Dolittler Guest Post It’s Not Gender…Stupid (Gender and the generation divide in veterinary medicine)

by Roxanne Hawn

I’ve written about veterinary medicine for both trade and pet outlets since 1995. I originally researched and wrote this feature article for a national veterinary magazine in 2005. It’s a long story why it never ran, but I still find the implications interesting. Since I haven’t had recent contact with the doctor examples, I used Dr. A, B, C, etc. to protect their privacy. The other experts, however, are quoted here as they first were. The content has been trimmed back some, and the title has been blog-a-fied.

Say “generation gap” and different tastes in music or fashion probably pop to mind. True generational differences, however, stem from key experiences during our formative years, birth to the end of full-time studenthood. These core values manifest in how we work, live and play.

Like no other time in American history, there are five living generations potentially working side by side due to flattened reporting structures and leaner staffing. Yet, in veterinary practice, the generational landscape is somewhat simpler, with two generations making up most of the current work force – Baby Boomers and Generation Xers.

“These two generations are as dramatically different as two adjacent generations have ever been,” says Chuck Underwood, president of The Generational Imperative.

Far from hopeless, getting along starts with information. “A very special thing happens when you realize it’s a generational difference,” says Underwood. “It’s no longer personal, so finger pointing between boss and subordinate instantly halts, and you realize it’s not you against me. It’s your generational values against my generational values. That’s something we can discuss civilly and resolve effectively.”

Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)

Baby Boomers’ parents survived the Great Depression and two world wars. A massive and competitive group, Boomers spent their formative years in the relative peace and unprecedented prosperity that followed. “Boomer kids came along in what might have been the most ideal time in American history,” Underwood says. “They know the enormous sacrifice made by their elders that created so many opportunities for them, so Boomers came of age driven to make the greatest contribution they can make to show their appreciation.”

Boomers, born leaders and believers in “we,” launched six social revolutions, including feminism, war protests, civil rights, ecology as well as the sexual and drug revolutions.

In addition, Boomers threw themselves into their work. “They willingly worked long hours, evenings and weekends,” Underwood explains. “In corporate America, they willingly accepted job transfers and promotions that caused them to uproot their families, whatever it took to advance in their careers, to make the contribution, to live up to the expectations of the generation.”

Generation X (born 1965-1981)

Generation X, on the other hand, saw things fall apart in government, in business and at home. In 1971, the vice president resigned in scandal. In 1974, the president resigned in scandal. In 1975, the U.S. quit the war in Vietnam. In 1979, when the oldest Gen-Xers were 14, they saw American hostages held in Iran. In 1980, they saw a failed rescue attempt. After ticking off this list, Underwood adds, “All of that molded a strong distrust in American government.”

At the same time, he says, Gen-X children saw their Baby Boomer parents laid off, despite years of dedicated and loyal service to one company, while corporate executives got multimillion dollar bonuses. “Events like that molded a distrust of employers, a distrust of big business,” Underwood explains.

Gen-X’s parents also divorced in larger numbers than ever before. “Gen-Xers have been a generation all about survival of their childhood,” Underwood explains. “They are the divorce generation, the latchkey generation, who watched their workaholic parents suffer from illness, fatigue, substance abuse and divorce because of their career drive.”

That’s why they value free time so much.

A pragmatic, rather the ideological, generation, “Gen-Xers tend to take life as it comes,” adds Underwood. “They try to make the best decisions hour by hour, day by day, month by month.”

Because Gen-Xers spent so much time alone as children, they are independent and self-reliant. Across the country, Underwood hears Gen-Xers say the same thing: Tell me where point A is, where we are now. Tell me where point Z is, where you want to be. Give me the tools and technology I need to get the job done, then back off, and I’ll get it done. Underwood explains, “They are very good at finding and executing solutions.”

According to Beverly Kaye, PhD, author of Love ’Em or Lose ’Em: Getting Good People to Stay, people from different generations express workplace frustration in different ways: “If Boomers don’t get the things they want,” she says, “they’ll whine around the water cooler. If Xers don’t get them, they’ll walk!”

Gender and Generations

In 1986, women outnumbered men in veterinary school for the first time. Today, while 53.5 percent of practicing veterinarians are men, 77.7 percent of veterinary students are women (and holding steady).

As this shift began, it was easy to blame workplace differences on gender. “The women” wanted to work less, have more flexible hours, and so on. However, men of Generation X want the same things. So, many differences once blamed on gender are really generational core values that also cross religious and ethnic boundaries.

Examples

Put these two sets of core values side by side, and it’s no wonder people get a little frustrated. Here are a few examples of how Boomers and Gen-Xers work together.

Dr. (A), a classic Baby Boomer in Michigan, explains the difference – “We live to work. They work to live.”

He points to requests for more flexible scheduling, more time off and staunch protection of personal time as hallmarks of this generational divide. “Their family needs and needs outside the practice are more of a priority,” he says.

Issues around sick time and tardiness also crop up. “We dealt with that just today,” Dr. (A) explains. “Someone was an hour late because of a concert last night.”

“In my generation, you never called in sick or were late,” he adds. “You had to be practically dying, if you didn’t come to work. It’s not that way anymore.”

Whereas such tardiness would have once been subject for reprimand and possible dismissal, Dr. (A) says, “We end up giving them more strikes than we used to. For us, getting fired would have been a big deal, devastating, but for them, it’s not that big a deal.”

Dr. (B), a Gen-X associate in Indiana, tried the workaholic Boomer model but completely burned out in two years.

Flexible scheduling helped her regain balance. “My generation has what people call a ‘work ethic,’” says Dr. (B), who enjoys cycling, open water swimming and traveling, “but we also realize our limitations and that there are other things in life. I just feel like I’m pretty efficient with my time.”

Some of that efficiency comes from the increased role of veterinary technicians in daily practice.

Dr. (C), in Georgia, worries about pigeonholing people by generation, but when pressed, she points one example of the disconnect. She, along with her Gen-X associates at one practice, wanted more flexibility and discretion in feline declaws. Their ideas, however, did not fit the hospital’s rules that dictated drop-off times, a two-day stay and specific post-op pain control.

While Dr. (C) and her peers focused on the concept behind the rule, making the cat comfortable, her Baby Boomer boss seemed to focus only on the rule and perceived any deviation as a challenge to his leadership. “I really wasn’t doing it to undermine authority,” she explains. “That’s not what I considered to be important.”

Dr. (D), another Gen-Xer, purchased a practice in Florida, but he admits that his generation is “not willing to work like a mule” to get the financial and lifestyle benefits they want. Yet, he reflected on what he has learned from his older bosses.

“We don’t just tend to hit everything with a steroid injection,” Dr. (D) says of younger veterinarians.

“Sometimes,” he admits, “I did every single test, and the client spent so much money, and I ended up giving a steroid injection. My bosses were like, ‘I told you so.’”

Sometimes Dr. (D) tried it the “old way” just to see the results since he says, “Books are not always right.”

He credits an open attitude for a lack of conflict. “They paved the way for what we have now,” he explains. “You have to respect that. I came out with that attitude. Some of my peers came out with the attitude ‘This is wrong. I’m not going to do it!’”

Commonalities

Even when frustrations crop up – be they about tattoos or treatment plans, vacation time or vaccination protocols – it helps to see the things all veterinary professionals have in common. Everyone wants respect. Everyone has integrity. Everyone wants to be trusted to do a good job.

August 7th, 2008

Add Comment15 Comments

Thanks, Roxanne, for this great post.

Few in organized veterinary medicine consider the X factor. As we discussed last week (and you in this post), women get the blame for the negative changes in veterinary medicine: we charge less money for our services (too soft-hearted), we're unwilling to work large animals (too suburbanized), we don't want to take over practices (on the mommy track). And yet the generation divide is a perfectly valid explanation for all these changes.

And I believe there's more to this X-factor than just the so-called "work ethic." I also believe there's a major economic issue to consider:

Xers are more likely to distrust the idea of financial solvency. We're also the credit card generation and the big student loan generation. We've seen others immediately before us go through boom and bust cycles (we may even have experienced them ourselves). It makes us less friendly to the concept of a career as the guiding principle of our lives (as it was for our parents). But it also makes us more resilient and etrepreneurial in some ways.

Thanks again for sharing your work with us.

Dr. Patty Khuly August 7th, 2008 08:34:00 AM

Thanks, Patty, for using it. I think you're right about the entrepreneur thing. People often marvel when they find out I'm a freelance writer. They talk about me NOT having the security of a "real" job. What I find myself saying is this: In my experience, that 9-to-5 brand of security is an illusion ... jobs and workplace situations change all the time, often without notice.

P.S. The generational differences also affect the way clients interact with veterinarians. If you're feeling a lot of push-back and fielding a lot of questions, it's likely the client is a Gen-Xer.

Roxanne August 7th, 2008 10:26:00 AM

Great post! As a female vet student I really appreciate it (at my school we're 90% female!).

Sian August 7th, 2008 10:49:00 AM

Very interesting. I have to say I like the x'er flexibility. As a client, I see it in the way they are willing to pursue novel avenues in diagnosis, more open-mindedness.

However, categories are just categories, and there is always someone who breaks the mold. I know a vet who is "boomer" age who has the intellectual curiosity and flexibility of an x'er.

For myself, I always chafe when these categories come up for a very specific reason. I was born in 1964. Technically, that makes me the end of the boom. But I identify with Gen X. Reading the profile of the growing up experiences of Boomers and X'ers, I identify with the X experience (watergate, vietnam, divorce -- and the psychological lessons taken from those experiences), as well as the workplace attitude. Maybe because I just always have been hanging out with people younger than me I culturally identify with GenX! (All of my best friends were born at least a year after me.)

For people on the border of the generation, like myself, it might depend more on the culture you adopted, who you identified with, how old your friends were, and other specifics about your experience. I'm definitely a champion of flexibility in work life balance.

And in my interactions with vets, if Roxanne's observations about questions and push back are true, I definitely act like an X-er.

Overall, I think the new generation can learn something from the old, but we're better off with them having the reigns.

Stefani August 7th, 2008 11:30:00 AM

And of course when Xers hit retirement having saves at a rate of less than 1% on average... well, that will be tricky : / I'm guessing a lot of people won't be retiring at 65?

emily August 7th, 2008 11:54:00 AM

Good point, emily. But I don't know many Xers who plan on/expect to retire early. In fact, there's quite a bit of grumbling going on about within X ranks on the current "retire at 65" mantra. "How is it that we have to shoulder the boomers at 65 when they can easily work another five or more years?" 70 is the new 60, right?

Dr. Patty Khuly August 7th, 2008 12:08:00 PM

There is a well known speaker I have heard at AAHA and several other veterinary meetings...her name is Marilyn Moats Kennedy and she speaks alot about the demographical differences between the generations, again, focusing on the baby boomers and gen-xers(she calls them Boomer busters!). She has some great charts that depict the differences between generations (for example, which generation is brand loyal, which generation will give your business more than 1 chance if you make a mistake, etc)

She adds a third generation though, in between the two, the Cuspers (1964-1969). Like Stefani, I too find myself (born in 1965) identifying with many traits of both groups. BUT...I think that is what has made me an effective communicator, especially when I needed to mediate disputes between the "bosses and the workers". AND...you are right, you can't pigeonhole everyone...I even know a few gen-xers whose "work ethic" rivals several baby boomers.

I think the biggest hurdle is just simply getting over the communication differences and how to work with those differences. Things like flex time, part time, rewarding effort with time-off, and other such things are examples of how the Baby Boomer "bosses" can work well with the "Gen-X" staff.

The client/veterinarian (and staff) difference can also be challenging, as Roxanne states. Baby boomer clients like "top ten lists" and they want to talk about their grandkids, their vacations, and, occasionally, themselves. Gen-xers, on the other hand, are quite happy reading the Heartworm preventative handout and want you to focus on their pet. After all, that's why they are at the veterinarian!!

What's really scary...the upcoming work force (kids about 16 yrs old to 20 yrs old) has had their entire lives programmed for them. Acting lessons, football, ballet, soccer, etc etc. These poor individuals often find it difficult to prioritize and manage their time, because they never had to!

Throw in a declining birth rate and I wonder where we will get new employees in the future??

Tomcat1765 August 7th, 2008 01:42:00 PM

Whoops...forgot one point. In Roxanne's article, she mentions Dr. D who is unwilling to "work like a mule" to get the financial and lifestyle that he wants.

How is he going to get those things then?? If you want a boat and you don't work enough to afford a boat, should you really get a boat?

(Sorry...that's my often hidden baby boomer side sneaking in a few words!!) :-)

Tomcat1765 August 7th, 2008 01:46:00 PM

Gee whiz, what am I , the oldest one on this blog at 52? There are a lot of good points right-on in the article, Roxanne! I would agree for the most part that a serious work ethic was imposed on people my age as kids from our depression/WW11 era parents. And perhaps unwittingly raised to be courteous and respectful of expertise to our detriment.

But gosh, I can't see the majority of X-ers as resilient and independent, not when I look around and see 30+ yr. olds living at home with Mom doing the laundry, or the divorced parent moving back in with the kids! And some have to add on to the house or garage to have the old folks move in for care-taking.

I often wonder, how many of the Xers, will be willingly "sandwiched" and feel responsibility and compassion , after having been provided the dance lessons, summer camps, car for school and subsidized rent?

What type of real life experience or sacrifice has been taught? or the ability to accept living within one's means? Oh gosh, I am spewing all the negatives. I still see plenty of good young people interested in the welfare of others, it just doesn't seem the most prevalent.

And going to the vet? I have no interest at all talking about my job or family. I come prepared with my list of questions, both current and follow-up to previous visits. But perhaps that is because I have no children, and value the well-being of my pets. And I appreciate the balanced mixture of a younger Vet up on the latest information with the experience of a conservative, well-rounded old-timer.

Barbara A. Albright/New Hampshire August 7th, 2008 10:21:00 PM

OMG! I'm a Gen-Xer stuck in a late Boomer's body (1955 style)! Not sure where my independent streak comes from, but I love that the Gen-Xers are pushing for flexibility and such at work. Perhaps before I retire I'll have a boss who respects that I get the work done, but want to do it on my schedule.

Great article. Thanks, Ms Hawn; and Dr Khuly for running it.

Anon August 8th, 2008 05:47:00 AM

Really enjoyed this article. Usually when I see someone talk about Gen-Xers, I don’t feel like I belong in that group (often characterized as selfish slackers which I’m reading in some of the comments). I identify with the Xer traits discussed here including valuing free time, problem solving, and of course independent and self-reliant while distrustful of government and big business (they aren’t always bad things but you have to keep a close eye on them, lol). I’ve never thought about how my generational status affects my attitude towards my job (or my expectations with vets and other pay for service situations).

I was born in 1978. Grew up in a single income home with parents that didn’t divorce. Mom went to college in her 40s alongside her kids so I’m between 1st and 2nd generation college goers. I'm a hard working hospital physician but insist on a 4 day work schedule so I have time to enjoy my husband, animals, friends and family. If my employers are in a crunch, I work extra hours to help out (especially if due to co-worker being ill or away with family problems instead of poor planning by the scheduler). I work overtime when the money is right and turn it down when I have something fun planned. While I have been known to threaten to walk away from a job if my demands weren’t met (hasn’t been necessary in my current career), I personally like to think I do a good job of balancing responsibility and satisfaction. I don’t expect things to be handed to me, but I expect my efforts to be appropriately recognized and rewarded. I do have significant debt (both credit cards and student loans) but now that I’m done with training and have started my “real job”, I’m working hard to pay off that debt and start saving for the future. Might not retire at 65, but will be able to retire comfortably when I’m ready. Also, my parents did support me during my education but I didn’t assume they owed me that service. I didn’t take the favor and run. I appreciated their hard work and now enjoy the ability to return the favor by financially helping them out.

I liked the quotes “resilient and entrepreneurial” and “jobs and workplace situations change all the time, often without notice”. The real world isn’t perfect so you can’t plan for everything but you can be ready to work with whatever life hands you and roll with the punches. I think many in my generation are better prepared to adapt to life’s disappointments and still achieve their goals.

Shannon Watts August 8th, 2008 10:27:00 AM

Re:

"Throw in a declining birth rate and I wonder where we will get new employees in the future??"

Hmmm, very interesting.

Another thought:

Both Boomers and Cuspers (maybe early X'ers) are dealing with the "sandwich generation" phenomena in a way prior generations did not have to. Since family support systems have dwindled, with families geographically more spread out, often one or a few members of the family end up shouldering the simultaneous care of sick, aging parents, and young/growing demanding children.

Our society has not figured out yet how to replace the support system the disintegrating family used to provide. Eldercare benefits aren't standard at employers. Childcare is still also a serious issue, since all able-bodied family members typically must work now.

It's as though we are running faster and faster on a treadmill just to stay in the same place. No better quality of life, just more stress and not drowning.

Will this "sandwich" phenomena, and the stress it brings, result in more transformation of how we work? Flexibility? Benefits? The creation of new kinds of communities?

Where are the pets in that equation?

Do they benefit as a result of the super-conscientious type A caretaker sandwich generation caregivers, or do they fall to the bottom of the pile?

Perhaps they are not merely substitute children, but with the disintegration of extended family support, perhaps our pets are more like our family than ever also because their simple love is a "shelter" in the storm of stress that being a caregiver for generations ahead and generations behind can cause.

Something has GOT to give, in this society, especially for women, who are more often in the caregiver role.

I saw a PBS special on Aging in America, and they said that the ONLY people who have a better than 50 percent chance of NOT ending up in a nursing home are those with AT LEAST 3 DAUGHTERS.

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