Generation squeeze

Just when they should be at their peak, Gen Xers are being passed over for promotions and cut out of the C-suite

A COUPLE OF months ago, we brought you data from Ipsos that concluded those sitting at the top of the wealth pile are not the boomers, nor the plucky millennials, but Gen Xers, with around 35 per cent of total wealth under their control.

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“With boomers about to exit the power spotlight, it’s Gen X who will be calling the shots well into the 2030s,” Ipsos’ Generations Report stated.

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But while they may have the wealth, corporate power is increasingly eluding them, with Gen Xers (many of whom believed that if they waited in the wings long enough, they would be next to inherit the keys to the kingdom) now finding themselves being bypassed.

According to new research, Gen X is being pinched between generations. Many boomers are holding on: 41.5 per cent of chief executives are at least 60 years old, up from 35.1 per cent in 2017,” reads a Wall Street Journal report. Which wouldn’t be so bad, except the millennials are quickly catching up. “Over the same period, the share of CEOs in their 30s and 40s has grown to 15.1 percent from 13.8 percent.”

One researcher is dubbing it the barbell phenomenon in the C-Suite. “Gen X is being squeezed in the middle,” said The Conference Board’s Matteo Tonello. Shawn Cole, president of executive recruiting firm Cowen Partners, summed it up concisely: “[Gen X] assume when their boss retires, they’re going to get the seat. A lot of folks are going to be disappointed.”

You can see this effect in action. Red Lobster, fresh off its disastrous unlimited shrimp debacle, appointed 35-year-old Damole Ademolekun as its CEO last year; Kickstarter appointed 33-year-old Everette Taylor to the CEO post in 2022. In an AI-forward environment, boomers are looking around for younger, tech-savvy successors ― and not at their long-time, Gen-X subordinates.

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“Gen X is simply being overlooked at work in general,” wrote Emma Burleigh in Fortune. “Due to workplace ageism and the expectation they’ll retire soon, Gen X is being passed up on career opportunities. About 22 per cent of employees aged 40 and up say their workplaces skip over older workers for challenging assignments, and 16 per cent say they’ve witnessed a pattern of being passed over for promotions in favour of younger staffers.”

If there is a point in Gen X’s favour, it’s that they’ve seen this before ― the internet upended the job market about 25 years ago, and AI is doing it again. They are, if nothing else, a resilient generation. “The ‘latchkey generation’ doesn’t require hand-holding,” wrote the Wall Street Journal. “If AI is the biggest workplace disruption since the internet, then Gen Xers who survived the previous big shift can be a steadying presence now.” Kieran Delamont