When I first went looking for a full-time job, I was greeted with the usual statement, "You have no experience." Of course, I knew that, but my answer was then and I am sure it is today for all of those young people starting out,"How am I going to get experience if you don't give me a chance to see what I can do!" Give me a chance.
In today's world, it is money that is the value that counts. If a company can hire you or even two of you at less money than it is paying one older, more "seasoned" person, they will do it in a heartbeat. Then on top of it, they will let the older person go --- laid off, fired, whatever you want to call it. The British call it being "made redundant".
Today, I have a bundle full of friends, as I am sure my readers have as well, that have lost their jobs. They are baby boomers, older than 50. They have had very good careers, degrees, yes, including from Harvard and now they have been made redundant and the worst part, they can't seem able to get another job.
I find this amazing. Why? Because as my old partner Hunter Grant used to say, it is counter intuitive. I mean we educate people, then they gain very valuable experience and insight and then when they hit 45 plus, instead of benefiting from their experience, employers are looking to get rid of them.
Why? Is it because they have become flawed? Are they somehow diseased? Have they acquired too much knowledge? No. No. The reason that employers don't want them around anymore is because they cost too much, their salaries have increased over time and so have their benefit packages. It has nothing to do with knowledge and experience, it has all to do with MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.
When the United States traded knowledge and experience for MONEY it fundamentally went the wrong way. What a surprise then that we are where we are right now as a nation, because chasing MONEY can lead to GREED and then you never, never have enough.
Yet another reason, other than MONEY, that these boomers can't get new jobs is because they are viewed as too OLD. Companies are constantly finding new ways to get around age discrimination laws. One popular way is online applications. These computerized resumes are then scanned by companies to create reports that can be ranked by "year college degree awarded". If you add 21 to the subtraction from the current year, generally that will give you the person's age (e.g. graduated 1971, therefore: 2009-1971=38+21=59).
How about the application question, "What is the salary or value of benefit package that would you accept for this position?" That question is asked without the company having provided the compensation range. The company attitude is, we don't have to tell you what the job pays, but you have to tell us what you will accept. This practice allows companies to rid themselves of lots of boomer resumes legally. Yes, there are lots of ways around in the age discrimination game. Is anyone with oversight looking into this?
So, is this a Seebeck Rant? You bet it is.
Another related subject should make me cry, but now I laugh when I hear our Congress people say in their absolute ignorance of reality, "You know Social Security costs are high, the same with other 'entitlement' programs, people will just have to work into their 70's". HAHAHA! or LOL! Mr./Ms. Congress Person, we know that we are going to have to work until we're in our 70's, because we have no money left.
The problem, Mr./Ms. Elected Official, is that after the age of 45, the employers are looking to rid themselves of us because it is easier to cut us to lower costs rather than to keep us boomers employed until we're 70 or 71 or 72. They would rather bring in a couple of 24 year olds, pay them very little and work them to the bone. So, who is going to hire us boomers when we are old? Dunkin Donuts? Wal-Mart? Fortunately, they do, but generally at minimum wage.
So, now here is where another term I dislike intensely usually pops up, "You should be glad you have a job".
No, I am NOT glad to have a job, especially when the employer takes away my health benefits, vacations, pensions and wants me to work six to seven days a week for not enough money to feed me or my family.
No, I'm not GLAD. You see EMPLOYER, it is my right as a citizen of this country to work and that means whenever and wherever I work to be able to work with DIGNITY. I'm sure there are companies out there that have never heard that word before or have forgotten, so let me say it again, DIGNITY.
The Oxford American Dictionary describes DIGNITY as "the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect such as the dignity of labor."
In 1891, during the first Industrial Revolution, Pope Leo XIII wrote a major letter/statement (encyclical) entitled Rerum Novarum, which dealt with the dignity of the worker. If you haven't read this document before, it is worth the read because believe it or not, we face similar challenges today. In part, it states:
"[Employers] should not look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character. They are reminded that, according to natural reason and Christian philosophy, working for gain is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it enables him to earn an honorable livelihood; but to misuse men as though they were things in the pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for their physical powers - that is truly shameful and inhuman."
"Again justice demands that, in dealing with the working man, religion and the good of his soul must be kept in mind. Hence, the employer is bound to see that the worker has time for his religious duties; that he be not exposed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be not led away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his earnings."
"Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people beyond their strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and age. His great and principal duty is to give every one what is just. Doubtless, before deciding whether wages are fair, many things have to be considered; but wealthy owners and all masters of labor should be mindful of this - that to exercise pressure upon the indigent and the destitute for the sake of gain, and to gather one's profit out of the need of another, is condemned by all laws, human and divine."
Enough said.
What do you think?
Posts
Bill you have written one of the finest descriptions of the current over-fifty job situation I have seen to date.
ReplyDeleteMy observations are that women over fifty have an easier time finding new work as do minorities or other persons that are members of a "protected class."
Many of us will work regardless because as I believe there is dignity in work even if the pay is low and the hours long. An American does what is necessary to feed his or family whether or not the work situation is fair.
Your piece encapsulated the problem well. There is no solution to this until we as a culture decide experience matters and we plan for hiring and keeping experience. The money people run companies now not the forward thinkers and planners. Short term gain is all that matters. People are not part of the equation.