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There is less of a generational culture clash at work than the headlines suggest. In our 2023 study of more than 100 HR managers in Britain, only 6% rated friction between age groups as a major challenge and 31% said it was not a challenge. Yet 66% said communication with and between generations was posing challenges for business efficiency. Most of the time these are differences that can be resolved with some communication.
There is far less of a generational culture clash at work than the headlines suggest, and far more of a communication problem. In our Generations in the Workplace Study 2023, only 6% of more than 100 HR managers rated friction between age groups as a major challenge, and 31% said it was not a challenge. Yet 66% said communication with and between generations was posing challenges for business efficiency.
In December 2023 I read a newspaper headline announcing a culture clash between Baby Boomers in the boardroom and Gen Z getting established in the workplace. I wasn't sure why it caused so much surprise. We have known about generational differences for some time, and although the difference is greater now, they have always existed. And yes, it does come down to communication.
They put it last. The HR managers in our study were not told it was about generations. Asked to rate ten challenges facing their organisations, 32% called attracting the right new talent a major challenge, 28% filling vacancies and 26% staff retention. Friction between age groups came bottom, at 6%.
Four of the ten challenges rated: the three most common major challenges, and the lowest. Base: more than 100 HR managers in Britain Source: Generations in the Workplace Study 2023
That does not mean the generations behave alike. 55% of the same HR managers see big age differences in expectations of working hours, 53% in wellbeing support and 51% in preferred management style. Differences are common. Whether they turn into conflict depends on how well people talk about them.
Because headlines are built on specific incidents, and a viral video makes a better story than a spreadsheet. Our research suggests the day-to-day differences are more nuanced.
The wider evidence agrees. A 2012 meta-analysis by David Costanza and colleagues, published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, combined 20 studies covering 19,961 people and compared generations on job satisfaction, commitment to the organisation and intention to leave. The differences were "moderate to small, essentially zero in many cases", and the authors concluded that those that do appear are likely to have causes other than generation. The study ran from the Silent Generation to Millennials, so it predates Gen Z at work.
The clash lives mainly in assumptions. When each side expects the worst of the other, small misunderstandings start to look like conflict.
Farzana Parkar, an HR consultant who describes herself as an Xennial, made a similar point on the podcast in HR in 2026: culture, communication and the generation gap. Generational conflict, she argued, often comes from different assumptions about office presence, response times, communication and what respect looks like.
Yes, say those who have been doing it longest. 70% of HR managers in post five years or more told us the role is harder than it was, and 1% said easier. When I presented those results at an HR forum in September 2023, they seemed to strike a chord with an audience from industries as varied as tech, law and education. Some of the extra work, it appeared, came from having four generations in the workplace.
The same forum raised the question of how many organisations respond with an intergenerational policy. It seemed very few did, although they may have had generational considerations in their diversity and inclusion policies. Meanwhile 57% of the HR managers in our study said their organisation had changed as a result of the next generation entering it.
Mostly people. 52% of HR managers have personally adapted their style to different generations, but only 38% say their organisation has. That leaves the work resting on individual goodwill, which is fine until someone moves on.
In my work with clients, I bring the generations together to help them understand each other better and, most importantly, to understand why each generation thinks and acts the way it does. Our guide to managing five generations in the workplace goes further.
Name the real problem. In our 2024 survey, 75% of UK workers say thinking and behaviour at work vary by age, and 51% name communication styles as the main difference. Find out where misunderstandings actually happen: channels, response times, meetings, feedback.
Make the unwritten rules explicit. Write down what your organisation expects on response times, when to call rather than message, and what "urgent" means. New starters of every age benefit, and it removes a whole category of assumption.
Turn personal adaptation into organisational practice. If some of your managers have already adjusted their style, capture what works and put it in onboarding, team agreements and your diversity and inclusion policy.
Create more broken lifts. There's the story of a 61-year-old company director stuck in a lift with a 24-year-old member of staff. They had passed each other in the building but never met, and felt they had nothing in common. Stuck together, they got talking and found they supported the same football team and loved skiing in the French Alps. By the time the doors opened, they had a whole new understanding of each other. If we could just have more broken lifts, perhaps we could bridge more of these generation gaps. Mixed project teams, reverse mentoring and shared social time are the next best thing.
Do you see generational culture clashes in your workplace, or is it communication?
Much less than headlines suggest. In the Generations in the Workplace Study 2023, only 6% of more than 100 British HR managers rated friction between age groups as a major challenge, the lowest of ten challenges, and 31% said it was not a challenge. Yet 66% said communication with and between generations was posing challenges for business efficiency.
Often, different assumptions about how work should be done: working hours, response times, channels, office presence and what respect looks like. 55% of HR managers in the 2023 study see big age differences in expectations of working hours and 51% in preferred management style. In the 2024 survey, 51% of UK workers named communication styles as the main difference between age groups.
For experienced HR managers, yes. In the Generations in the Workplace Study 2023, 70% of HR managers who had been in post five years or more said the role was harder than it had been, and 1% said it was easier. Recruitment, filling vacancies and retention were the most common major challenges.
Treat it as a communication issue. Find out where misunderstandings happen, make unwritten rules on response times and channels explicit, and turn individual managers' adaptations into shared practice. Only 38% of HR managers say their organisation has adapted to different generations, against 52% who have adapted personally, so there is room to do more at organisational level.
Find out about Alastair's generational communication workshops and consultancy for HR teams and managers.
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Alastair welcomes Farzana Parkar, an HR consultant at face2face HR and who describes herself as an Xennial with 15 years’ experience in HR.
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