ForConstructionPros.com

Whenever we ask you what about your business keeps you up at night, we inevitably hear about personnel issues. It seems many of you continue to face challenges in finding and keeping good employees. We often hear you decry the lack of a respectable work ethic among the younger generations. Still, after hearing this over and over again, we've yet to hear anyone come up with a solution to the problem.

Has anyone ever considered that maybe what is perceived as a problem is not really a fault with a particular generation, but a disconnect between generations that value very different things from their work? Granted, there are bad apples in every bunch and young people who have few responsibilities are probably more likely to be blithe about their work than are older people with mortgages, children and debt. Those issues aside, let's take a look at what it takes to motivate people today.

According to Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of the book, "When Generations Collide," there are four generations at work today:

Traditionalists - Born 1900 to 1945. These individuals' values were shaped during the Great Depression. They are fiercely loyal to their employers and often stay with the same company for a lifetime.

Baby Boomers - Born 1946 to 1964. Boomers are ambitious and their self-esteem is often tightly wound up in how successful they are in their careers. They are usually very willing to make personal sacrifices for their employers and adopt a "take one for the team" mentality throughout their career.