HR-Glossar
Generation X
Which cohorts count as Generation X, which circumstances shaped them and why generation models need caution in HR work.
1. What is Generation X?
Generation X is the usual label for the cohorts born roughly between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s. The exact boundaries are inconsistent – they differ by several years depending on the source and the country.
The term comes from popular culture, not from social research. It describes the circumstances under which an age cohort grew up: economic uncertainty after the boom years, rising participation in education, the transition into digitalisation, changed ideas of family.
What it does not describe are the characteristics of individual people. Experience shows greater differences between two people of the same birth year than between the averages of two generations. Inferring attitudes, expectations or ways of working from a birth year means working with a prejudice – and in an HR context with one that comes close to the prohibition on disadvantage on grounds of age in Section 7 AGG.
The model is useful where it points to stages of life rather than to characters: someone in their mid-forties to late fifties more often has management responsibility, relatives needing care, and fifteen to twenty years of working life still ahead.
2. Origin and development
The term spread with a novel of the early 1990s and was then taken up by marketing and the media. From there it travelled into HR work, where it met a genuine need: businesses wanted to understand why people of different ages respond differently to the same offers.
One qualification belongs with that for a German readership. The model comes from the English-speaking world, and the events said to have shaped the cohort were different here. A model transferred across that boundary explains even less than it does at home.
3. Core principles and how it works
Circumstances, not characters
The model describes the conditions under which a cohort grew up – not what its members are like.
Imprecise boundaries
The first and last birth years differ considerably by source. Arguing with exact years pretends there is a definition.
Spread beats average
Within a generation the variance is greater than between generations.
Stage of life rather than birth year
What really helps in HR work are stages of life – caring responsibilities, career stage, health – not years of birth.
Discrimination risk
Decisions on selection, development and pay may not attach to age. Generation arguments come dangerously close.
4. Who is Generation X relevant for?
- HR leads – as a way of placing things, not as a basis for decisions.
- Managers – for understanding different circumstances within a team.
- Businesses with age-mixed workforces – the subject is everyday there.
- Anyone reading generation models – as a guide to how much weight they carry.
5. How it differs from related terms
- Generation X and Generation Y – the following cohort; it has an entry of its own. - Generation and stage of life – the stage of life is the more meaningful reference and changes over time. - Generation model and age structure analysis – age structure analysis works with the business's own data and is usable for workforce planning. - Generation marketing and HR work – what serves as a rough segment in marketing does not carry in personnel decisions.
6. Variants and adaptations
- Boundaries by source – the birth year limits differ by several years. - National differences – the formative events were different in Germany from those in the United States; the model comes from the English-speaking world. - Alternative classifications – milieu, values and lifestyle models frequently explain behaviour better than a birth year.
7. Advantages and challenges
Advantages
- An accessible way into a conversation about age-mixed workforces
- Directs attention to different circumstances within a team
- Useful as rough orientation in communication
- Makes clear that offers are not equally attractive to everyone
Challenges
- Tempts people into stereotypes about individuals on the basis of a birth year
- The boundaries are inconsistent and look more precise than they are
- Within a cohort the spread is greater than between cohorts
- In an HR context there is a discrimination risk
- It regularly explains less than education, occupation, income and stage of life
8. Best practices for implementation
Ask about needs, not about birth years
What people need is learnt by asking – not from a date of birth.
Set the offers up broadly
Flexible working time, training, pensions and health offers work across all age groups where they can be chosen.
Age structure analysis instead of a generation label
Your own data say more about your business than any general model.
Do not argue it in selection procedures
Generation-based reasons in hiring or development decisions are legally risky.
9. Tips for employers and employees
For employers
- **Do not infer attitude from birth year** – the spread within a cohort is greater than between them
- **Look at stages of life rather than generations** – caring responsibilities and career stage explain more
- **Leave age out of selection decisions** – including indirectly through generation arguments
For employees
- **Do not adopt the labels** – your birth year says nothing about how you work
- **Name your own needs** – they are individual, not typical of a generation
10. Conclusion
Generation X is a term from popular culture that has travelled into HR work. As a description of circumstances it serves; as a statement about individual people it does not. Within a cohort the spread is greater than between cohorts, the year boundaries are inconsistent, and in an HR context generation-based arguments come dangerously close to the prohibition on disadvantage on grounds of age.
One further qualification applies to a model imported from elsewhere: it comes from the English-speaking world, and the events said to have shaped the cohort were different in Germany. Anyone wanting to know what people in a business need asks them – and looks at their own age structure, rather than laying a general model over it.
Sources
- Section 1 AGG – Purpose of the Act (official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 7 AGG – Prohibition of discrimination (official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Socio-Economic Panel and employment research (English pages) (opens in a new tab)
- Labour market and occupational research (English pages) (opens in a new tab)
Related terms
Our promise
Software supports. People take responsibility.
Let us talk about your payroll – no strings attached, specific, and with a dedicated contact from day one.