Kara Thomas, a teller at the Wells Fargo bank near Gateway Mall, has come to appreciate her new, full-time "family." She's working her first full-time job, surrounded by varying generations of experience and differences ready to help her learn and grow.

As part of the millennial generation, that's truly what Thomas values in her job: learning and growing.

Her boss, Derek Weigel, has learned to recognize what the millennials under his supervision need, and to value that perhaps Thomas' needs in the workplace are different from baby boomer Carla Simpfenderfer's, who's been with Wells Fargo for 27 years.

"Generation Yare very willing to advance, to move up fast,"Weigel said.

But for Simpfenderfer, consistency and stability is key.

"The fast movement was not as important as it is today,"she said. "Stability was important."

Weigel manages three out of today's four living generations at his bank; they have five baby boomers, four Generation X'ers and seven Generation Y's, or millennials. The other generation is traditionalist.

Like many companies in America, Weigel is seeing and embracing the benefits and challenges of managing not only individual diversity, but generational differences.

It's not uncommon to see all four generations represented in today's workplace, with boomers tending to have the most presence, said Robin Thorstenson, a trainer through the Bismarck State College's Continuing Education Training and Innovation Division. Thorstenson has given presentations on generational diversity, among other things.

And having four such diverse generations may not even be difficult to manage, as long as supervisors can recognize the difference in motivations and values.

"Whenever you're managing people, you have to remember that these are individuals,"Thorstenson said. "It helps to know what lens they're looking through."

But motivational factors may be significantly different, she added.

"In all honesty, all people are motivated, but why they're working may be a little different,"she said.

Baby boomers, born around 1943-44 to the early '60s, tend to identify themselves by their job. Simpfenderfer, who's worked at area Wells Fargo banks for nearly 30 years, is the perfect example. These boomers are willing to spend a lot of time in their job, and willing to work until their job is done.

Weigel, the bank manager, said he's noticed that his baby boomers and older Gen-X'ers tend to be very thorough.

Thorstenson said Gen-X'ers, born in the early '60s to about 1980, are a work-to-play generation. They work so they can go out and do their fun stuff, but they tend to be very efficient.

Millennials, born around 1980 to 2000, on the other hand, tend to work in a way that's meaningful to them, Thorstenson said.

"They really don't like busy work, they're willing to blend their personal life into their work life,"she said. It's called an "integrated life,"one where family, work and personal lives intermingle throughout the day.

As for goals, boomers are ladder-oriented, only making career changes or job changes if it moves the boomer into a significantly better position. On the other end of the spectrum, millennials tend to expect to move up fast, or make parallel career changes.

"They are conducting what they call parallel careers, moving from career to career, job to job, that are related and not necessarily upward in a particular manner,"Thorstenson said. "They're getting the breadth of this business, they're able to understand this business from a lot of different perspectives."

Gen-X'ers are in between, wanting to move up, or move into a better situation. Typically, though, because there tends to be two boomers to every Gen-X'er in any given company, X'ers may have to go off on their own before opportunities open within their company.

Which is why a lot of start-up businesses are begun by Gen-X'ers, Thorstenson said.

While understanding motivating factors for employees is key, understanding each generation's strengths can maximize a workforce's efficiency.

Boomers are hard workers and carry years of knowledge; Gen-Xer's are efficient and relatively tech-savvy; millennials are tech-savvy multitaskers who learn fairly quickly.

The strengths and opportunities of each generation balances well in the workforce; where millennials are restless, boomers are loyal. Where there are learning curves or gaps, another generation can quickly fill the holes.

Weigel says he sees this kind of supportive collaboration in the bank every day, which, ultimately, supports their customers.

"The biggest thing is we have a lot of different people to help people from all generations,"Weigel said.

Ultimately, Thorstenson said employers should focus on results and not on how much or how long employees are working, and not just on a daily basis. And employers also should recognize that most companies can easily offer things that every generation wants or needs:Gen-X'ers may want more personal days or rewards in the form of free tickets to events; boomers want that raise, the perk that brings them closer to living luxuriously; and millennials look for meaningfulness and new opportunities to learn.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com.)