Generation X gets shafted – again

A recent study by PwC Canada of the Canadian banking sector found that Generation X – roughly defined as people born between 1961 and 1981, after the Baby Boom – are being squeezed in the financial industry by Boomers who aren’t retiring and by Boomers’ “Generation Y” offspring, who are entering the workforce and charging hard for promotions.

So, having been whacked by a deep recession at the start of their careers, Gen Xers are now facing a triple whammy of a sluggish post-recessionary economy, the prospect of austerity budgets for years to come from all levels of government, and career stagnation brought on by being sandwiched between two large generational cohorts.

Talk about bad timing.

But the study’s authors believe this phenomenon isn’t confined to banking. And anecdotally, I can attest that similar patterns exist in other sectors, including the broader public service and the media.

“With older workers staying on longer – many in senior positions – and younger employees with a hunger for advancement coming up from below, the potential for disaffection in the Generation X ranks is significant,” the PwC report says.

“The findings show that promotion rates for Gen Ys have held steady at close to 20 per cent over a three-year period, while Boomers’ promotion rates fell from 5 per cent to 3 per cent . What was not expected, however, is that Gen X promotions rates would fall from over 11 per cent to less than 10 per cent over the same three years studied (2008-2010) during what should be peak years of upward mobility,” Dr. Philip Hunter, a director in PwC’s People and Change practice, said in a statement.

Between 2006 and 2010, the ratio of Baby Boomers – the huge group of people born after World War II, between 1946 and 1961, roughly – to Gen Y employees  – those born between 1982 and 2000 – at Canadian banks shrunk from 6:1 to less than 2:1. At this rate, Gen Y will outnumber the Boomer generation in Canadian banks within the next three to five years. At the same time, Generation X is by far the largest generational employee group for Canadian banks, comprising a “quiet majority” of between 55 and 60 per cent of the total workforce.

Hunter said he believes Gen-Xers are perhaps being “squeezed” by older workers delaying retirement, and younger, more aggressive Gen Ys intent on rising through the ranks quickly

Alas, this seems to be just the latest soul-sapping career trend for us poor, beleaguered Gen-Xers.

Twenty years ago, when many people my age were starting their careers, North America was in the midst of a brutal recession that was preceded by a stock market crash and a post-Gulf War spike in the price of oil.
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Here in Canada, it was a time of public-sector hiring freezes and manufacturing job losses, and it ushered in an era of govenment cutbacks and austerity not seen since before World War II, as governments found themselves saddled with high deficits resulting from slow or negative economic growth. (Sound familiar?)

It was a terrible time to be starting a career, and those in my age group who were able to catch on in the workforce felt so lucky just to have a job that they hung on for dear life. They also began dutifully putting in their time and accruing enough experience in their fields to perhaps one day start climbing their respective organizational or professional ladders.

An era of huge dot-com-fuelled expansion followed, which somewhat mitigated the effects of the previous recession and allowed Gen-Xers  to gain a foothold in the workforce.

Fast-forward 10 years: we’re in the midst of an anemic recovery that followed what some have called the Great Recession – widely touted as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Economists are forecasting years, if not decades, of slow growth, and Baby Boomers are delaying retirement as they’ve seen their wealth and savings diminished by declines in the real estate and stock markets.

As a result, 30-to-50-year-olds in the workforce often seem stuck in a career holding pattern as these Boomers choke off the lines of promotion in large and mid-size organizations.

Meanwhile, as these Gen-Xers begin to reach middle age – a time when previous generations could, en masse, expect to move up the career ladder – they’re also starting to appear less vital and youthful than the large group of shiny young things coming up behind them, who are seen, rightly or wrongly, as fresher and more innovative. The result is that Gen-Yers are beginning to leapfrog their slightly older Gen-X colleagues without putting in the time that Gen-Xers were told was mandatory to achieve success.

I can hear the criticisms already: “Boo-hoo. Quit whining about your First-World problems. You’re one of the most educated generations in history – too educated, even, after having taken refuge in higher education to ride out the early-’90s recession – and most Gen-Xers are doing just fine.”

I can hear others saying: “If you want more out of your career, try harder.”

But spare a tender thought for us Gen-Xers. If we sometimes seem like we’re stuck in neutral, it’s not always entirely our fault.

And – with apologies to Woody Allen – the flip side is that, unlike the Boomers and their Gen Y offspring, for us, any success we do achieve is truly more than just showing up.