I'm a retiree with a whole lot of years of experience. My last five years were spent listening to business analysts whine about getting promoted every year or so, wanting tons of flexibility in work hours, coming in late, leaving early, screwing around half the day, needing to have their hands held and given direction all the time, seeking constant affirmation of how great they are, and walking all over each other in an effort to climb up the ladder as quickly as possible. If someone with experience spoke up on any topic, they were rudely and openly disregarded as though they didn't have a brain cell left, including those that were very high performing analysts with lots of credibility. Unprofessional behavior was the norm where I worked, but I just tried to ignore it and do my very best at my role.
Our manager, as well as several around her, enabled these behaviors because after all, it allowed them to blend in as they also took complete advantage of every company policy that existed. Not recording absences was the biggest farce, all under the guise of someone claiming that they would make it up later. The funniest part was when employees would say they were working a 4 day workweek of 10 hours per day, or a 4.5 day workweek to leave early on Friday's, but A few of us arrived there before them each day and left after them too, while we were scheduled to work a normal 8-4:15 schedule. Hmmm how does that equate? I remember thinking what is going to happen to this company when the boomers leave with their strong work ethic - i feared for the company's well being. Well here we are - the ship is sinking and who is to blame?
I'm truly sad for the people that don't deserve this, like the story of the two 50 year-old spouses who have lost 19 and 9 pounds of weight in the last few weeks stressing over their jobs being lost while still raising three children at home. Are the boomers being targeted here because their salaries are likely higher due to their tenure? Or did someone actually look at performance in determining who stays and who goes? I sure hope performance was considered by someone. There are strong boomers and there are strong employees at all ages, but I definitely saw enough slackers in my area.
Everyone is pointing fingers about who is to blame. I loved working for State Farm, but I didn't love watching the waste and behaviors that were allowed to go on. Management didn't seem to want to rock the boat and deal with flagrant violators of company policy. Instead, they swept everything under the rug and let things get completely out of control. If they had a bad employee, they just ignored it and added more employees to make up their work. That's where all the excess and bloat came in. And yes, as another poster suggested, they had games for employees to play, colored furniture to inspire creativity, and all sorts of nonsense to encourage people to come up with new ideas. I just wanted people to accomplish something once in a while and finish something they started!
As all of this has unfolded, I have all sorts of feelings - I'm sad for those that don't deserve this, yet I understand why some of it HAS to be done. I retired on my terms when I felt the time was right, yet others don't get that option if they're not retirement age. I don't have any answers - I'm just sad that the company I loved for so long has let it come to this. There is a lot of blame to go around. Was previous leadership too generous, or is our current leadership too cut-throat? Or does the answer fall somewhere in between? It really doesn't matter - the people matter, yet it seems like things are not being handled in a very compassionate way.
I can honestly say that the treatment of retirees has also been going downhill. Benefits were outsourced and complaints abound. If three people call for an answer, you get three different answers. The Dinosaur Club Facebook page was created, and the stories of misinformation being given just keeps getting worse.
I hope our good neighbor past becomes a part of our future again. If not, I really worry about our community and the effect this is going to have on so many people and businesses in so many ways.