Older people don't Twitter, they don't like a good challenge and they definitely don't warm to change.
If president-elect Barack Obama - set to become one of the youngest presidents in U.S. history - makes any of these assumptions when he takes office next week, he'll have sorely underestimated the greying Congress, experts say.
The current U.S. Congress is the oldest in the country's history, with 57 being the average age of a member of the House of Representatives and 63 being the average age in the Senate. The oldest U.S. senator is Robert Byrd of West Virginia who, at 91, has held onto a seat for more than 50 years - a vastly different demographic than the Yes We Can youth who shot Mr. Obama to power.
Just like Congress, the workplace is aging and many younger workers are likely to face the same generational divide as Mr. Obama. While baby boomers sprout more grey hairs, they're also pushing off retirement during these shaky economic times, further widening the office age gap.
"This extent of generational diversity in the workplace is being experienced for the first time in human history, so it will take patience and understanding," says Concordia business professor Pramodita Sharma.
So what should younger workers do when entering a workplace packed with people old enough to be their grandparents? Inject a few "gollys" or "dagnabits" into their vocabulary, automatically offer coaching on e-mail, or brush off their elders' ideas as dusty and old-fashioned?
No, no and no, experts say. A youngster entering a world of grey should mine that wisdom and build workplace ties in a respectful, genuine manner.
And those assumptions about creaky, stuffy oldsters have got to go, say Robin Throckmorton and Linda Gravett, authors of Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Get Radio Babies, Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers to Work Together and Achieve More.
"What we've found is a lot of the older workers are still yearning to learn and willing to change. Younger workers tend to think they don't," Ms. Throckmorton says. "[Older employees] are saying, 'My brain isn't turned off; I'm not an old dog that can't learn new tricks.' "
Tech illiteracy is one of the major assumptions younger workers should ditch, Ms. Throckmorton says. "Just simply asking someone what their preferred communication style is, is the best way. You don't want to assume it is face-to-face, because it may be e-mail, it could be text messaging."
Ms. Gravett, who is a baby boomer, remembers when she was offered help to hook up computer equipment for a seminar. Instead of waiting for the young man who was supposed to set it up, she just did it herself. When he finally arrived, he was shocked to see that she didn't need his help.
And she's seen the reverse. At a recent university seminar, a 26-year-old told her he's often approached by 40-plus people in his office asking him to fix their tech troubles.
"He said, 'I'm not a technology guru. I don't know how to use the BlackBerry. Just because I'm in my 20s doesn't mean I have all the answers to technology questions,' " she recalls.
Assumptions aside, younger employees shouldn't focus on the fact that their colleagues are much older - the attention should be on what they have in common that will help get the job done, says Bruce Tulgan, an expert on Generations X and Y.
"My advice is to keep your relationships at work focused on the work," says the Connecticut-based career coach. "You're looking at this person thinking 'you're older than my dad' and he's thinking 'I have a kid older than you' and that's awkward, but what you do have in common is the work."
But make no mistake: Some of the tensions that one might expect do exist in the workplace. Many older workers are miffed when younger people take on the job of boss and aren't seen to have paid their dues. Older employees should, of course, keep contributing their body of knowledge, and also try to tap into the young person's motivations for trying new things, says Bani Dheer, a Vancouverite who researches the youth demographic with the American Institutes for Research. Perhaps they're trying to change something even the workplace veterans know hasn't been working for a long time.
"Older people can benefit by trying to be more open-minded and realize there's another process [for] getting to a goal more quickly," she says. Any changes younger employees want to make will be better thought out if they include input from older employees.
"[Make decisions] in a way which really respects and leverages the experiences of some really smart minds," Ms. Dheer adds.
At the end of the day, whatever side of the gap you're on, the bridge is always built with respect, Ms. Throckmorton says. "[Mr.] Obama is going to need to respect the opinions and expertise and years of experience of those that are giving advice to him," she says. "Respecting that [older workers] have those years of experience is what they're all looking for."
