The document discusses the challenges of creating an employee engagement model that accommodates a diverse workforce characterized by different generational attitudes and values. It references generational theory developed by Strauss and Howe, which categorizes generations into archetypes based on societal trends and historical events, emphasizing their shared experiences and contributions. Additionally, it highlights the significance of understanding generational traits, particularly the behaviors of Generation Z, in tailoring engagement strategies for a contemporary workforce.

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Generations:
A Perspective to
Employee Engagement
Santanu Basu

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My task is to prepare an engagement model which would help to
improve employee motivation & to reduce attrition.
But the work force is so diverse in terms of the behavioural traits!
How can I ensure this diversity is factored in to my engagement
model?
Wish I could segment the work force basis commonalities and prepare
my engagement model accordingly…..that would definitely improve the
effectiveness of the model!!!
I tried need based concepts however that does not help quantifying the
segment and also does not help to categorize who would fit in to which
segment
Is there any theoretical base which would help to segment the work
force ??
The Challenge with Diversity

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A social generation is an aggregate of all people born over a span of approximately two decades or about the length of phase of life i.e. Childhood, young
adulthood, midlife & old age.
Generations are cohort groups who have come out of age together and share primarily three criteria:
• They share an ‘age location’ in the history. They witness key historical events and social trends in the same phase of their life.
• Members of a particular generation are shaped in a lasting ways by the eras they witness in childhood and as young adults and basis that they develop and
share certain common beliefs and behaviours.
• As aware of the experience and traits they have in common with their peers, they develop a sense of common perceived membership in terms of
generation.
Solution could be found in Generational Theory

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Strauss & Howe identified four stages of distinct social moods or era or generational events recurring in cyclic order in American history and named
those as ‘Turning’ (Table 1). Each ‘Turning’ remains about 20 to 22 years. A complete cycle of all four turnings, as they defined it, is a ‘Saeculum’, a
Latin word which means both “a long human life” & “a natural century.
Strauss & Howe further postulates that two different ‘turnings’ associated with two different formative age location build four generational
‘archetypes’ that repeat sequentially. They named these archetypes as Prophet, Nomad, Hero and Artist
Cyclic Order Turning Era Distinct Behaviour
First Turning High Post ‘Crisis’
 Strong Institutions
 Week Individualism
 Society is confident about destination collectively
Second Turning Awakening Post ‘High’
 Institutions are attacked for personal & spiritual autonomy
 People are tired of social discipline
 ‘High’ is looked as an era of cultural and spiritual poverty.
Third Turning Unraveling Post ‘Awakening’
 Institutions are week and & distrusted
 Society wants to atomize and enjoy
Fourth Turning Crisis Post ‘Unraveling’
 Institutional life is destroyed and rebuilt in response to a
perceived threat to Nation
 Civic authority revives
 Cultural expression redirects towards community purpose
 National identity redefines
Turning Prophet Nomad Hero Artist
High Childhood Elderly Hood Midlife Young Adult
Awakening Young Adult Childhood Elderly Hood Midlife
Unraveling Midlife Young Adult Childhood Elderly Hood
Crisis Elderly Hood Midlife Young Adult Childhood
Generational Theory: Strauss & Howe

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Generational Theory: Strauss & Howe
Archetype Example
In living Generations
Collective Persona
Prophet Baby Boomers  Born near the end of a Crisis
 Grows up as increasingly indulged children
 Come of age as self -absorbed young crusader of an Awakening
 Emerge as elders guiding another Crisis
 Main social contributions are in the areas of vision, values & religion
Nomad Gen X  Born During an Awakening
 Grown up as under protected children
 Come of age as alienated post-Awakening Adults
 Become pragmatic midlife leaders during a Crisis
 Age into resilient post crisis elders
 Main social contributions are in the area of liberty, survival & honour
Hero G.I. Generation & Millennials  Born after an Awakening
 Grown up as increasingly protected post Awakening children
 Come of age as team oriented young optimist during a Crisis
 Emerge as energetic, overly confident mid lifers
 Edge in to politically powerful elders to be attacked by another Awakening
 Main social contributions are in the areas of community, affluence & technology
Artist Silent & Home Landers  Born During a Crisis
 Grown up as over protected
 Come of age as socialized and conformist young adult of a post Crisis world
 Break out as a process oriented midlife leader during Awakening
 Main social contributions are in the area of expertise and due process
The generations in each archetype share a similar age location, some basic attitude towards family, risk, culture, values and civic
engagement. In short, generation shaped by similar early life experience have imprinted collective persona

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Veterans Free-Gens Gen X E-Gens Gen Y
Born: 1920-1945
Pre-Independence Cohort
Unsure & Wary
Very rarely in active
employment today
Born: 1945-1960
Post- Independence Cohort
Believe in the concept of life time
employment
20% of today’s work force
Interim Seniors
Born: 1961-1970
Socialism to Liberalization
Transitory Cohort
Saw the upswing of the
economy & hastened to
catch up with younger
Cohorts
Believe in the power of
change
25% of the work force
Born: 1971-1980
Confident India Cohort
Comfortable with
change-largest cause
of attrition
29% of work force
Has since sharpest
trajectory of the
success despite 2
down turns
Born: 1981-1990
26% of the work
force
Feels less guilt
being an aggressive
consumer
Has seen one
significant big blip-
the recession of
2008
Generation Born Between Entered Workforce Work Values Work is……..
Free Gen 1945-1960 1960-1980 Hard working,
Conservative, Loyal
Inevitable
Gen X 1961-1970 1980-1990 Flexibility, Job
Satisfaction, Duty, Work
Life Balance
A Challenge
E Gen 1971-1980 1990-2000 Customized Careers,
Entrepreneurial, Own-
time
Exciting
Gen Y 1981-1990 2000-Now Value Diversity, Techno
Brilliant, Global
Mindset, Portfolio
Careers
A means to an end
Basis a study done by AVTAR Career Creators, an organization that works in the field of diversity and inclusion in India, 5 existing generations in India
can be contextualized and defined as in the above table.
There are other scholars (Roongrengsuke-2010, Erickson-2009, Ghosh & Chaudhari-2009 etc.) who tried the similar and came up with different models
with some deviations from each other however for this particular study we would go with the above as NASSCOM have accepted this model for work
force in Indian IT BPO farms
Generations in Indian Work Force

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Dimensions of Work
Force Attitudes
Gen Y
1981-1990
E Gen
1971-1980
Gen X
1961-1970
Free Gen
1945-1960
Outlook Exploring
Experimenting
Adventurous
High Risk
Open to Mentoring
Focused
Cherry Picked
Rapid Growth
Stability
Consolidation
Aptitude
Moderate Risk
Conservative
Analytical
Committed
Work Ethic Informal
Creative
Fun Loving
Collaborative
Smart Work
Result Oriented
Responsible
Process Oriented
Mentor/Coach
Accountable
Experienced
Leading
View of Authority Competency Based Role Based Hierarchical Hierarchical
Leadership Transitional Consensus Driven
Emerging
Transformational Inspirational
Directive
Relationship E-Relationship
Unclear between
personal/professional
Boundaries
Balanced Professional Networking
Stable
Conservative
Committed
Societal
Perspective Carefree Ambitious Cautious Traditional
Turn Off Micro-Management Lack of Freedom Non-Recognition Non-Inclusion
Once we know this contextualization, next step would be to try & identify typical attitudes for each generation which would in turn help us to
relate that to job motivation factors, communication medium, attitudes towards hierarchy etc. Based on studies conducted by NASSCOM,
dimensions of such attitudes for different generations in Indian IT-BPO workforce are as above
Generations in Indian Work Force

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Gen Z is commonly defined as “people born between1990 and 2010”. They are also known as Gen M or “Digital Natives”
Behavioural Traits of Gen Z
• Always Connected
Communicating through various social media across the globe and cultures which significantly influence their decision making process.
• Constantly Multitasking
With a variety of sophisticated electronic device and appreciate simple interactive designs
Gen Z: The next generation
Traits Identified among Gen Z Globally:
• Gen Z is the first ever generation, born & grown up in digital world where technology was ever present. This shaped their mind set in a completely different
way.
•
• Within the age group of 6-12, 31% of US children wanted an iPad over any other electronic devices as Christmass gift, followed by a computer (29%) & an
iPod Touch (29%)
•
• Online shopping or visiting online shopping web sites are becoming more popular among the girls
•
• The way they prefer to learn – according to a study by ‘Habbo Hotel’, the world largest virtual community for teens, 43% prefer learning from Internet or
digital media, 38% prefer a combination of online & print, only 16% stated that they prefer printed books.
•
• The design they prefer: Gen Z prefers simple and interactive product design which would have the flexibility to help multi tasking.
•
• Sense of Social Responsibility: Access to the large information pool has made them aware of current pressing challenges like global terrorism and climate
change. 74% of teens, globally, consider climate change and global warming are bigger threats than drugs, violence or war. Close to 75% of teens, globally
care if their family is purchasing green products, saving energy, byuying recyclabale products etc.
•
• Gen Z prefers to be constantly connected with their peers world over through Internet, instant/text messaging and social networking websites. They consider
emails as thing of yesterday. They are very much emotionally attached to their digital habits & high online activity. Conectivity with their global peers
through the social networking sites provides them a greater exposure to cultures & languages which actually have made this generation truly global. These
peers greatly influence their decisiions as well.
In short Generation Z:
• Want to Speak
• Need for Community
• Need for Branded Communities
• Trust Communities-Word of Mouth
• Trust content on branded communities
• Branded Communities influences their behaviour & decissions.

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The Generation Z in India:
Below are some interesting facts about Indian Gen Z, published in a report by Ericsson Consumer Lab, in Oct, 12. For this research Ericsson Consumer lab
reached out 7785 urban house holds, conducted 3421 face-to-face interviews with 9-18 years old mobile phone users accoss 16 cities in India, 1000 face-to-
face interviews with parents & 2000 face-to-face interviews with mobile broadband users in the age group of 9-18 years.
• Out of roughly 200 million of total population below 18 years in India, 69 million resides in urban areas.
•
• 40% of urban children from metropolitan towns regularly dine out at expensive restaurants, 23% uses their parents credit card to purchase things.
•
• 30 million urban children have their own mobile phones, 11 million share one with their family while rest 28 million do not have access to mobile phones.
•
• 2 out of 5 children studied had more than 5 gadgets/devices in their bed room.
•
• On an average 2:18 hours are spent over Inetrnet per day per children.
•
• 58% of Gen Z in India is now willing to give up watching TV to use Internet through on mobile phone.
•
• 7% of Gen Z owning a Smart Phone
•
• 26% spend 90-100% of their Internet time on mobile phones
•
• Children belonging to 9-11 years age group on an average spend 67 minutes per day on Facebook.They are not even aware of any age limitations to sign up
in Facebook.
Key findings of this study is as below.
• Connectivity forms part of Gen Z’s digital lives from an early age.
•
• Kids and tweens mirror their older (16-18 years) counterparts usage pattern.
•
• Gen Z turns to social media first to complain or share bad experience & want to be engaged through a social form of Cutomer Care.
Gen Z in India

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Average TenureHead Count Head Count Average Tenure Head Count Average Tenure Head Count Average Tenure
Gen X 1 4.9
E Gen 51 2.9 7 5.8 2 7.1 3 3.3
Gen Y 181 1.6 7 4.9 5 6.6
Gen Z 25 0.8
Total 258 1.8 14 5.4 7 6.7 3 3.3
Generations
Production Agent Supervisor - Level 1 Supervisor - Level 2 Supervisor - Level 3
Generations in our Work Force…
Free Gens
Born between
1945 and 1960
Generation X
Born between
1961 and 1970
E Gen
Born between
1971 and 1980
Generation Z
Born between
1990 and 2000
A typical distribution of work force in aligned to a global telecom major (network provisioning):
Generation Y
Born between
1981 and 1990
Cautions while applying the Generational Theory:
While formulating engagement models basis the Generational Theory one should be cautious of the fact that though this helps
with segmentation to a great deal, there will be variation within the cohort hence this theory should not be used to over simplify the
model. Secondly, India, as all the scholar over the world has treated, is a country with composite culture (non unitary or
homogeneous). In any composite culture, each generation cohort has its own separate but overlapping regional, religious &
linguistic cultures which are respected by and interact with their shared culture. This also needs to be factored in while designing
any employee engagement model.

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