ABSTRACT
Most managers today know the value of a hard day’s work. They have paid their dues and learned the ropes like those who held similar positions before them. X’ers want immediate gratification. They do not readily buy into company politics and bureaucratic red tape. They choose to spend dedicated time with their friends and families above staying late to finish a project. Some concrete interventions for facilitating this type of active Empathy at the managerial level consist of flexible scheduling or flextime, telecommuting programs, shift rotation, four-day work weeks, compensation time, and job sharing. Active Empathy also needs to be demonstrated by members of the X- workforce. Based on the marked difference in the way X’ers and managers think about work, Empathy is a desperately needed, yet greatly misunderstood, tool.
