I see this happening more and more. The company no longer cares about quality. No matter how many years of experience you have that insures you'd do your job better than somebody right out of school, you are not safe.
The only thing that matters is saving money. Which means inexperienced, cheap millennials.
I personally believe that's exactly what's dragging TR down, but I guess those on top know better...
It has less to do with employee age or generation and more to do with length of tenure. If you've been here 20 years, TR can bring in someone new to do your job who is just out of college and can pay them much less. They do this, I've seen it firsthand. Agree about not taking cheap shots at each other, but we'd all do well to see this situation with eyes wide open. This is a company who is downsizing to reduce expenses and we're all fair game unless you happen to sit on stages next to C.R. lately.
You are all going down. Best not to snipe, it isn't about that. This is about a company on its long path to extinction. They don't try to build Revenue because they don't know how. They are all about cost cutting. My guess is parcelling off components is next.
Almost 20% of my department (not including contractors overseas of course) was laid off, all of them with over 20 years with the company. I am guessing but I think at least some of the criteria was "longest in same position". These people were among the highest paid at their particular position. Or it could be age ... There are still a few people over 60 in my group but they could be doing that for appearances so they can say it wasn't age discrimination.
I was also told there was a McKenzie study that found our org was confusing and redundant so they simplified (eg removing project managers). I'm not going to say that's not true, but I think they went overboard and now we who are left are going to have a hell of a time, especially with having to absorb the work from sites that are being shut down entirely.
Minsk is kind of Russia. Like Fort Worth is kind of Dallas. And Eagen is kind of Minneapolis.
Minsk, Russia ... Wow, last time I checked Minsk was NOT in Russia. Has Putin finally pulled the trigger?
Plenty of us "cheap millennials" are losing our jobs as well in all of this, including myself. When a whole office is shut down, it has nothing to do with age. It is entirely about jobs being transferred to lower-cost resources in Russia and Bangalore, where the most expensive employee is still cheaper than a US-based "cheap millennial".
It's all about money. Age isn't the question here. If someone is 55-years-old and is willing to make $10 - $15 an hour, TR will keep them versus someone who's been with the company 17 years and making $28 an hour. TR just has to hope that the person making $15 or less knows enough about the products. My biggest gripe is with the loss of these experienced folks, training is rushed and not efficient. Someone receiving 30 minutes of training isn't as effective of a support or sales rep with years and years of training/experience.
I was 45 when hired by TR in a technical role 7 years ago. It's dangerous to make the assumption that advancing age is accompanied by drop-off of skills. I know plenty of colleagues both older and younger who are at the top of their game and they show it every day. The state of work in the world is changing. We are living longer and many workers are quite capable of working well into their 60s and 70s. I think all ages have something to contribute and we shouldn't be using such a broad brush to minimize the value of our coworkers in this way. Like another poster said -- fighting with each other deflects the focus of our frustration from where it is deserved -- at the management who has told us for months that they will be "transparent" in how they reorganize this company. With all that's gone on the past few weeks without a peep of "official" comment, it's clear that we were lied to. Whether you've worked for TR for 3 months or 30 years -- we all deserve to be treated with respect.
Right or wrong, organizations celebrate retirement to usher in newer and less experienced employees, giving them the chance to build their careers. Not to be unkind in any way, but there are individuals at Thomson Reuters in their 60's and 70's onward. Public accounting starts ushering out the partners around age 50 and onward. So why is it so bad that the older one's retire? On the same vein, I have personally seen younger, inexperienced people (say, less than 5 years of total work experience) filling roles that previously required 15-20 plus years of experience, say in some tax technical area. In TR's case, perhaps these roles are filled with people who have 30 plus years of experience. Obviously, these "fillers" (i.e., inexperienced one's) are being used in a nonproductive way - both for the individual and the organization. If the game is to just have scape goats (in case anything goes wrong), then I guess these people serve their roles well. It just becomes a never ending cycle of blame shifting.25
Agreed. Please remember that being ugly to each other on these boards doesn’t help anything and says more about you than anything else.
To the OP, I'm the oldest (and I mean north of 55) in a department of millennials, who are not in the least "dragging TR down." They're talented and conscientious people to a person, so stop with the cheap shots, please.
To the poster who said, "If it means getting rid of "older workers" who confuse "insures" with "ensures," then I'd say the company did the right thing," why don't you stop with the cheap shots, too?
There are competent and incompetent people of all ages, and we're all going through this together. It doesn't help a bit to tear each other down when we're just trying to figure out what will happen to us. If you want to "cheap shot" anyone, aim it at the management who's botched this re-org and RIF so badly.
It's intellectually lazy and selfish to suggest that the company "no longer cares about quality" by replacing "older workers" with Millennials. The workforce is evolving. The workplace is evolving. And TR has long avoided this type of housecleaning for years. The organization needed to change and become leaner. If it means getting rid of "older workers" who confuse "insures" with "ensures," then I'd say the company did the right thing.
Using millennials would be a vast improvement over what is really happening. technology and its data is now completely in the hands of Minsk, Russia and Bangalore, India. At least with millennials they would be contributing taxes.