Analysis: The temptation to explain workplace challenges through generational narratives is understandable, but it may be misplaced
Few ideas have captured the public imagination in workplace debates as powerfully as "generational difference". We are repeatedly told that Baby Boomers value loyalty, Millennials crave meaning and Gen Z demand flexibility and feedback. In the health services, where retention is a growing crisis, these narratives have become especially influential. Managers are encouraged to tailor approaches by age, to "manage generations" rather than people.
But what if this focus on generational difference is distracting us from the real issue? Our research with nurses and midwives across Irish hospitals suggests that age-based explanations for disengagement and turnover are incomplete. The strongest and most consistent factor influencing whether people want to stay in their roles is not their generation, but the quality of leadership they experience. In particular, positive, inclusive leadership emerges as a powerful antidote to the challenges often attributed to generational divides.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, are generational labels pointless and unhelpful?
This matters because Ireland's health service is under intense strain. Chronic understaffing, high workloads and burnout are driving skilled professionals away from roles they once found deeply meaningful. In response, policymakers and organisations have increasingly leaned on generational explanations: younger staff are portrayed as impatient or demanding, older staff as resistant to change. While these stories are compelling, they risk oversimplifying complex human experiences and reinforcing divisions at a time when cohesion is urgently needed.
There is also a deeper problem. Despite its popularity in management circles, the academic evidence for clear, consistent generational differences in work values is surprisingly weak. While the concept of generations has a strong foundation in sociological theory, decades of empirical research have struggled to show that people born in different eras reliably hold different values at work.
Many studies fail to find the predicted differences at all. Others conflate generation with age, making it difficult to know whether observed differences are about being young or old, early- or late-career, rather than belonging to a distinct generation. Much of the research relies on cross-sectional designs that compare age groups at a single point in time, rather than following people over time. Add to this confusion around what constitutes a "generation", limited attention to national context, and insufficient consideration of gender and ethnicity, and the evidence base becomes even more fragile.
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For practitioners, this creates a problem. It may not matter whether differences in attitudes are truly generational or simply age-related, if those differences can be clearly and reliably demonstrated. At present, however, this is not the case. The result is a set of workplace interventions built on shaky assumptions, often reinforcing stereotypes rather than responding to lived realities.
Our own research sought to step outside this debate by asking a simpler question: what actually helps nurses and midwives stay well, engaged and committed to their work? Using a mixed-methods approach - combining surveys, interviews and a review of international literature - we examined the relationship between leadership, wellbeing and intention to leave.
What we found challenges many generational myths. Positive leadership - characterised by trust, fairness, visibility, encouragement and a focus on strengths - was consistently associated with lower intention to leave across all age groups. Psychological safety, the sense that one can speak up, ask questions or admit mistakes without fear, mattered equally to early-career and late-career staff. Opportunities to shape one’s role through job crafting were valued regardless of year of birth.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, how is Gen Z changing the workplace?
In other words, many of the needs often framed as "generational" are, in fact, human needs that go across age, ethnicity and other boundaries. This does not mean that differences do not exist. They do, but they are more nuanced and contextual than generational labels suggest.
In interviews, younger staff spoke about wanting regular feedback, clearer career development pathways and leaders who are present and accessible. Older staff often emphasised professional identity, collegiality and stability. Crucially, these preferences were not experienced as being in conflict. When leadership was inclusive and respectful, differences became complementary rather than divisive.
What staff did not ask for were segregated, age-specific solutions. Instead, the value of intergenerational connection is proposed: mentorship that flows both ways, shared learning, and teams where experience and fresh perspective are equally respected. Structured mentorship programmes, strengths-based feedback and leaders who are visible on the ward - not distant behind hierarchy - were repeatedly identified as ways to build trust and cohesion.
Rather than asking 'how do we manage Gen Z?', positive leadership asks 'how do we create conditions where people feel valued, safe and supported?'
This points to a central flaw in much generational thinking. By focusing on how groups differ, it can obscure how work environments are experienced collectively. Worse, it can legitimise disengagement by framing dissatisfaction as an inevitable generational clash rather than a solvable leadership issue.
Positive leadership offers a different lens. Rather than asking 'how do we manage Gen Z?', it asks 'how do we create conditions where people feel valued, safe and supported?'. It shifts attention from categorisation to connection, from difference to dignity.
This shift is especially important in healthcare, where teamwork, trust and communication are not optional extras but foundations of patient safety. Leaders who foster psychological safety enable staff to raise concerns, learn from mistakes and support one another across experience levels. Leaders who focus on strengths help individuals see how their unique contributions matter, regardless of age or tenure. Leaders who model respect build cultures where difference is not feared but integrated.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Prof Katrien Devolder from Oxford University, who researches laziness, says Generation Z are not lazy but simply masters of ‘justified effort management'.
At a time when protectionist policies and exclusionary narratives are gaining ground globally - prioritising division, borders and "us versus them" thinking - this research serves as a reminder that workplaces, like societies, are most resilient when leadership actively chooses inclusion, trust and connection over categorisation and exclusion.
The implications extend well beyond nursing and midwifery. Across the public and private sectors, organisations are grappling with disengagement, retention and workforce diversity. The temptation to explain these challenges through generational narratives is understandable – but it may be misplaced. Age-based labels can be comforting because they appear to offer simple explanations for complex problems. Yet simplicity is not the same as accuracy.
What our findings suggest is that, beyond structural and systemic challenges, leadership quality is the common denominator. When leadership is poor, differences harden into fault lines. When leadership is positive and inclusive, diversity becomes a strength.
Decades of research have struggled to show that people born in different eras reliably hold different values at work
If we are serious about retaining skilled professionals in whatever organisation they work, we need to invest less energy in debating generations and more in developing leaders. Leaders who build trust across difference, who see people rather than categories, and who understand that wellbeing and performance are inseparable.
In a system under pressure, positive leadership is not a "nice to have". It may be one of the most effective – and evidence-based – tools we have for bridging and bonding generations, and for ensuring that people not only stay in their roles, but can flourish within them.
The research team for their project were Prof Marian Crowley-Henry (Maynooth University); Prof Jolanta Burke (RCSI); Dr. Mary Collins (RCSI); Angel Harper (RCSI); Marie Kilduff (HSE National Clinical Leadership Centre) and Dr Aoife Lane (HSE National Clinical Leadership Centre)
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
