Interesting People mailing list archives
re You're How Old? We'll Be in Touch
From: "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2016 12:15:04 -0400
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Kevin G. Barkes" <kgbarkes () gmail com> Date: September 21, 2016 at 11:50:01 AM EDT To: <dave () farber net> Subject: RE: [IP] re You're How Old? We'll Be in Touch Reply-To: <kgbarkes () gmail com> Hi Dave, Another problem is that if you've been a good, long-term employee and received 2-3% merit increases annually, you suddenly find yourself sticking out like a sore thumb when the business consultants come in to streamline the operation and start comparing the salaries of persons in the same relative position in the firm. A friend referred to it as being "merited into oblivion." Let's say the hypothetical starting salary for a position in 2000 was $35K, but you had more experience or other attributes that made you more valuable, so you got $45K. Annual 3% merit raises would put you at $72K in 2016. True, the starting salary doesn't remain static, and new hires aren't getting $35K, but they're not getting $72K, either. Need to save money? Let's fire up the ol' payroll spreadsheet and do a descending sort. Who are these outliers being paid these outrageous sums? Can them, and you can get a lot of spare cash. Or you can get at least 1.5 times as many cheap new employees who probably have more timely skills, anyway, but don't say that, just say we're doing some belt-tightening, which is true. I saw this happen to three people in the past year. It's not really ageism, per se... but with age comes experience, and experience costs, and sometimes that cost falls outside the current perceived market value for that position. Unfortunately, the spreadsheet doesn't have cells for extenuating circumstances. Of course, the terminated oldster then has to deal with the most common situation preventing him or her from getting another job... they're "overqualified." My favorite response to this was "What if I dial it back a notch or three to *your* level?" Regards, KGB ----- Kevin G. Barkes Email: kgbarkes () gmail com KGB Report: http://www.kgbreport.com Commentwear by KGB: http://www.commentwear.com DCL Dialogue on line: http://www.dcldialogue.com KGB Quotations Database: http://www.goodquotations.com 39,000+ searchable quotations.
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- re You're How Old? We'll Be in Touch Dave Farber (Sep 21)