michelleponders

Growing up, Gen X’ers watched our parents and grandparents stay with one company their entire career because loyalty and longevity meant something. Then, after I grew up and was on my own, I watched my dad loose a job that he had had since he was 19 after the company was sold for the 4th time. He was so vested in the company that he was expensive to keep employed due to his benefits, vacation, etc. So the new company said that despite ALL the years dad worked for whichever company was in charge at the time, he was being let go since he didn’t have a college education. Now mind you, dad had all this experience because he started working for the original company when he was 19, before I was born. But then they said he didn’t have a college degree so he had to go. All it amounted to was that the new company wanted to bring in their own people who were younger and worked for less pay and benefits. That is the truth. So my dad, who was in his 50’s at the time, lost his job. Dad was out of work for 2 years and was living off of 401k money that was supposed to be for retirement. That should have been my first clue that longevity and loyalty to one company didn’t guarantee fair and equal employment. The same company then decided 2 years later to offer my dad his supervisor job back. Of course, it was with less pay and his benefits started all over again. Dad didn’t have a college degree and now the company didn’t have to pay dad as if he did. Dad took the job back because he had a house payment and bills and needed to work. Now dad is in his 70’s and is trying to figure out when he can retire.

Now I give this story to help in making a point. Corporate America sucks. Period. Corporations are only worried about putting money in shareholders pockets and making sure executives, from the CEO down, get their bonuses. And they do not care who is stomped on the that process. When there is a buyout from one corporation to another, those on the lower end of the ladder are used more that a mattress. The incoming corporation wants to bring in their lower paid people so they can get rid of senior employees who are costing more money. The excuses for “laying off” an employee with longevity ranges from not having a degree to not being productive by certain standards. Corporations will also move around employees who are older in age to areas that are not a good fit for them in order to make the older employee quit. Corporations are good at making an employee’s work environment so hostile that said employee wants to or will quit. Now if you tell management you would like to move up in the company, they will tell you there is plenty of opportunity to move up, which is a lie. You have to do more work and prove you want to move up. Plus there is a lot of sucking up and rubbing elbows to do. But the fact is, corporations just want you to do more work for less money. So you work yourself til you die, while the corporation continues to put money in their pockets and will replace you before the body is cold. Seniority and longevity means nothing. What was once looked upon as traits of an excellent employee, is now seen as a money drain. Corporations want employees to stay about 5 years and then move on. That way wages stay low and and benefits costs are kept down. Plus, when new employees come in, they can be trained to believe the bs that is fed to them. The longer an employee stays at a company, the more the employee sees right through the bs. True story. And this is how corporations, their lies and poor work ethics have had a huge part in ruining the workforce for many Americans.