Kate Hawkesby: Rise of the robots and closing the generation gap

Millennials are the most worried about robots taking over the world, a new survey has found. Photo / 123RF

Today we will inevitably hear a lot about the pay gap, the rich-poor gap, the class gaps - and every other gap highlighted in the Budget. But what about the generation gap?

That topic was canvassed here in Britain last week when a think tank suggested that to close the divide, and create more equality between baby boomers and millennials, money should be handed out to help young people into houses.

It was described as a citizens' inheritance, to redistribute wealth and fund young people into homes or education or business. The figure proposed was 10,000 pounds. Like a lot of work think tanks, it came in for criticism from both sides, whether it ever sees the light of day remains to be seen, but it's unlikely. Still, it raised some interesting issues.

Fast forward a week and the generations are back in the spotlight again, this time with a Global Leadership Forecast out of 54 countries, incorporating 25,000 leaders and 2500 HR professionals. The report found that members of Gen X, (those born between 1965-1981) with an average of 20 years experience in the workplace, were primed to take on nearly every important leadership role in organisations.

In other words, Gen X will be taking over the world. This news comes at a time when we also hear from a Deloitte Millennial Survey that millennials are most worried about robots taking over the world.

The survey reported that these generations are more likely to leave their jobs, and work free from routine. They fear their jobs will be taken over by robots, and that fewer than four in 10 feel they have the skills to succeed.

This is an interesting challenge for businesses. Because while we may easily believe that millennials, being the digital natives, makes them the most tech savvy it is in fact Generation X who adopted technology early, and use social media more habitually than any other generation, according to Nielsen data.

So why is it that Generation X has for so long been described as the invisible generation?

Well it's a smaller group, which has spent its entire life in the shadow of baby boomers, has garnered less attention than millennials, and has had a slow rise to the top of leadership roles.

So where's our hand out for our intergenerational trauma? There isn't one, it seems taking over all the leadership roles is reward enough. All this goes to prove my Dad was right, the slow burners are the ones to watch.