From time immemorial the current, predominant generation belittled the coming group of young people, denigrating their work ethic, lifestyles and values.
That is part of the life cycle.
However, businesses must do more than criticize; they have to learn how to manage this mixed group, which is going to run things in the future.
The latest group of people who hire job applicants cater to youth, appealing to their digital expertise that so often baffles others. They are amazed at the ability of young people who work with high-tech material.
However, just as older generations learn to cope with adversity, so too have young people adjusted to the slow process of change.
Even though the present labour market probably is the most difficult in more than a generation, others with the proper skills seem to have an excellent future.
Too, with older workers postponing retirement because of longevity and financial needs, employers now have an unusual diversity of ages to hire. Still, many older workers are learning that they are to be replaced by younger workers who are so knowledgeable with the high-tech world.
The Generation X, say those born in the middle 1960s to the early 1980s, are discovering that they are caught between the older workers who hang on to their jobs, and the coming group who are receiving better working treatment and higher starting pay than they ever were accorded.
Employers must be as diplomatic as possible to appease these different groups.
Older workers have assumed incorrectly that the coming category of young employees will not be as diligent or hard working because they have been so coddled. Those notions have been unfounded; young people are more mature than any previous generation.
Older people inferred that young people would be too soft and uncaring, generally lacking motivation nowadays. Older workers have been pleasantly surprised that young people have been tougher and more than willing to help older colleagues. The latter now in turn provide insight and social understanding that now assumes greater importance.
Older workers must be willing to report to more youthful supervision, which is often a painful process. Then too, employers must learn to adjust to the huge influx of a young population that works differently, wanting more flexible hours or time off, perhaps for volunteering or for personal reasons.
Also, young people appear to be more than gracious in working and helping older employees, who in turn have to be open to advice from a group of youngsters.
Therefore, the task of management nowadays must be to harmonize these varying groups, all of which can make a surprising contribution to the workplace.
Once again, the generation gap will not be a matter of contention, but rather a building block to a more successful company and economy.