Today’s supervisor is most likely working with three to four different generations of employees. This type of diversity can bring its own unique challenges. Supervisors can build effective and supportive relationships with multi-generation employees. Supervisors play an important role in appreciating and recognizing employees from each generation. The Social Workplace website provides a starting point for Recognizing a Multinational Workforce . Birkman International provides a more in-depth overview of the four generations in the workplace adding that “just as effective use of gender and ethnic diversity can boost productivity and effectiveness of an organization, preparing employees to appreciate generational differences can benefit workplace teams” in their report: How do Generational Differences Impact Organizations and Teams?. A cautionary note, however, is that some employees may identify more with another generation than their own and may struggle if they feel pigeonholed within their generation’s characteristics. To avoid this, get to know each employee’s values, goals, motivations, preferred communication approaches, strengths, struggles, etc. to see if it aligns with his or her generation.