Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X & Boomers Have Completely Different Ideas Of What Professional Looks Like
PeopleImages | Shutterstock It’s easy to see that the workplace has changed a lot over the years. One of the biggest shifts has come from what people consider to be truly professional.
Since different generations were raised in different environments and joined the workforce at different times, they each look at professionalism a bit differently.
Boomers and Gen X have a pretty strict idea of what’s professional, while millennials and Gen Z are more casual.
When boomers were the main generation in the workforce, they took their jobs seriously and held themselves to a pretty high standard of professionalism. Each generation since then has moved farther away from that idea as they’ve focused more on getting the work done than doing it a certain way.
Boomers care about meeting traditional expectations of professionalism at all times.
Baby boomers are often characterized by a work ethic that’s so strong it made many of them workaholics. They were determined not just to get the job done, but to do it so well that people had no choice but to notice.
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It makes sense that boomers take professionalism at face value. They dress in traditional business attire because they believe that’s a visual representation of how serious they are about work. They also keep their communication pretty formal as a sign of their respect for authority.
This stands in pretty stark contrast to how younger generations feel. Although many boomers have retired by now, those who are still working often clash with younger employees because of their different perspectives. Projecting professionalism will always be their first priority.
Gen X focuses on the end result and doesn’t worry as much about how professional they look getting there.
Independence has always been one of the most important values for Gen X, and the workplace is no different. They want to be able to do their work without being micromanaged. Unlike boomers, they also want a healthy work-life balance that doesn’t feel overwhelming.
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This has put Gen X somewhere between boomers and millennials in their opinion of professionalism. They haven’t completely given up on the example boomers set of a strong work ethic, but living to work was never their goal either.
Gen X is a bit more similar to millennials with their style, which is pretty telling. Instead of acting like being professional is some kind of performance they have to put on, they do what it takes to get the job done. If that doesn’t look as perfect as what boomers would expect, they don’t mind.
Millennials built on the transition that Gen X made towards a more casual version of professionalism.
This generation didn’t have the best reputation when they first started working. They thought they were good employees, but their older colleagues didn’t agree. Their first impression of millennials was that they were decidedly unprofessional.
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Of course, that just meant that they were creating their own image of what it means to be professional. Millennials prefer to dress casually at work, and they communicate differently, too. They don’t treat work messages like texts, but they aren’t as formal, especially when it’s not necessary.
Older generations might question whether millennials are professional at all, but they’ve just developed their own idea of what that looks like. For them, the most important part of being professional is getting their work done. They aren’t concerned with appearances while they do that.
Gen Z has joined a workplace that is changing quickly, and they’re making what they think professional looks like part of the shift.
It hasn’t been easy for Gen Z to start their careers amid allegations that they don’t really care about work at all. Part of the disconnect probably comes from the way Gen Z has very different values than their employers do. Instead of just clocking in and out, they want to feel like they’re doing something positive.
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Professionalism is different for them. They think acting formally just gets in the way of them doing what they need to do. This might be the most noticeable in the way they communicate more casually than any generation before them.
Their older co-workers will definitely look down on them for this, but it doesn’t mean they’re bad at what they do. They don’t want to get so caught up in a checklist of proper behavior that they lose sight of what really matters to them, so they don’t think about professionalism as traditionally as other generations.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
