What percentage of people do you think actually make it a full career to retire with full pension benefit. The pension is a carrot keeping many people around but I wonder how many people actually survive 40 years of ranking cuts. I know most of the people who hired on with me are already fired and I’ve only been here 15 years. Makes me wonder when I will draw the short straw! Is the promise of a pension just a mirage?
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To the 60 YO with 12 1/2 years of service ... the lump sum you’d get is really very small .... you might be close to (or even at) vesting for the pension ... so, you can take it at any time ... the interest rates are at all time lows in 1Q21 ... best time to go is 1Q21 ...
And that is another major deficiency at EM. Lets do another study. Forget the studies. You don't need data to see whether the "system" is working or not.
Instead, walk the halls and the campuses. Talk to people, and just for once, listen to what they are saying. Check morale, productivity, anxiety levels, trust and openness, and even the dreaded employee satisfaction. The "system" is clearly NOT working. In fact, it is FAILING on a level never seen before.
You sound like someone that is probably still doing fine at EM, and I am sure you are confident that what is happening all around you will never happen to you. And maybe it won't. But if you go by what the "layoff data and processes" say, bad stuff happens to an awful lot of folks, no matter their current rank, CL, number of studies published, etc.
When you cut enough worker bees, you don't need as many queens. And the remaining worker bees just might not feed the queens that remain as well as they once did. So in the end, even the queens suffer. Capiche?
Wee bit of advice if I may: Naivety is NOT a survival skill.
I remember a study in ECI, right around the merger. Within 10 years, 50% of the people we hired had left. (terminated for low performance, wanting to change, going to grad school, going to law school getting MBA, getting married, spouse relocated, moving to new geography or going back home...Every reason you can imagine plus the performance related terminations). Even though 50% had quit within 10 years only about 15 of the 50 were forced out). Also the vast majority, about 35 of the 50 of the remaining were in the bottom half...so their pay was lower and many could get pay raises by quitting. Only about 10 of the 50 were regrettable resignations (regrettable had a definition of top 3 quintile ranking). Again higher performers stay and get promoted and paid well. Most of the high performers who quit went to TOP business schools, and many were hired back. SYSTEM WAS WORKING
Pensions are a thing of the past. Hardly any companies offer them anymore. They are hugely expensive and it is no longer a competitive necessity to keep them.
It's a new world compared to the one some of us worked in during the '80s and '90s when pensions were a major carrot that incentivized employees to put in 30 or 40 years with the company and then retire. It was the money you retired on and used for the remainder of your life.
Sadly, company benefits will continue to decline, and most will eventually vanish altogether. There will be little or no distinction between an employee and a contractor.
Not preaching, but SAVE SAVE SAVE as much as possible regardless of whether you are a new hire or close to retirement. Compounding is a wonderful thing in the world of finance, and by the time most of you reach retirement, all you will have waiting for you is what you have saved and prudently invested over the years. You may well live 25 or 35 more years after retirement, and that will require a lot of savings!
@epg+17AudwER, Same situation with me. If they offer, they won't have to ask a 2nd time. I'll put this place in the rear view mirror as soon as I can pack.
The company cannot just eliminate the pension. Maybe for new hires, but once vested, there is a bunch of legal hurdles to go through to get rid of it (extremely unlikely).
What do you define as old times? The 80s And 90s were pretty brutal at times as well.
If you are fortunate to qualify for pension now - then Leave now and Lump Sum all of it.
Good rate now.
Company can eliminate - tomorrow - any future pension separations.
Even if you're in the middle now or closing in, that can be dissolved immediately.
You have not paid a penny into the pension (except in lost wages). This is not a 401K.
Less than 10% of Fortune 500 offer defined benefit (pension) plan.
Existing active pensions - being paid today or locked in - must be paid by law until fulfilled.
All else is dross.
In old times 99%. In the long future less than 5% will make it to full retirement benefit eligibility if the benefits or the company continue to exist.
I think at this point I would prefer a system of bonuses so I could invest the money myself. Knowing who we work for they have figured out a way to shaft us with the pension!
I'm worried too ! 60 years old with 12 1/2 years service. Pretty sure us older short timers are going to get shafted. If they would let me lump sum out tomorrow I'd be gone.