There are technically five generations in the workforce right now, and I would argue that you could also say the six, because generation alpha is known to be born around 2010, which means the earliest ones would be about 15.

We do see a number of people from every generation in the workforce right now.

And I really think it just comes down to just using really good communication skills.

We just really need to be curious.

We need to ask questions.

We need to avoid making assumptions about people based on their generations.

And really, that just boils down to good communication skills.

Just from my experience in the last year and a half, the group that we've brought in, very diverse in age groups.

And the, I'll call the more experienced worker coming in, maybe bringing their life experiences and their work experiences in with a younger generation of workers.

At first, there can be some learning for both sides, but what we've seen over the past year and a half, just from having conversations with those people, the younger generation of our workers has really said that they've learned a lot from the, I'll call them more seasoned workers coming into the workforce.

And they've really meshed well together.

It's been a great learning experience for both from what I've seen.

Yeah, there's always going to be those stories where maybe there's some pushback, but I think our culture here at SAM, we almost don't allow for that pushback.

We train them on the SAM culture, which is very inclusive, a learning culture.

So when someone is coming in and maybe they're coming into a building with a person that, a younger generation person, they know to work with each other.

That's just the only way we're going to have it at SAM.

With my age right now, with technology as fast as it's moving, I'm constantly asking these guys how to do my phone, my computer, the new programs like Teams, all that kind of stuff.

I mean, I've been with computers a long time.

I started out in high school with it and back when computers were the size of a room and now they're in your hand.

So yeah, I need a lot of help when it comes to technology.

The first thing I tell them is just to be open-minded, be willing to take in the knowledge that they're presenting you and knowing that they're coming from their place where they are in their career.

And if you're newer to the workforce, just be open-minded and take any advice they give you.

But also don't be afraid to talk about your experience, whether it was in college or maybe you had one job prior to that.

Don't be afraid to bring your experience into it too so you can kind of learn together on how to work together.

One of my other side jobs is maintenance and just teaching people how to work on the equipment at their facilities, such as your cameras, figuring out how to work the DVRs or the gate systems, that sort of thing.

A lot of the hands-on stuff, I find that you don't see that much anymore for the younger generation.

They kind of need to be taught and I have no problem in doing that.

So people from an older generation coming into the work environment and working with people of a younger generation, I would say to them the best advice is to also be open.

You're coming in with your own work experiences, maybe for 20, 30 years.

You just have to be, I'll call the word pliable.

You have to be able to take your experiences from your vast experience in the work environment and then now be able to listen and know that there are still things to learn.

And I think that will make the relationship really strong between the older generation and the younger generation.

I think one of the biggest thing is just to, not to push yourself on them and you don't want to change them.

You want to hear what they have to say and maybe integrate it into what you're doing.

Well, I think the biggest concern that younger generations have is that older generations look at them for tech help.

And that's the only value that they're seen for.

And one of the things that generations have in common as they've looked at the research is that regardless of which generation we fall into, we all want to do something productive and meaningful.

There's a quote basically saying that the children now love luxury and they're, and they basically don't do a lot.

And it's really lamenting this generation.

And when I do my presentation, that's one of the things I start off with is I put this quote up and I ask people to identify who said, who said that.

And almost everybody is wrong because it was Socrates.