Law firms should invest in understanding the differences between generations of employees, attendees at the Queensland Law Society’s Symposium were told today.
Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher shared Queensland data, sprinkled with dark humour, in his presentation The future of law through the demographic lens, as one of more than 90 presenters at the event at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Simon’s session followed opening addresses by QLS President Genevieve Dee, Supreme Court Chief Justice Helen Bowskill, Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington and High Court Justice James Edelman.
The co-founder and director of The Demographics Group in Melbourne told the audience of more than 750 practitioners that staffing would be the biggest challenge for organisations into the future.
He outlined the characteristics of the Pre-Boomer, Baby Boomer, X, Y, Z and alpha generations, touching on the benefits and challenges that each one represented to the profession and society more generally.
He noted that Gen X was the first generation in Australia were both parents worked, which meant it was the “only generation in Australian history that grew up, essentially, unsupervised”.
“That well and truly turned Gen X into a self-reliant, pragmatic, and might I say cynical generation,” he said.
“So while you can deal with Boomers and (Gen Y) Millennials in a value-driven, moralistic, narrative-driven way, don’t so this with Gen X.
“This is a pragmatic bunch that researches every feature of every leaf blower they’ve purchased.
“Now that they are moving into leadership positions, I would say that we are seeing a bit more of a pragmatic approach to leadership. I think this is a welcome development.”
Simon Kuestenmacher at the conference.
Simon said Gen X was also promoting two main workplace changes: gender equality and work-life balance.
“This is the first bunch of people that thinks it’s normal for women to be part of the workforce, so anything that smells like gender equality will make absolutely rapid-fire-pace changes in the next decades,” he said.
“I would argue that the gender pay gap will be completely permanently eradicated in 15 to 18 years … much faster than anyone predicts.”
Simon said the prospect of achieving work-life balance, via a four-day week, was not as positive, however, because there were not enough workers yet to sustain it.
Of Gen Y Millennials, he said their obsession with finding meaning at work was a new but logical development.
“We’ve started calling Millennials the experience generation, a generation that allegedly forgoes materialistic desires in order to find themselves on overseas travels, in yoga retreats, in music festivals, by photographing their lunch – these are all attempts to create …meaning in some sort of way.”
Of Gen Z, Simon said this was the first generation which had always had mobile technology, and so, it thought in terms of “global connections”.
“It is also the most misanthropic, pessimistic generation to have ever walked the Australian continent by a long shot,” he said.
Simon drew together the threads of his session by sharing a typical meeting scenario in a workplace between a Baby Boomer manager and a Gen Z employee.
“Baby Boomers get used to a world where when they applied for jobs there were plenty of them. It was an insane success for a Baby Boomer to score a job. It was a token of pride to keep this job for 10, 20, 30 years,” he said.
“Then along comes the Gen Z cohort. A tiny cohort, jobs are aplenty, they can of course bargain for higher wages and better working conditions – why wouldn’t they make use of this leverage?
“And as long as you don’t fully understand this general structural shift between those generations, you risk creating a work culture where one generation just thinks all the other generations are morons.”
Simon said despite all the challenges, the outlook should be optimistic.
“I well and truly believe that the future for Australia and for your profession in particular, is bright. There’s nothing you need to fear,” he said.
This session was followed by sessions throughout the day in family, succession, criminal, property, personal injuries and commercial law.
Keep an eye on Proctor for more coverage of Symposium.
Share this article