This document discusses four generations currently in today's Caribbean workplace: 1) 1937-1958 generation values loyalty and hierarchy, faced ageism with restructuring 2) 1958-1970 generation experienced independence, formed middle class, values stability 3) 1970-1983 generation ("cuspers") share values of multiple generations 4) 1983-2000 generation is highly technical, entrepreneurial, and independent It notes conflicts often arise from perception rather than reality between generations and strategies are needed to manage multi-generations.

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Workplace challenge
“Performance Evaluation in Talent Management · Act as a bridge to resolving conflicts
Cycle “The Talent Management Challenge – · Lack of competitiveness in the job market This highly educated generation was no longer interested
Managing Multi-generations in Today’s Caribbean · Insufficient savings and retirement planning to meet early in lifelong jobs and rather than planned their careers, they
Workplace” – PART II” retirement stategised them. On analysing CVs from this generation,
· Age discrimination it not uncommon to see at least three jobs changes in a
by Global Expert Systems 10-year span. This group is constantly seeking the next best
Characteristics of the 1958-1970 Generation opportunity and does not share the same fear of change as
This week we will give you a profile of the four their parents. Moreover, this generation is the first real group
generations that are sitting side by side in today’s Caribbean Just be reminded that we are defining the groups to benefits from the globalisation phenomenon. With higher
workplace. Again, it’s important to remember that this is not by the years of their birth. So this next generation levels of education and even more negotiating power, this is
set in stone and your generational analysis may vary from experienced the wave of independence and represents the very transient type of worker.
country to country – based on culture, history and other first generation to receive a college education en masse.
markers which you may deem to be relevant that your own They were still career oriented and shared a lot of the values Characteristics of the 1983-2000 Generation
geopolitical space. of their parents. However, they formed the basis of an
However, if we took Trinidad and Barbados as having emerging middle class made up primarily of civil servants and Finally, as we intimated before, the Millennials are
similar historical markers, we would agree that there is indeed professionals. here with us in the workplace. This is perhaps the most
a generation of economic and political struggle and severe This independence generation built this new middle class misunderstood group. Highly technical and digital, this
hardship. and shared the following characteristics: group brings with it notions of being spoilt, pampered
· Smaller planned families and highly privileged. Of course, the irony is that they are
Characteristics of the 1937-1958 Generation · Investment in education criticised by the very ones who nurtured their habits and
· More international travel behaviour.
This generation tends to be very career oriented and · Access to credit Born into mass pop culture, in the age of TV, music videos,
many have approached the 30 year plus mark in the same · Longer term savings planning digital games and computers, they are accused of short
organisation. Many in this generation did not benefit from · Increased home ownership through mortgages. attention spans by their older peers. However, they appear to
a free university education at an early age and sought be much more entrepreneurial and independent and are a lot
to improve themselves later in life through on-the-job-training, The above middle class dream forged a desire for stability, more willing to take risk.
some evening classes and/or university and professional work-life balance and increased demand for higher income Unfortunately, space does not permit us to delve into
training done mostly out of pocket after work hours. based on more negotiating power – certainly within the a lot more of the research that is out there on multi-
They nonetheless have remained loyal to their organisations context of Trinidad and Barbados. generations. Suffice it to say, we are now starting to hear
and are very accustomed to organisational hierarchical By the time the next generation enters the workforce and see more interest in this trend within the Caribbean
structures. towards the end of the 1980s, there are clear signs of workspace. We hope therefore that we have given you a little
Unfortunately, with the rapid reconfiguration of the generational conflicts. More often than not, these conflicts are insight into these four groups and that you will be inspired to
Caribbean corporate landscape starting in the 1990s and based more on perception than reality. do further reading and research on the topic.
beyond, this group has suffered the most in terms of Part 3 of the Multi-generation Next week we will
reintegration into the workforce. The reason being is that Characteristics of the 1970-1983 Generation start an exciting three-part sub-series on: The Talent
many of them were unable to compete against a younger Management Challenge Strategies for – Managing
more qualified generation. Of particular note, this group For those who straddle two generations, we refer to them multi-generations in today’s Caribbean workplace
suffered from what is known as “too old to be hired, too as “cuspers” by virtue of sitting on the cusp of two groupings. – PART I.
young to be fired.” The cuspers form an interesting group because they tend to: This is your last chance to register for the
Caught in this vortex of ageism: this generation was · Share multiple values from both generations 1st Caribbean & Latin American Conference on
affected by the following: · Navigate more easily between both generations Talent Management on September 25 at the
Savannah Hotel, Barbados and September 26
at the Kapok Hotel, Trinidad.
Feel free to visit Global Expert
Systems online at http://www.
globalexpertsystems.org/index.
php/event/first-caribbean-
latin-american-conference-
on-talent-management/www.
globalexpertsystems.org or email
us at info@globalexpertsystems.
org for more information. We
also have lots of free material
on Talent Management and this
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