. There are 76.4 million baby boomers in the United States; they remember rotary phones, Soupy Sales, and drinking Kool-aid instead of bottled water. They are a unique marketing challenge and a very distinct demographic. Here’s what you need to know about them to market to them successfully: 1. Baby Boomers have money to spend As opposed to those who grew up in the Great Depression, baby boomers are quite affluent. According to a Nielsen report, they account for $230 billion in sales of consumer packaged goods like coffee, diet soda and magazines, and make up 70% of the nations disposable income. What's more is that they will inherit $13 trillion in the next 20 years. (Carol here, taking exception to this money stereotype. Many boomers lost savings in the 2008 recession and/or the recent financial crisis. Many also gave

up their retirement funds to the needs of children, grandchildren, or to deal with a medical crisis. This has made even those with financial pad very wary about spending their money, and may look to community centers for exercise and entertainment options rather than spend it on commercial outlets.) 2. Baby boomers invented the suburbs They invented it in the sense that it occurred simultaneously with their ability to make down payments on a mortgage and their desire to leave the decaying urban landscape. They still live in the suburbs, where they own their own homes. Which are paid for. Home Depot knows this very well, and take advantage of it by locating their box stores where baby boomers can get to them easily.

3. And, they plan on living in a better house as they grow older 70% of baby boomers think their current house is not the best they can get. They want to be out on their own, in a more luxurious place. “Boomers don’t settle … settle down or settle for less,” shares Marketing VP John Manrique. “They do their homework online. Baby Boomers know their stuff … so you better too.” Instead of retiring to rocking chairs on the front porch, they are actively looking for newly constructed homes where they can continue to pursue an active lifestyle surrounded by the latest amenities.

4. Their brand loyalty is tenacious Once they find a brand they like, one they grew up with, they stick with it. Volkswagen cars. Levi jeans. Harley Davidson motorcycles. Club Med. Noxzema. L’eggs. Smart marketing websites, like the Boom Box Network, have recognized this unique characteristic and are exploiting it with zest. As marketing columnist Mark Ward says, “Nostalgia is profitable!”

5. Remembering Woodstock The Woodstock Festival was much more than a concert featuring the likes of Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix; it was a countercultural event which symbolized, among other things, that the baby boomers were not going to be trussed up by their parent’s morals and lifestyle. They would think and act for themselves – and they still want to be thought of that way. The least hint of patronizing the baby boomers will flatten any marketing campaign, just as Wile E. Coyote was flattened by the Road Runner. 6. Baby boomers do use social media, but in a different way As you develop your social media strategy for baby boomers, be aware that while a 20-year old is posting photos of their night out on Instagram or Snapchat, a baby boomer is more likely to post a photograph of a new grandbaby or the new RV they just purchased on Facebook. It’s the more ‘traditional’ venues such as Facebook and Twitter that are used by baby boomers; so keep your focus there.

(THE NEXT ONE IS IMPORTANT!) 7. Baby boomers are not ‘old’

If you think ‘aged’, ‘senior’ and ‘elderly’ are effective buzzwords for baby boomers – think again. They don’t want to be reminded of their age, but of their accomplishments and of their future. Marketer Ann Fishman advises marketers to concentrate on the ‘bucket list’ concept when pitching to baby boomers; they may have to buy adult diapers, but what they want to hear about is the best place to eat in Sturgis, South Dakota, when they ride their Harley Davidson there for the Rally in August.

FROM: 12 Outstanding Statistics on Boomers and Social Media 1) 82.3% of baby boomers belong to at least one social media site

2) 13% of internet users over the age of 65 use LinkedIn (same rate as 18-29 year olds) 3) Baby boomers spend 27 hours per week online (2 hrs more than those 16-34) 5) Facebook is by far the most popular social media site for boomers. RetireeRebels.com - Breakout Session

-Bringing Boomers to Your Center- You have to know what boomers want

CONNECTIONS - Newly retired boomers have just left work and half their social worlds behind them. They are reeling from the transition and all it’s surprises. They are looking to connect with new friends, people with shared interests, comrades at retired arms. - Providing opportunities to socialize with other retirees, specifically active seniors, gives them a reason to step through the door of a “senior center” regardless of how they feel about the senior label. -Exercise groups, walkers, movies, lectures, concerts, discussions.

TO CONTRIBUTE - Boomers are generally altruistic. They want to “matter,” to make a difference in their communities. They are work-oriented, like having a job, a position, a title, knowing that they are contributing to a cause. - However, they are independent, individualistic, and want to work on their terms. Be specific in your requests; the job, the hours. If you want volunteers, tell them what you are looking for (a webmaster, tech person, meal service help, or maybe an event coordinator, discussion leader), and an estimate of time. Hint: Start Small!\ -Boomers are proud of their past skills, and though many have no intention of returning to their former jobs, they like to be recognized for their skills, abilities and expertise. Need a lecturer? A former prof?

TO CONTINUE GROWING - The Newly Retired are looking at their retirement as a time when they can do things they didn’t have a chance to do while working, going to school or raising a family. This is their chance.. but they want it to be somewhat convenient, accessible and available on their terms. - First: Wellness opportunities. Then think language classes, writing, art, music, singing, lectures. Many people are looking for creative outlets they didn’t get to indulge before.