Navigating Inter-generational Differences Between Spirituality and Religious Behavior in the Twenty-First-Century Workplace: What We Can Learn from Boomers, Millennials, and Xers

Abstract

As the American workforce has shifted in the twenty-first century, employers have faced numerous challenges regarding how to integrate various types of diversity in their workplaces. Increasingly, though, there has been less attention paid to the interactions between co-workers of different generations. At present, the American workforce consists mainly of Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials. While much has been made informally about the impact of generational clashes within the workplace, less formal research has been conducted on the potential problems or benefits this dynamic could create. This chapter will address three important questions: What are the definition, role, and impact of spirituality (and to a lesser extent religious values) in the modern workplace? What are the differences of employee attitudes toward the role and impact of spirituality in the workplace, specifically between generational cohorts? What conclusions and implications regarding the twenty-first-century workplace can we make? Although there is a paucity of empirical research that clearly describes the influence of intergenerational differences in the workplace, the chapter presents several areas for consideration and potential avenues for increased study.