In September of this year, my supervisor gave me the news that the company was making changes, going in a new direction, and my services were no longer needed. I was 60 years old and out of work. It was more of a relief than a surprise. I had been living under threat of being laid off for months. Now, it was finally over. It was back in March that I suspected this day would come. In April, I knew for sure The company hired a new group of younger managers and I received my first ever negative job review. No specifics were given, just broad generalities. I asked how I could improve without knowing what was wrong and was told, “Don’t worry about it. Everyone is getting this review. We all need to work together.” I did what I could to become more efficient, eating my lunch at my desk, arriving early, staying late. In April, I asked how I was doing and I was told, “Just great.” The next week my desk was moved from a small office to a corner of the hallway. I faced a building column. I was told they needed the space.
I saw the handwriting on the wall, or in this case, the column, and looked for another job. Right then, I knew my days were numbered. I found a few places with job offerings that were similar to what I had. I even received two job offers. The problem was that these jobs paid 30-45% less than what I was making. I sure my employer knew this as well. No doubt he compared notes with his business friends and tried to cut costs whenever possible. As far as the company bottom line was concerned, I was no different than a uniform supply company or a case of toilet paper. If he could get the same thing for less, he went with it. As the saying goes: nothing personal, just business
I turned down the job offers and continued to search for more in the hope that I could find that needle in the haystack. I cleared all my personal belonging out my “office” and waited for the eventual moment that arrived in September
Fortunately, being laid off without cause allowed me to file for and receive unemployment I learned that I could work part time, earning no more than one third of my weekly unemployment payment, and make a few extra dollars, as long as I also continued to search for a full time job. In November, I got that part time job, working as a clerk in a large retail outlet. What I learned there inspired me to write this report.
I am 60 years old. I was Service Coordinator at major industrial products company. I’ve been laid off for two months and been searching for a suitable job ever since. Unable to find one, I have accepted a job as a stock clerk in a large retail store; a wee bit over minimum wage, twenty hours a week, no benefits.
It’s here that I met Manny. Manny is in his late-50’s one kid in college, one in high school. Manny was an Analyst for a major financial company and lost his job in 2008. He is now working full time as a stock clerk and training me.
When I was having difficulty with the time clock (had not used on in over 40 years), Roberta helped me out. She worked in the department next to me. She told me she’s been working here for a year and still can’t get used to a time clock. She used to be a Project Manager at a nearby medical device company. Now at 62, she is a retail clerk.
I met Fred in the break room. I had seen him there a few times, never speaking with anyone. He looked to be in his late 60’s or early 70’s. I sat next to him and struck up a conversation. The axe fell for him back in 2001 when the company he worked for went bankrupt. He lost his pension and much of his savings were in company stock. He got a check for $11 in the end. A local apartment complex hired him as a maintenance man but when the recession of 2008 hit, he lost that job and just four years ago, was hired on here as a maintenance man. I tried to console him with “At least you have a job” and he said, “Yeah, and I’m alive”. Three of his coworkers at the bankrupt company had committed suicide. He described what each one of them had as careers, family, hobbies, and then described the consequences of their life and how they killed themselves. It seemed he did so out of respect for them, almost a eulogy.
Here are, all in out late 50’s to early 70’s, all well qualified, honest, industrious – and working for minimum wage or close to it, just trying to bridge the gap until we might possibly be able to retire. The more I look around me the more of us I see. At least we’re still here, I remind myself. The fact is that an alarming number of us are just dying. Here in the United Stated of America, people who have worked for the majority of their life are being devalued, cast aside, and taking their own life.
At the same time presidential candidates in both parties fail to address this issue with any more than lip service. Some Republicans are even calling for increasing the age of eligibility for Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile the economy continues to “grow” and there are “new jobs” as politicians in both parties promise, but they fail to mention that little if any of that growth will go to any of us. And the jobs? I just told you about four of them.
Much of the problem is that there is no solidarity among this group of people. They’ve been taught to be ashamed of financial hardship, and therefore they stay silent even when the problem is structural, not personal. John, you are providing a great service by speaking out so frankly with such a thoughtful analysis of what you’ve lived through.
It sucks. The last time I was laid off (at your age), it took me almost two years to find another position.
In our age bracket (I’m now 63), it’s worth consulting an employment attorney in situations like you describe. I hope you didn’t sign any releases when you left.
Age discrimination is illegal. Employers often depend on employees being too embarassed or proud to pursue legal remedies, or to even compare notes. If your employer is laying off older workers and hiring younger workers, you may be a victim of illegal age discrimination. It is worth spending a few hundred bucks to sit down with an employment attorney and explore your options.
A lesson I learned the hard way after a very hostile divorce is that the legal system can only protect us if we ask it to. Fathers whose ex-wives are blocking them from exercising their rights as shared legal custodians of children MUST make their case before the Court in order to have a prayer of preserving those rights.
In a similar way, victims of age discrimination must bring legal action against agist employers if our state’s anti-discrimination laws are to have any meaning. I encourage you to consult an employment attorney.
Yeah, I know. It is also a reality. I have spoken with head hunters who tell me, in confidence, that they would never bring anyone over 40 to their clients. Now, do the clients say that they will not consider anyone over 40? No. However, if a recruiter continues to bring the over 40 crowd, that client switches recruiters. I’ve been looking for a different job on and off for ten years. It’s the same thing. I manage to get the interview (being careful to not have any dates of college graduation on my resume, etc) and the looks I get when I enter the room give me insight as to how people of color with a “white name” feel when they walk into a job interview. The chill in the air is awful.
I can’t say for certain, but I think I know the real reason and it did not have to do with my age. I can’t go into the details in this forum. I asked if age was a factor or my pay grade and was told “No”, followed by, I can’t tell you why. Even so, I could try to make the case. They hired someone within two weeks to do the same job at the same location and same hours. Yeah, he’s in his 30’s.
A lawsuit would cost me a few hundred to begin with, which I really can’t afford. It would also involve an association with this company and I honestly want no part of them in my life. I know of another person who sued for discrimination and I know the company will take a very aggressive approach. She eventually dropped the case.
I just want to move on.
…let me rephrase that. I think it had something to do with my age, but more along the lines of someone who was not willing to put up with the abuse and crap that a younger employee would put up with. I’m old enough to remember when employers treated people with respect, honesty, and a “level playing field”.
Those days are not completely gone, but they are getting scarce.
Let me just add as well that my current part time employer is highly rated, and taking better care of the employees than most. I have no complaints with them at all. I do not mention any company names because that is not the point and would serve as a distraction.
Stop looking for a job. Create one.
Like Tom I am 63. And many years ago, in a similar bad economy, I vowed to always be self employed. I have usually had a wage slave job, but I have also given what time I could to my second job as well. It gives you workforce continuity, ongoing professional contacts, etc.
Whatever you did examine it, and determine what skills and duties most easily translate into the wider economy and go to Staples and get some cards.
The Lord helps those…..
Although porcupine and I disagree about many things, I enthusiastically agree with her about this.
Many people find this transition in worldview very challenging — not because it’s hard (it is), but because it really IS a fundamentally different paradigm. It is not a paradigm that works for everyone, and may not work for johntmay. It certainly DOES work for me.
Here are some nitty-gritty things I suggest for anyone attempting to make this paradigm shift:
– Create a web identity for yourself. At a minimum, create your own domain and use it for your email address. Consider two email addresses, “mary.whalen@gmail.com” and “mary@whalen-inc.com”. The second is far more persuasive than the first. Put up a website at “http://whalen.com”. Prospective
employerscustomers are going to search for you, so give them something to find!– Consultants can be grouped into two broad categories: (1) Professionals who are filling a revenue gap while they look for work, and (2) Professionals who want to work for themselves rather than others. If you fall into into the second category, figure out the specific things that you do better than anyone else in the world. Then — and only then — intentionally get your name and/or company on the top five of the list that anybody in your field answers to somebody who asks “who’s good at …”.
– When you know what you want to do, be REALLY EXCELLENT at specific aspects of that. It is surprisingly hard for anybody to actually pin down the specific things that make them stellar in comparison to everyone else. Ask your friends. Ask your colleagues. Ask your competitors.
Here are two broad categories of prejudices about senior professionals:
– We are fossils who are no longer able to contribute in any meaningful way to modern businesses
– We are going to retire (or die!) soon, and won’t be able to make the same long-term contributions to an enterprise that a younger candidate will offer.
I know of no effective response to the first. My own response is to discern that as early in the relationship as possible, and immediately move on when I find it.
A career as a consultant is very effective way to turn the second concern into an asset. Nobody WANTS a long-term relationship with an expensive consultant (your hourly consulting rate should be at least twice what you would get as an employee). As a short-term outsider, you can say the things that their long-term employees can’t say.
Like it or not, we live in a capitalist economy. In the same way that a casino has dealers and players, a capitalist economy has owners and workers. You want to be the former, not the latter.
Finally, just a quick note about business cards. Staples is certainly a reasonable choice. I’ve been VERY happy with Vistaprint. If it’s within your reach, it’s well worth spending a few hundred dollars to have a graphic designer (of COURSE you want to use a qualified independent!) create your identity for you.
I took a risk and left a job I hated that I held for three years to be a consultant in a boutique software/healthcare firm. I flailed at the job and should’ve quit before they fired me, but I didn’t. They lost a big account, couldn’t invest in my training anymore, and brought on a 30
year healthcare veteran as an equity partner to effectively replace me. I searched for four months for a new job, had ACA for healthcare, and finally landed in the law firm I’m at now by networking with the husband of my financees then boss. He took a chance on me and I’ll always owe him.
That said, we had no kids, a small apartment and a roommate and that’s it. We’ve given up the apartment and live with her parents to be closer to her new school, where she is thriving, and I’ve been applying to Massachusetts grad programs and political positions like a mad man. Something will hit and this blog as been indispensable as a networking tool and portfolio. People know who you are John, you got a great body of work here and through your campaign work and I am confident you will land on your feet. It’s worth risking it for a career you’re passionate about. Mine could be paying off unexpected dividends real soon.
We definitely need stronger regulations and a stronger safety net. Tom and porcupine are right-we all should work for ourselves! But we need a stronger safety net to ensure that people with families and responsibilities can do so too. Not every startup can succeed after all…
I don’t feel I have any skills in the starting from scratch department and I’m not sure that calling myself a consultant will find me work any faster than applying for jobs in pre-existing institutions. I’ve never seen myself as an entrepreneur and don’t know where I would find the money to start something and I don’t know if there is something I can do that involves hanging out the proverbial shingle. Given that I feel like I’m living on the edge as it is I am also extremely risk-averse.
In the first place, if I wanted to be self employed, I would have done do 40 years ago. Secondly I need money now. Thirdly, my wife and I have been spending 3-4 hours a week, at minimum trying to navigate the arcane rules of the Affordable Care Act and unemployment restrictions. And, in order to qualify for unemployment, I must make a focused effort to find a job and keep records of my search (Yes, I’ve already been audited).
So how does one do all this and somehow start a business, knowing that According to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months.
It’s just not that possible for most of us. That’s the simple reality.
And I find your “Lord” to be a mean deity.
…the quote referred to in the last line of Porcupine’s comment is actually not of Biblical origin.
But it’s all part of the propaganda from the right, the “bootstraps” and self made man image that is used to sell unregulated capitalism in the same way that flashy lights and gaudy buildings are used to sell gambling as a means to earning wealth…the casino owners, and in the case of the USA, the .1% are the only ones making money at this con game.
35 years ago I was laid off as a retail swimming pool salesman that paid a good salary, commissions and bonuses. Most of us were replaced with high school kids with no benefits.
It was then that I made a career change. I went back to post-graduate re-training in biotechnology and worked for 12 years— taking an early retirement buyout at 55.
The past ten years I worked in state government—most recently as Ombudsman at Elder Affairs. I just retired in July at 65 and now live on a small government pension and reduced Social Security.
I say all this as way of background to confirm that ageism is real — and it may be illegal. I referred many elder victims to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The MCAD will give you a free assessment if your case has merit.
Just a thought that might help. My heart goes out to all who suffer discrimination of any kind. God bless you and keep you well.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
I’m going to be okay. I was smart enough to see this coming about five years ago and set a few things in motion to help ease into my “new life”. No, I will not be able to go to France on a vacation, and no, a golf club membership is out of the question, but that’s all okay. I don’t play golf and I’ve been to France three times (but would love a fourth!). My wife and I will be okay as long as I can work part time for a few years. Again, the company I know work for is one of the best in the nation and I’ve never met better people. Oh, and today I met “Margaret”. She is 61, recently terminated from a local large business (she was a manager) and now she is a clerk in the housewares department.
And I would’ve looked there right after I was laid off because of their comparatively good wages and benefits, but there were far more applicants than positions, the company’s reputation is that well known.
I was laid off in April and it took me 6 months to find a new job. It was well worth the wait, as I’m much happier in my new job. Keeping my fingers crossed for you that something full-time comes through!
My part time gig with unemployment added to minimal part time work after that is all I need. If something better comes along or if I win the lottery, sure, I’ll take it. I think the lottery odds are better, but I still buy an occasional ticket and still look for that needle in a haystack job.
Particularly in Massachusetts, this trend seems to me like a problem for the Democratic party. I would guess that the people you’ve discussed don’t fit the nonvoter profile (as described well in a recent article in ProPublica by Alec MacGillis). These are educated people with stable roots in their communities, who probably have formed the habit of voting. When things turn south for them, they are probably not thinking about some grand macroeconomic theory. They are scrambling to keep things together, and will just vote for whichever party promises to keep their property tax bill as low as possible.
Yup,
As I have said over and over and over……we’ve got to be more than the party of women’s reproductive rights, marriage equality, minority outreach, and teacher’s unions. There is nothing wrong with being the party of any of the aforementioned, but limiting ourselves to that means having to push, push, push the urban vote and watching helplessly as the surrounding towns go red.
I’ve been wondering about this for a while.
What if the age for Medicare was reduced to 60 — and that it was legal/reasonable/expected that employees over 60 would be on Medicare, not company insurance. Maybe there’s a “boost” so that the employee gets private insurance benefits when better than Medicare, and the employee only pays a small amount because the “0 to Medicaid”-levels of the insurance are already covered by Uncle Sam.
It’s now cheaper to employ a 60 year old than a 30 year old, all other things being equal. And yes, I know they’re not equal. The 30 year old likely gets a lower salary, and brings less experience but more flexibility, yadda yadda.
My point is that lowering the age for Medicare moves us toward single payer, helps out the seniors who are in johntmay’s position right now, and also helps employers keep more guys like johntmay in full time better employment in the first place.
Is this crazy? A second order effect? Me looking for “excuses” to increase the number of people eligible for Medicare?
I honestly think if we covered everyone 50 and over via Medicare, covered every child, and then working adults could have a public option-that would probably be ideal for me. Full single payer is likely unworkable as a suddenly implemented policy, but this is a way to get us there gradually.
That’s why there is a brisk business in supplement policies. Which might not be available from an employer.
If you are healthy, 80% coverage might be fine. If you are disabled or have any kind of chronic condition, not so much.
Truth or dare, the best option for employers is a self-insured plan as they can tailor benefits and co-pays to work for their people. I designed and sold such plans during the Clinton health care reform years, back when HMO’s were punitively expensive.
…who are working just for the health insurance. In many cases, it’s the husband who married a younger woman. He’s not in his late 60’s but she is in her early 60’s and on his policy….so he has to keep working.
Universal Single Payer would unleash a wave of entrepreneurial spirit never seen in this nation.
You seem to waffle back and forth about entrpreneurship.
I am glad you are actually doing OK with the part time job. The post suggested you weren’t, and Tom and I tried to be helpful.
Never been to France, myself. Not even the Epcot imitation.
OTOH, if it does not work out, see above.
Some experience as an employee of a company lends itself well to a gig as a consultant. If one is lucky enough to be in that demographic, bravo. Let me remind you that in this context, we are talking about people who have never run a business on their own and have spent 40+ years as an employee. Now in their 50’s or 60’s we expect them to “start a business”, investing time and money at a time with time and money are scarce.. And there is this: About 50% of new U.S. companies fail in their first five years.
So we take a man or women in their 60’s, tell them to invest what little they have in what little time they have left, on a 50/50 chance that it will work out?
That’s insanity .
this country’s labor market — that it does discriminate against older workers and that there’s nothing as far as I know that is done about it. I’m 61 now, and work as a self-employed consultant and adjunct instructor at local colleges. I’m a little tired of all the upbeat advice about creating your own consulting business persona etc. Being over 50 in today’s job market is like having a felony conviction on your record. This is a serious problem that needs to be recognized by legislators and policy makers, but is not on their agenda.
I remember going a number of years ago to a consulting fair sponsored by the career office in the university where I received my MPA. That “chill in air” that johntmay describes was evident at every recruiting table I approached. One person behind one of the tables jokingly referred to us both as “having gray hair.” The fact is that firms that were there — McKinsey, Accenture, Booz Allen, Bain, Boston Consulting, Deloitte — were no different than the companies I had been contacting since I was laid off from a full-time state job in the early 2000’s. They didn’t want anyone with actual institutional knowledge or experience. They wanted someone right out of college.
Four months later. A good friend of mine just got the boot where he worked. He’d been with the company for 36 years. He’s got a good severance package and he’ll be okay for the short term, but he’s only 58 years old and no doubt replaced by someone younger and cheaper. He’s not sure what he will do and worries about health insurance. He’s got a masters degree in engineering. Tell me again that “job training and increased education” are the keys to our widening wealth disparity. I’ve since met a half dozen more folks where I work who went through this. We’re invisible to the politicians.
A follow up.
I have a nice part-time job that pays me a fair wage and treats me with respect. It’s all I need and I am happy. Well, life is not going to be the way I thought and my eventual retirement will be different, but we’ll survive.
I continue to run into people in my circumstances. One woman is in her 50’s and works part time at a local grocery store. Her husband is 61 and works at Market Basket. He works six days a week and puts in 40 hours. Two years ago, he was let go from his job at a Massachusetts company known as a Technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil and cybersecurity markets. He was making $150K a year. Now? Not even close. They have a daughter in high school.
Another friend just contacted me. He was an engineer for a cable company. The company “outsourced” his entire department and at 58 years of age, he’s found it impossible to find suitable employment. He filed for unemployment and was approved for it. He also took on a part-time job at a local retailer to help make ends meet. The part time employer told him that they needed him for 32 hours a week, not the agreed 24 hours a week. He was not able to work that many hours and continue his job search, so he left on good terms and they told him he was welcome back when he could work more hours. Ah, but here’s the problem. Since is left this job, his unemployment payments have been terminated. He is appealing the decision, but it’s not going to be easy.
I have health insurance at a subsidized rate but I get letters weekly telling me that my policy will be cancelled because they have not received income verification. I’ve sent it three times. I just sent it again. They have confirmed that they have received it twice, but a week later, we receive another letter that is was not received. I just left my doctor’s office where I have gotten to know the billing clerk very well. When I told here about this, she just smiled, shook her head and said “Yup, it happens all the time. Keep sending it and eventually it will stick.”
So if anyone still wants to know why I am against the ACA anbd for universal payer and why I still say that “job skills and training” are not the magic keys to improving the economy, this is my life, what I deal with each day.
A right wing pal of mine who I have known for over 25 years still insists that the American Dream is alive and well, that it’s a fair system and that “free markets” are the panacea for us all.
A few days ago, his wife got laid off without notice, without severance. She’s 62 years old and a licensed pharmacist.
He’s just beginning to see the light, but for him, it’s too late.