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Kraemer Intergeneration Collection: Business and Economics

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How are business and economics topics intergenerational?

Whether we are discussing owning your own business or going to work at a large corporation, in all workplaces people work with others of many ages as customers, coworkers, supervisors, or employers. This combination of people creates many opportunities to identify and discuss intergenerational topic.

Some topics that encompass workplace relationships, economic and business development, and intergenerational topics are:

  • Generations in the workplace
    • When discussing generations in the workplace, it is common to hear conversations about how different generations work in diverse ways and how that can create conflict and misunderstanding in the workplace. Learning about your own generational tendencies (or stereotypes), as well as other generations tendencies can help you to understand  your coworkers and why there may be differences in workplace attitude and working style.

 

  • Family businesses
    • While owning your own business is a great way to have control over your work life, having a family business presents its own set of challenges, from how to structure the business to questions of how to pass the business from family member to family member. Managing the expectations and roles of all members involved in ownership of a business is important, especially when you're working with family. Understanding what is important to the different generations of family members will help the business and major business transition run more smoothly.

 

  • Economic Mobility and Wealth Transfer
    • When considering economics and multiple generations it is also important to consider societal topics such as economic mobility between generations and more personal family topics such as wills and wealth transfer. Economic mobility, in intergenerational topics, is the ability of a family or individual to improve their economic status. Economic mobility speaks to whether or not current generations are providing future generations with the tools and the opportunities to improve their economic standing. Are future generations adequately prepared and support, both in individual family groups and through societal policies, to understand and improve upon their economic standing?

When we consider the more familial matter of wealth transfer, we see a small portion of concerns of economic mobility being addressed. Wealth transfer awareness is important piece of considering intergenerational matters in family economics. It is important for families to consider what happens to their possessions and finances when they pass on. While the preparation for this may seem depressing, considering your financial options and preparing the appropriate documents to make as smooth transition as possible will allow for your family to focus on what is most important - family.

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