That is especially true in heavily recruited fields like information technology in which Xers make up more than 70 percent of the work force. Xers, he said, want to know about the job experience and training, equipment used on the job and the variety of projects they will work on. During his first six months on the job, the company paid for him to attend three different training classes, including a one-week course in Colorado. Lenore Domingues, Mervyn's store manager at Rancho Cordova, follows different training methods for Xers and boomers. My baby boomers tend to work independently.
Boomers are more methodical in learning about things such as a new software program.
They will read each step in a manual, watch a demonstration and then try it out themselves. They're more apt to challenge established ways of doing things, reasoning there is a better way to run a spreadsheet or price store items. Robert Kittredge, a partner at Price WaterhouseCoopers, oversees about 100 Xers at the firm's 125-employee office in Sacramento. The firm, too, has rewritten policies to accommodate Xers, foremost offering flexible schedules and telecommuting. While career paths are important, they are mapped out differently compared with past generations, Kittredge said.