Talk me through being relegated at work

[brett]

Keep you skills up to date. Maintain a positive attitude. Avoid associating with peers who are the usual complainers.

Keep you interview skills up. Apply for positions outside the company...to practice those skills, to determine what experience/knowledge is marketable, etc.

Maintain up your industry contacts and/or develop more.

Once you are past your early 50's be prepared for that tap on the back. Get your financials in order, understand your rights, your pension scheme etc.

Maintain a record of your personnel correspondence, you job performance reviews etc, at home. Assume that if and when you get that tap on the shoulder all of your company IT access will be cancelled. Do not sign anything ...such as a release!

I aslo got recommendations for good employment lawyers from colleagues in my industry who had been through this. I was laid of at 58/59. I was thrilled and ready for it. But the latter may depend on the practice in your jurisdiction.

 

[pacergal]

Is there any way to re-open the door to this person and continue to offer to be a mentor? If you initially were part of the hiring committee and you were instrumental in his on boarding/training, what is it that you saw in him that made him rise above the other candidates? Perhaps focus back on his positive attributes and become sounding board/problem solver for him to help him succeed.
If you did not apply or want the manager position, expect someone else to step in. And as we age, the younger generation is going to be that someone else.
And as we age out, it is imperative that we help the next generation succeed.
By the time I retired, I was the second oldest person at our office. My last 10 years or so every manager I had was younger than me. I was always willing to assist them in any way I could.

Or, another option would be to discuss your unhappiness with your wife. Could you retire now and be at home taking care of all of the home issues to allow your wife to concentrate solely on her job? You have 5 million + saved, Is your budget so tight that you have to work the next three years? Is there wiggle room to cut back?

Best of luck to you. In any case, retirement will be here before you know it!
It looks like you and your DW have done an excellent job saving for it.

 

[chemEguy]

I thought I would revisit this thread now that six months has gone by.

I’m still doing the same role and decided the best play is to simply see it out for a few more years as planned. He still doesn’t “get it”…that being promoted does not automatically bestow instant experience points that magically makes him the smartest person in the room. He’s developed almost overnight the habit of talking over everyone else in the group during meetings when before, mostly silent. I may stab myself in the eye the next time I’m the recipient of canned happy manager talk that he’s borrowed from another as part of his style.

Whatever, not my problem. Well, yeah ok, it sort of is. But I think I’ve managed to mentally separate myself from the situation whereas I’m looking at the whole thing as an annoyance during the final push to retirement.

At this point it’s just paying for college. We’re 25% through it. Daughter has two years to go and son starts this summer….so, quarter of the way in total.

Quitting doesn’t make sense. It’s low stress and I know the role. Besides, if I were laid off before I retired they’d owe me just over 100K in severance based on years of service. Leaving that on the table would be stupid.

In a truly perfect world, I’d work two and a half more years and then just before announcing my retirement, get called in for “the talk” and be given a package. Dare to dream….

 

[joesxm3]

When they did that too me I finally had to quit when I finished reading everything on the Internet

Actually I quit when the senior VP spent the entire afternoon abusing me in back to back phone meetings. I am sure that was his plan.

An other guy stuck it out until they "eliminated his position". He forced them to pay him severance.

In my case when they asked for budget approval for buying me a gift the SVP said " take up a collection."

 

[marko]

OP, keep your eyes on the prize. I think your attitude is a good one.

 

[pb4uski]

I was similarly situated. In my early 30s I was working my way up the corporate ladder at a Fortune 500 company and made a conscious decision that I wasn't interested in the work-life unbalance that would be needed to get to the C-Suite. My career plateaued iny mid 40s when I made a conscious decision that I wasn't interested in the work-life unbalanced of being a partner.

After that, my boss who was older that I retired and a younger guy moved in. Luckily, he was chill and we got along well. He appreciated my advice and having some gray hair at client meetings and proposals.

I suggest that you shift your attitude to be glass half full rather than glass half empty.

Is it possible to for you to downshift to part-time? I worked 50% for my last few years. It was a great way to transition from full-time to retirement. The other good part was that the expectations of me were lower. Since my billing rate was many times what they were paying me including benefits it was a win-win. They had an experienced hand that could do what needed to be done with minimal supervision so keeping me on was easy money for them.

 

[RetMD21]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Do your job. Don't volunteer. Smile and resign when the time is right.

 

[wolf]

When times were good.
How did your mega company treat "senior" engineers. ?
Expect the same.

Start Planning. Good Luck.

 

[Diogenes]

Quitting doesn’t make sense. It’s low stress and I know the role. Besides, if I were laid off before I retired they’d owe me just over 100K in severance based on years of service. Leaving that on the table would be stupid.

In a truly perfect world, I’d work two and a half more years and then just before announcing my retirement, get called in for “the talk” and be given a package. Dare to dream….

Normally I'm one of the more pro-work and "One More Year" people on this forum, but in the OP's case, I'd seriously consider developing and showing a petulant, if not outright antagonistic attitude to the workplace. These office [expletive] deserve a particularly curt treatment. Never quit! Instead, let them do the firing. To outright fire a person, there has to be a documented history of underperformance, and that takes time. But a conventional layoff triggers unemployment benefits, COBRA and so on. From here on, every additional paycheck, every additional 2 weeks of gainful employment, can be treated as "bonus".

 

[mystang52]

I was let go at my next-to-last j*b, and thought my finances couldn't handle that "ER" at age 58. After the dust settled, I realized we were fine, financially. A few months later I landed another position, but I knew it was just a bridge to my planned ER. To OP, if the worst happens, it sure looks like you'll be fine. If the "worst" doesn't happen, then you have your own well paying bridge to ER. Win-win.

 

[target2019]

Give them what they ask for, and drive them crazy.

 

[Koolau]

Alluded to in post 32.

On a related topic, I had heard of staff-people being pushed aside at 50. My Megacorp, back in the day, didn't force people out but at 50, almost like there was an internal clock, I noticed that I was being ignored. Ignored for promotion, for "good" raises, for recognition, etc.

It happened that I was enjoying my j*b at that time. I'd more or less engineered a very specific, very closed-off assignment that no one else was fulfilling. It didn't translate well to other assignments in the future. If that assignment went away, I would have been thrown into the "open ocean" and left to flail about. This all coincided with my becoming Financially Independent. So I stayed to 58. At that point Megacorp no longer even recognized that they "needed" my contribution and "threw me into the ocean." They decided that what I had been doing could be split up among several other people at "no cost" to them. I left the next Friday.

 

[chemEguy]

Going part time isn’t what I’m looking to do. I want to continue full time for another 2 or 3 years. And I will if given the chance to do so.

What I don’t need is the engineer I hired into the group manager-splaining to me how to do a role I interviewed him to do. I do not need that.

In any case, I’m stuck having that at this point. So it goes. This post is just me venting.

Thinking it through, if I wanted another 2 to 3 years then really I just have to figure out if I could get two years + severance package after that. Hmmm…

 

[RetMD21]

You (probably) can't change him but you can change your attitude, I got my cousin one of those count down clocks that ticks off the day to some event. In her case it was set for her pension qualifying birthday.

Trying to get fired seems risky to me.

 

[Koolau]

You (probably) can't change him but you can change your attitude, I got my cousin one of those count down clocks that ticks off the day to some event. In her case it was set for her pension qualifying birthday.

Trying to get fired seems risky to me.

Yeah, "for cause" might net you nothing but an escort to the door. Better to just think of it as a place to go every day. Think of the money you're making. Picture your snot-nosed boss in his boxers. Do the "right thing" for your company and ignore the BS. Easier said than done, I know. In my case, I just said "I'm outa here" cause I didn't need the money or the aggravation. Good luck and keep us up to date. We're "invested" now.

 

[chemEguy]

You (probably) can't change him but you can change your attitude, I got my cousin one of those count down clocks that ticks off the day to some event. In her case it was set for her pension qualifying birthday.

Trying to get fired seems risky to me.

Nah, that’s not my personality type. I’m just thinking out loud about a layoff in 2 years with severance would be a sweet arrangement.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Going part time isn’t what I’m looking to do. I want to continue full time for another 2 or 3 years. And I will if given the chance to do so.

What I don’t need is the engineer I hired into the group manager-splaining to me how to do a role I interviewed him to do. I do not need that.

Maybe you should tell him that.

My BiL was a chemical engineer and a 30 year veteran with a Fortune 500 company. I pity the person who had the misfortune to manage him. I remember hearing his end of less-than-cordial phone conversations and marveled that he hadn't been fired. Somehow he managed to walk the fine line just short of insubordination. The funny thing is, he could have retired early with no money concerns. I think he just enjoyed jerking their chain.

 

[pjigar]

I have made the exact same decision about my career and stayed individual contributor all my life. The story you said happens to all of us in that position. I just ignore it and do my work. I like the phrase from Madagascar: Just smile and wave. If it gets really out of control then I have another mantra that I recite: Not my monkey, not my circus. At this point in my life, I just stay away from the drama and do what I am good at. I have built a reputation in the company as a guy who knows everything, and I do for the most part. If a push comes to shove, I can just change the team/manager. Fortunately, I have had good managers all my life. Just keep doing what you are good at and you will be fine. You do have to learn to ignore these things and develop a thick skin. I have nothing more to add. Good luck.

 

[gamboolman]

Thanks for the updates OP.
I feel for you.
I would again, tell you to unasszzz the place soon as the numbers make sense.
Life is short, just saying....
Do please keep us updated.