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Yeah, I am sure that ''attitude'' brought on the recession, lay-offs, out-sourcing, RIFS, and age discrimination.
Evidently jrkliny, you don't get out much.
most companies have best of breed employees that regardless of age , unless the company was going out of business those employees would never be laid off .
then there is that tier below who think they are in that category but they really aren't .
the company keeps them basically because they do their job and fit the bill .
but as they get older their work , speed and interest in the company may degrade for whatever reason and now they fell below the acceptable line .
when they are terminated they yell age discrimination but it is really just a performance issue .
i am not saying that is the case here but i have seen it over and over again .
Yeah, I am sure that ''attitude'' brought on the recession, lay-offs, out-sourcing, RIFS, and age discrimination.
Evidently jrkliny, you don't get out much.
Quite the contrary. I worked in a field that was going through major turmoil with reductions in revenue, automation, and lots of consolidation with mergers and acquisitions and downsizing. I worked for several places that did not survive. Even factors such as excessive regulation and documentation requirements killed more than one business. I had no choice but to change jobs and move to different locations several times during my career.
Here is where the "attitude" comes in. You can decide to win instead of becoming a victim, instead of constantly finding scapegoats, or blaming others, feeling bad, or becoming depressed. You can lead the way when it comes to reinventing yourself. You can invest in yourself by learning new skills. You can become a leader in finding new ways for your employer to cope with change. Make it so your boss needs to keep up with you rather than worry about your performance.
I have not seen this where I worked. In fact it went the other way. The company decided older employees were not likely to leave so raises could be smaller. Of course, they did not do this directly by age. They just greatly slowed down any raises for those higher in the pay grades.
I certainly could not change the policy. My boss could not either and he was very limited in passing out any sort of bonus or special pay raises. So I retired early.
I have been in sales my whole career and have witnessed top performers in their mid to late 50s get canned throughout my career. The accounts are either spread around the other sales people and the commissions on those accounts are now paid at a huge discount and/or management hires a salaried account manager to run the accounts at 1/4 the price. Sometimes there have been lawsuits, but they usually get settled.
Many people are involuntarily retired, fired for some likely untrue reason, but it's really due to being old! I think we'll see a lot more of this in the future as companies need fewer and fewer workers due to automation.
I have not directly experienced age discrimination, at least not that I was aware of. I have seen some examples where older people felt they were discriminated against. Personally I saw those instances as being related to performance.
Some of the obvious issues were falling asleep in meetings. Or having difficulty getting to work on time.
Other issues are much harder to identify. There are tendencies for older people to become rigid. They have done things a certain way for so long that they just don't want to change. Even worse when change is needed they can take a superior, know-it-all attitude that really puts off bosses and coworkers. Often the rigid, superior attitude is not in keeping with what the employee should know. Often they received their education and formal training many years ago and have not kept up.
The biggest issue is often being able to work as a team which requires the interest and ability to relate to younger workers. That can be difficult when the older worker has different interests and cannot relate to the younger workers who are buying their first houses and having kids or child care issues. If there is no rapport, no respect, and no connection, interactions can go downhill in a hurry.
I am sure interpretations vary, but I don't see these issues as being age discrimination. The older employee needs to keep up their knowledge and skills. They need to turn their experience into an asset rather than a hindrance. They need to take an interest in their coworkers and along the way gain respect and trust. Too many times I have seen older employees who just do not bother. Often they seem to have also lost interest and are just coasting towards retirement.
I do agree that some situations are hopeless. There are bad bosses, difficult coworkers and sometimes just an overall toxic work environment. Some people count down towards retirement in misery. Others pick up and leave well before the misery begins. I would want to be in the later group. As a matter of fact I did get to that point. I felt I was no longer being paid and rewarded for my accomplishments and effort. It was not really my boss but more the corporate pay structure. Experienced; i.e., older employees got lesser raises and bonuses than the younger lower ranked employees. Rather than be unhappy or get another job, I just retired a year earlier than I would have under different conditions. Basically I decided my time was worth more than what I was being paid.
This is good advice. Another thing I find in an increasingly Millennial workplace is having the ability to see the lighter (and sometimes funny) side of life, to commiserate, to participate in the small talk. Not only am I older than the "breeding stock" I / we flipped that on its head and went child free by choice. Maybe that's part of the secret ... by being somewhat of a different "other" and missing out on / not being one of the young "breeding stock" I never could step into the circle with a "this week my son / daughter ____ in Little League / soccer / PAL football" so I had to learn techniques of conversation to work around that minor detail.
I try to maintain an interest in youthful living (I miss it!) and stay young at heart.
We still go out clubbing once in a while, and I continue to listen to the Alt stations and streams which evolved from the ones I was into back in the 80s and 90s ... and are now catering to Millennials and the up and coming Homelanders.
Sorry to hear this happened to you. It is sad the way older employees are treated today.
However, this plays out everyday with companies and in corporate america. Our CEO stood in front of a group of employees and stated the average age was 52 and then went on a tangent about how people have trouble with change. (insinuating, because you are old) Funny thing is in a few years he will be 52. Do as I say not as I do.....
You can sue but winning is hard unless you have clear documents stating age is the reason for your firing or bad reviews. Or if co workers will stand up and testify for you.
If it is a public company you can always contact the EEOC and file a complaint. If they get many complaints they might start an investigation into the company's firing policies.
Did you get severance or unemployment?
Ours is a 70something and becoming de facto emeritus. The deputies are all in their 50s or early 60s. That is actually quite worrying in and of itself. More succession planning needed, IMO!
I agree and have seen these sorts of issues, including cognitive decline and difficulty getting to work or staying awake. That is the least of the problems. More common I see older people who have not kept up their knowledge and skills, those who have gotten lazy, those who are set in their ways. That latter is one of the biggest problems. Every place I have worked faces new challenges and competition and needs to adapt to survive and prosper. Employees who are set in their ways make that difficult. Unfortunately some of them are old.
I also agree self delusion is a big problem. That is why I mention a different approach. If an employee does not like their job or work environment or coworkers or boss, then it is time to move on. If they have years of experience and accomplishment that should be a reasonable choice. If they feel trapped and worried about trying to get another job, then that is a sign they are not worth what they think they are worth. Obviously there is a difference between manual and skilled jobs. Those who have highly manual jobs can find themselves having difficulty keeping up as they get older. Those with jobs requiring high levels of skill should find they can become more valuable.
Another dynamic is when a person is confronted by coworkers or even bosses who are cohorts of or even younger than their kids (or how old they would be if they had kids).
I've only been on one side of this fence so far, early in my career. I had some employees who were similar in age to my parents. I valued their experience both in work and outside of it. These were industry pioneers (I'm in tech) and in some cases Vietnam vets. What a growth experience for me. One Vietnam vet (rest his soul, he passed last year) was a jack of all trades and master of many ... how excellent. He'd had some bad bosses before me ... a feather in my cap was when he was able to get promoted after I helped him with a career management plan.
I can easily see a day coming soon when I'll have my first Millennial boss. Hopefully it will work out famously.
Quite the contrary. I worked in a field that was going through major turmoil with reductions in revenue, automation, and lots of consolidation with mergers and acquisitions and downsizing. I worked for several places that did not survive. Even factors such as excessive regulation and documentation requirements killed more than one business. I had no choice but to change jobs and move to different locations several times during my career.
Here is where the "attitude" comes in. You can decide to win instead of becoming a victim, instead of constantly finding scapegoats, or blaming others, feeling bad, or becoming depressed. You can lead the way when it comes to reinventing yourself. You can invest in yourself by learning new skills. You can become a leader in finding new ways for your employer to cope with change. Make it so your boss needs to keep up with you rather than worry about your performance.
Here's one. Once I overtly signed up to go down with the ship. I explicitly made it part of my goals. And then, I went down with the ship. And I got a job at one of the places that swooped in to pick over the carcass. Imagine that.
I have been in sales my whole career and have witnessed top performers in their mid to late 50s get canned throughout my career. The accounts are either spread around the other sales people and the commissions on those accounts are now paid at a huge discount and/or management hires a salaried account manager to run the accounts at 1/4 the price. Sometimes there have been lawsuits, but they usually get settled.
As I said, it is almost always about the money.
So, they reduced their COGS. And? .....
That's what one does, reduces COGS. If you can do it without reducing sales, you win and your competitors lose.
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