Baby boomers go on courses to learn how to understand millennials

Baby boomers are going on courses to understand how younger people communicate and operate in the workplace.

Such is the age difference between millenials and baby boomers, some experts have claimed there is a difference in how both generations communicate with each other.

Millennials are deemed as those born between 1981 to 1996, while baby boomers weere born between 1947 and 1964.

Dr Elizabeth Michelle, a psychologist who gives workshops on how to handle millennials told The Times: “As a psychologist, I work with so many different things but the main thing people have been interested in is millennials and now Gen Z.

“I think boomers are desperate to be able to work more productively with them and they are very frustrated because they are so different. Managers want to understand their employees better.”

She continued: “For boomers, the idea that an employee will say ‘no’ is really difficult to understand because when they got a job they felt like they needed to do everything to keep it.

“Nowadays in recruitment there are challenges because the younger workers are coming to interview them. They are saying: ‘Do I want to work for you? What do you offer me?’

“I think they have looked at their parents’ struggle and thought: ‘I don’t want that for my life and my family.’ They don’t want to be all work, work, work — then get dropped.”

Dr Michelle also warned there are differences in how each generation perceive time and punctuality.

She added: “It is something that comes up often. All the managers get frustrated by lateness.

“If you start at 8am, young people don’t sometimes realise that 8am means 8am, but older people will think that means 7.45am, so you are settled and ready to go by 8am.

“It might be because the priorities of millennials are different. Some want to go to the gym first to take care of their mental health.”

This comes after Jay Patel, 26, lost a case for age discrimination, after he was sacked from his job.

His employer claimed Mr Patel was “too demanding” and “expected things to be handed to him on a plate”, an employment tribunal was told.