Book Review: The 2020 Workplace

I first read Jeanne Meister’s and Karie Willyerd’s The 2020 Workplace back in 2010, and I found it to be a very useful and engaging book that added a lot to a course I was teaching at the time. A student had recommended it as a good discussion of generational diversity, but as I went on I found it to be much more than that. Nearly 5 years later, it’s worth revisiting it as we get closer and closer to the date in the title.

This is a good “discussion book” in that it raises a number of points that each start a good discussion with someone. For example, one of the earliest issues is the suggestion that we will soon enter a (short) period where 5 generations can exist in the same workplace: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Generation 2020 (or whatever the end up being labeled). While this might not be the case in many workplaces, the facts of longer lifespans, decreasing financial stability for retirement, the increase in knowledge-based over physical work, and the ability to work beyond the traditional office environment, all are leading us to a period of at least 4 generations commonly working together. In Asia, as we see retirement ages being reset higher and more and more of the oldest generation staying in the workforce in some capacity, this may not be too much of a surprise. Other issues in the book, such as the increasing female proportion of the workforce, our evolving understanding of diversity, and a restructuring of the traditional hierarchies, all provide great jumping off points for readers who want to explore further in discussions with their friends and peers.

The authors aren’t making value judgments here. There is no argument that “the Millennials are coming so you Boomers need to change to satisfy them.” Instead, they are making observations of historical evolution and current realities, offering trend-based predictions of what may be coming, and providing recommendations for how leaders can best approach the mix of people in their workforce. If that means Boomers may need to adjust their expectations, and also mentor their incoming workers to adjust their expectations, then so be it. Obviously, readers can choose whether to do that or not.

The book is grounded in data, including two quantitative global surveys and a significant number of qualitative case studies. Despite this, it is not a “theoretical” book, nor is it filled with academic jargon. It is an easy read and flows pretty smoothly. Some of the more useful elements include chapter summaries and lists of social media terms and modern web resources. While these lists can become outdated pretty quickly (like, as soon as the book is printed) they can be useful for those who still don’t understand what LinkedIn is (laugh if you want, but I had Boomers in a workplace only a couple years ago who still printed out each email they got because they didn’t trust computers; these are the folks who can use what many of us consider to be basic education).

This is a useful book not only for current leaders but even more so for those who aspire to be leaders in a potentially confusing cross-cultural and cross-generational workforce. Since so much of today’s knowledge-based work depends upon one’s perspective, it is important for leaders to understand the views and perceptions that exist in their workforce and find a way to put all of them to the best use together. You might not accept every premise the authors put forth, but the book does get you thinking. No book can provide an accurate laundry list of what people believe, and nobody is completely defined by their generational cohort or ethnic background. Still, The 2020 Workplace offers you a great opportunity to start understanding the questions you need to ask to make your employees the best they can be.