亲爱的安妮：我手下管理着一支16人的产品开发团队。这或多或少有些出人意料，因为我是团队中最年轻的一员（我今年只有27岁），参加团队的时间也最短（只有两年半）。

    我的工作不错，能获得这份工作我当然非常开心。但是，在直接向我汇报工作的员工中，有些人的年龄是我的两倍，甚至更年长，他们显然不像我那么开心。我努力不让他们拿我的年龄开玩笑，并影响到我。但是，要想让他们真正把我当老板看待，我的确有些力不从心。截至目前，虽然也有摩擦，但我们还是成功地完成了工作，只是过程很艰难。究竟该如何才能赢得他们的心呢？您（和您的读者）有何建议？——没人疼的孩子

    亲爱的N.B.：虽然有可能不太舒服，但是要知道，有相同处境的远不止你一个人。办公设备制造商必能宝公司（Pitney Bowes）上个月开展的一项调查发现，目前20%的中层员工直接上司比他们年轻。

    此外，根据国际采购商Advanced Technology Services最近针对高管的一项调查，这一数字还有上升的趋势：约有一半（45%）的制造企业鼓励五六十岁的员工继续工作，因为这些企业不希望丢掉那些很难传承的技能和经验。

    总部位于加州圣拉斐尔的咨询公司FutureSense总裁兼CEO吉姆•芬克尔斯坦称“这种事随处可见”。此外，芬克尔斯坦还是新书《融合：解读职场代沟》（Fuse: Making Sense of the New Cogenerational Workplace）的作者。他的许多客户，包括技术公司和家族式企业，都请他帮忙调解婴儿潮时代出生的职工和他们乳臭未干的老板之间产生的矛盾。

    “导致这种巨大变化的部分原因在于，大部分婴儿潮时代出生的人本该已经退休，给年轻人腾出位置，”芬克尔斯坦如是说。

    另外，一系列的经济因素，从日益攀升的医疗费用到养老金的减少，使得人们的实际工作年限超出了所有人（包括婴儿潮时代出生的人自己）的预期。

    芬克尔斯坦说：“不同时代的人成为同事，这种局面在几年前就已经出现。所有人都不得不适应这种形势。”

    芬克尔斯坦在开展咨询工作期间认识到：“即使在如何布置办公环境这种小事上也会出现代沟差异。例如，一家视频游戏公司办公室内有台球桌，办公桌下还有宠物狗，大家都身穿牛仔裤上班。年青一代的员工或许会喜出望外；但是，如果把婴儿潮时代出生的员工放到这样的工作环境中，他们则会四处看看，然后说：‘你们在搞什么名堂？’”

    芬克尔斯坦补充道，不同年龄群体的人倾向于给对方定性，这没有任何好处。“年长的人视年轻人为沉溺于技术中的‘懒虫；，没长性，不懂人情世故。而婴儿潮时代出生的人则被认为墨守陈规，沉溺于过去。”

    Dear Annie: 16-person product-development team. This was somewhat surprising, since I am the youngest team member (I'm 27) and have been here for the shortest period of time (two and a half years).

    It's a great job and I'm delighted to have it, but several of my direct reports, who are twice my age or older, are not so thrilled. I'm trying not to let their wisecracks about my age get to me, but I am having a hard time getting them to take me seriously as their boss. So far, we've managed to get the work done despite the friction, but it's tough. Do you (and your readers) have any suggestions for me on how to win them over? — Nobody's Baby

    Dear N.B.: Scant comfort though it may be, you've got lots of company. A survey last month by office-equipment maker Pitney Bowes found that about 20% of midlevel corporate employees now report to a boss who is younger than they are.

    That figure seems set to climb: Almost half (45%) of manufacturing companies are trying to encourage workers in their 50s and 60s to stay on the job longer, so as not to lose their hard-to-replace skills and experience, according to a new poll of senior executives by Advanced Technology Services.

    "It's happening everywhere," says Jim Finkelstein, president and CEO of a consulting firm called FutureSense, based in San Rafael, Calif., and author of a new book, Fuse: Making Sense of the New Cogenerational Workplace. Many of his clients are tech companies and family-owned businesses that bring him in to help resolve clashes between Baby Boomers and bosses they perceive as still wet behind the ears.

    "Part of the reason for this big shift, of course, is that we Boomers were supposed to have retired en masse by now, to make room for the next generation of talent," Finkelstein says.

    A range of economic factors, from the ever-mounting cost of health care to the decline of defined-benefit pensions, has kept many people working longer than anyone (including Boomers themselves) expected.

    "So the dynamics of different age groups at work have changed radically from even just a few years ago," Finkelstein says. "Everyone is having to adapt."

    He has noticed in his consulting work that the generation gap shows up "even in seemingly minor details like office space. A video game company, for instance, might have a 'wow' workplace with pool tables, dogs under the desks, and everyone in blue jeans," he says. "A Boomer hire will take a look around and say, 'You can't be serious.'"

    It doesn't help, Finkelstein adds, that people of different ages tend to stereotype each other. "There is a tendency to view young people as 'slackers' immersed in technology, with short attention spans and deficient people skills. Boomers get typecast as set in their ways and stuck in the past," he says.