SWE - Spring 2008 - (Page 46) of the work force retiring, they must bring people up to speed quickly. “If anyone would see problems between generations, it would be me. Yeah, it’s there, but it’s not necessarily a negative issue.” Jennifer Sizemore, Area Superintendent, DuPont, Packaging and Industrial Polymers Millennials expect promotions based on results In the boomers’ era, age, experience, and tenure were the criteria for promotion. Dr. Deal said this is no longer the case. As engineers enter the workplace with advanced technical knowledge, she noted that younger employees often are promoted over those with tenure. “Tenure is not the driver of productivity. How good you are is independent of generation or age,” she explained. “There is a different philosophy of work, especially when technology is intellectual capital.” Jennifer Sizemore, area superintendent at DuPont’s Packaging and Industrial Polymers and a 2002 graduate in chemical engineering, concurred that the younger generations tend to use newer technologies. In working with employees on the plant floor, however, she has found that boomer mechanics and operators welcome the benefits of high technology. Koch. Sizemore supports this observation. “Part of diversity is having different points of view and engaging people from different backgrounds, which comes out in the generation gap as we build our teams with experienced and new people. We need to learn how to utilize the generation gap instead of dissipating it,” she said. From this perspective, diversity isn’t as much about figuring out how everyone can get along as it is incorporating varied points of view. Teams, which are so prevalent in today’s corporations and function on site and internationally, need the input of the experienced and young as well as underrepresented groups. By acknowledging all these differences, they become positives — and so does the “generation gap.” I LET US KNOW. Do you believe there is a generation gap? Is it a serious problem? What have you experienced and how have you handled it? E-mail your response to: swemag@swe.org To millennials, age is just another diversity angle Younger engineers have different ideas about diversity — another positive change they bring to the workplace. “The word ‘diversity’ has taken on a whole new meaning,” concluded Include how long you have been in the workplace and where you fall in the generation timeline. 46 SWE SPRING 2008 http://www.finish-it.org http://www.finish-it.org
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