Everybody Back To Work!

[yakers]

Its official, from The Economist: http://tinyurl.com/a4nrv


Well maybe not for the ER types who save enough to not have to work, but all the rest of you, back to the salt mines, factory floor, computer desk! Oh, but don't worry the companies will make it interesting and financially compelling.

Yeah, right. The problem for me is that I like what I do, the pay is just OK, but I am tired of going through the same reorganization for the third (fourth, fifth?) time.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Interesting article. The last two companies I worked for used annual review processes that almost explicitly discriminated against older workers and favored younger workers from a skills and habits perspective. Based on that limited exposure, it seems the companies prefer younger, cheaper employees to older, more expensive ones.

You've heard the old joke about the newly appointed manager, promoted from the ranks?

His predecessor left him three envelopes, and told him to open one when a crisis came up.

His first crisis came up, things were going badly all over. He opened the first envelope. It said "Blame your predecessor".

He did so, and things blew over for a while.

Then things started going to hell again. he opened the second envelope. It said "Reorganize". (theres your joke).

He did so, and things were so confusing nobody noticed the problems were still there and they resurfaced after a while.

He opened the third envelope. "Prepare three envelopes".

 

[mickeyd]

Given that most societies are geared to retirement at around 65, companies have a looming problem of knowledge management, of making sure that the boomers do not leave before they have handed over their expertise along with the office keys and their e-mail address.

I notice that there seem to be a lot of the "boomer retriring" articles recently. I guess that it is only natural. They have to find something to write about.

My concern is that this loss of corporate talent will negatively begin to affect the value of my investments as more and more inexperienced workers replace those with a lot of time on the job. I am not only refering to the CEO, VP level positions. Experience on the loading dock, warehouse and truck driver positions will also be missed.

Then again I just hope that the follow-on group is smarter and harder working than those ERing. Is this what my retirement plan hinges on? Oh, damn....

 

[SamHouston]

Interesting article.

In my personal case, at age 57, I'm finding that my company is unlikely to even consider me for any more promotional opportunities because they don't think that I'm likely to be around long enough to make it worth the effort of promoting me to a different job. They seem to be reluctant to have to go through the process all over again in another two or three years. They've actually admitted this to me, knowing that I'm not the type to put us all through the hassle of an age discrimination suit (not even sure I'd have a case in the first place.)

That's a little bit tough on the day-to-day motivation factor for me, but since I actually do enjoy what I'm doing and the pay is OK, it hasn't bothered me nearly as much as it would have if I were unhappy in my present position. However, I think it is VERY short-sighted on the part of the company and that they are limiting the size of the talent pool to the company's detriment whenever promotions become available.

 

[AltaRed]

Amen to that. I realized about 2 years ago when I was 55 that I was being bypassed for Project Manager positions even though I was imminently more qualified than some of the forty somethings they were promoting.

When I handed in my retirement papers last month, I was asked what it would take for me to re-consider for another year or two. I told them that since I no longer needed to work for financial reasons, it was time to go. But that had they seen fit to promote me 1-2 years ago, I probably would have stayed longer. Now that the 2 years have passed, I was no longer interested.

 

[KB]

Good response.

Enjoy your retirement AltaRed.

 

[Nords]

In my personal case, at age 57, I'm finding that my company is unlikely to even consider me for any more promotional opportunities because they don't think that I'm likely to be around long enough to make it worth the effort of promoting me to a different job.

According to the latest book I'm reading, "Aging Well", by this point in our careers we're supposed to have matured enough in our mental & emotional processes that we're willing to spend all our time training the next generation of workers.  Eventually we'll ascend to an even higher plane where we'll keep the culture alive for future generations.

Now if only those dumb young whippersnappers would pay attention...