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STUDY EXAMINES DIFFERENCES AMONG GENERATIONS IN THE WORKFORCE OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS
Shows that American workers reject work-centric style of their parents’ generation

BOSTON – October 5, 2004 – The American Business Collaboration (ABC) – a consortium of eight major corporations that includes Abbott Laboratories, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, Exxon Mobil Corporation, General Electric, IBM Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Texas Instruments – today released the results of its Generation and Gender in the Workplace study, which examines the changes within the American workforce since 1977 in relation to job satisfaction, work-life support, gender roles and attitudes.

The study, which was commissioned by the ABC and conducted by the Families and Work Institute (FWI) with nationally representative samples of the U.S. workforce, found that younger workers (Gen-Y and Gen-X) are more likely to be “family-centric” or "dual-centric" (with equal priorities on both career and family) and less “work-centric” (putting higher priority on their jobs than family) compared to members of the Boomer generation. Among college-educated men of Gen-Y, Gen-X and Boomer ages in 1992 and 2002, 68 percent wanted to move into jobs with more responsibility in 1992 versus only 52 percent in 2002. Among college-educated women of these ages in 1992 and 2002, 57 percent wanted to move into jobs with more responsibility in 1992 versus only 36 percent in 2002.

“There has been a great deal of speculation about generational and gender differences in the workforce but, until now, many of these assertions have been based on intuition or limited data. The American Business Collaboration commissioned this study in order to put those assumptions to a rigorous test,” commented Ellen Galinsky, president of Families and Work Institute. “What we found was striking—specifically because it uncovers a marked shift in the attitudes of both women and men who are redefining their priorities in life and in work.”

The study revealed that children of Gen-X parents receive more attention than children did in 1977, with Gen-X fathers spending over an hour more per day with their children than Boomer fathers. The study also finds that both women and men have become more conscious of the personal tradeoffs they have to make to advance in their careers and that an increasing number are instead choosing to stay at the same levels, rather than continue moving up the career ladder.

“The ABC felt it was critical to conduct this study to further help our collective employees better manage their work and personal responsibilities,” said Stan Smith, National Director, Total Rewards, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, an ABC member company. “What we’ve found is that it’s not your father’s workplace any more. A very compelling trend among the younger generations is that they favor family time over the rewards that usually accompany increased job responsibility. This poses a new challenge to managers responsible for growth within their companies since this is clearly a gap between how we currently work and what the next generation of employees want.”

Though their focus may have shifted, the study refutes an often-held assumption that Gen Y and Gen X employees are “slackers”. In fact, the study found that Gen-Y and Gen-X employees in 2002 worked just as hard as their age counterparts did in 1977. Statistically, there is no significant difference between Gen-Y in 2002 and their age counterparts in 1977 with respect to the total paid and unpaid hours worked per week (38.5 hours on average) although an extraordinary 80 percent of college-educated employees would like to work fewer paid and unpaid hours than they currently do. Interestingly, when Gen-X employees in 2002 were compared with their age counterparts in 1977, the study found that in 2002 Gen-X employees actually worked more paid and unpaid hours per week (45.6 hours on average) than employees of comparable ages in 1977 (42.9 paid and unpaid hours per week on average).

“With Baby Boom and Gen X employees making up the majority of our workforce, it is important for us as an employer to understand the priorities and issues these groups bring to the workplace, both in general and as individuals,” said Betty Purkey, Manager of Work/Life Strategies, Texas Instruments. “This information can help us create a workplace that is more effective in attracting and retaining top talent both now and in the future.”

Since its inception in 1992, ABC has worked together to help employees manage work and personal responsibilities. For over a decade, a major focus of the ABC Champion Companies has been to create and fund innovative programs for childcare and eldercare services to alleviate gaps between the needs of working families and available services and programs in identified communities across the country. As corporate leaders, the ABC Champion Companies recognize that today’s workforce is constantly evolving and are focusing collaborative efforts on understanding the needs of the changing workforce and implementing creative solutions to improve workforce effectiveness. These programs and services exemplify the ABC's belief that through collaboration, companies can accomplish more together than they can do alone for their employees and their communities.

About Families and Work Institute

Families and Work Institute(FWI) is a non-profit center for research that provides data to inform decision-making on the changing workplace, changing family and changing community. Founded in 1989, FWI is known for ahead-of-the-curve, non-partisan research into emerging workforce issues; for solutions-oriented studies addressing topics of vital importance to all sectors of society; and for fostering connections among workplaces, families, and communities. For more information, see www.familiesandwork.org.

About the American Business Collaboration

The American Business Collaboration(ABC) is a groundbreaking collaboration of leading U.S. companies (Champions) partnering since 1992, in more than 68 U.S. communities and investing more than $136,800,000 to ensure that their employees have access to quality programs and services to help them manage their work and personal responsibilities. To date, more than 1,700 dependent care programs have benefited from ABC funding to improve the quality and supply of care in the United States. Current ABC Champion companies are: Abbott Laboratories, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, Exxon Mobil Corporation, General Electric, IBM Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Texas Instruments. To learn more about ABC please visit www.abcdependentcare.com.

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