FRANK August/September

They will find a way to fit yoga into their day and no doubt their office has fresh fruit delivered daily and beers at 4 o’clock on a Friday around the football table.

If any millennials are reading this, and feel that we have treated you poorly based purely on your age, I’d hope that us Xers didn’t mean to talk down to you or patronise you, even though we acknowledge that we can use the same tone at work that we might use at home when the dishwasher has not been filled after our 100th time of asking. It’s our bad! Sometimes we can feel weary as it’s not uncommon for us to have 20 plates spinning at any one time and we are just trying to keep them all in the air at the same time. Whilst it’s no excuse for poor behaviour, some of the symptoms of the menopause can have a dramatic and unsettling impact on our wellbeing and it’s only recently that we have felt able to talk about this in the workplace. And of course being the boss can be a lonely and difficult place! We are sorry for our mistakes. But equally you shouldn’t be dismissive of us, believing we are out of touch just because we are older. Your sensitivity to everything can be alien to us as we have had to weather the rough times for women in the workplace to make the path you now take so much easier than it was when we started out. But we are proud of that path we laid!

Your youth hasn't put our noses out of joint, but we are bewildered at your enthusiasm to do a spinning class at 6am, and we aren’t sure we know what a downward dog is, but we know it wouldn’t show us at our best angle. However, we admire your hutzpah, energy and belief in yourself! You’ve opened our eyes to many new experiences and you have the confidence and drive that perhaps we didn’t have at such a young age. The thirst for knowledge has been made so much easier to quench as advances in technology have progressed and aided your talents. It would seem that technology is the new rock ’n’ roll and therefore could we ask that you share your knowledge with us, give us your top tips on how to use these new-fangled gadgets and not hold us to ransom with them. Show us how to use the ‘gram’ and just generally be on our side.

Be our friend and champion us and we will champion you. Society has historically almost dismissed the peri- and post-menopausal woman as having little relevance, but for the first time in history we are finally finding our ‘roar’ and we want to use it in a positive way. Shouldn’t we downplay the generalisations about each generation and stand together shoulder-to-shoulder as we learn from each other and share our knowledge, whilst simultaneously nurturing and supporting each other’s well-being?

Put simply, the key to working together in a harmonious and compatible way is to try our very best to understand each other, our motivators, our fears, our experiences and our values. If I know what makes the younger woman tick, that can only be a good thing. We can talk to each other and share our frustrations as well as our hopes and aspirations. The more we learn and genuinely listen to each other, developing our strengths and embracing our age diversity, the more chance that great things can be achieved. I’d often be lost without my trusted team of Millennials supporting me, cheering me on and bolstering me up when I feel fatigued, or jumping in to help me when I’ve forgotten the right cable for the PowerPoint presentation which I’ve spent all night preparing. Together we are powerful, united through our gender regardless of age! www.thefrankmagazine.com