#ageism

Here’s a piece of advice for those still at Verizon: don’t hesitate to consult with an employment lawyer promptly when your management does something illegal. It’s been my experience that they get away with things because employees tend to let things slide. For example, you only have 180 days to file an age discrimination complaint. There have been many instances of management choosing an inexperienced “leadership development” candidate over a much more capable and experienced employee. Document as much as you can discreetly then consult with a lawyer. At the same time start applying elsewhere.

Making them face the consequences for their illegal behavior is the only way to put an end to it.

Does IBM severance agreement have a revocation period after signing if you are over 40 years old

I watched Fiserv push out a whole group of older folks last year, because they were too costly. They wanted young creative types instead, so they brought in new people. Guess what? The company still runs exactly the same way. Same bad processes, same broken systems, same stupid decisions. They changed the employees but kept everything else. Now we just have less experience and the same mess.

My boss just told me that he was asked to rack and stack his people. Seems that mid-April we will have a RIF.

He said this is going to be a big one. He was also asked about people over 50 in our group. Seems that the old folks are going to shoulder the brunt of this one.

He also shared that this will be both a salary and an hourly reduction.

Had a solid four years going until leadership changed and suddenly I was out. Before tech I was a director at a global company. Now at mid 40s with twenty years experience and an MBA, I can't get anyone to call back. Two months and not even a single interview. I know that doesn't sound long but it stings differently when you've worked this hard your whole life only to be dismissed.

Even a month later, I'm not over it. They pushed me out at 59 after seven years of top performance reviews and max bonuses. Almost everyone I know who was let go is over fifty. Some were just a few years from retirement. I'm sick about it every single day. Let my situation be a warning. You cannot trust any of them.

The recent influx of new hires in Spring, many of whom are early-career professionals, has required significant onboarding support—including mentorship, recognition, plus dedicated workspace and perks—to ensure productivity. In contrast, previous teams delivered results with agility, often relying on strong analytical skills and quick decision-making. It’s worth examining whether current strategies align with long-term business goals, especially given that recent growth may be tied to temporary demand spikes and uncertain future revenue. I had expected the company to maintain a more results-driven, resilient approach.

Link below...

# How Experienced Professionals Are Still Getting Hired in a Biased Market

Many late-career professionals are being pushed out of roles earlier than expected. Some are encouraged into early retirement despite not being ready. Yet a significant number are still landing strong opportunities. Their success is not accidental. It reflects a strategic shift in how they approach the job market.

The hiring system often works against older candidates. Automated screening, compensation assumptions, and implicit bias create structural barriers. Waiting for fairness is ineffective. The professionals who succeed adapt instead.

## 1. Rewrite the Resume Around Results

Most seasoned candidates write resumes that read like job descriptions. That approach fails. Employers care about outcomes, not responsibilities.

Instead of listing duties, quantify impact:

• Reduced time to hire by 35 percent by implementing performance metrics.
• Generated 12 million in revenue and captured 18 percent market share in nine months.
• Increased operational efficiency through process redesign and KPI tracking.

Numbers signal business value. Decades of experience provide a deep well of measurable results. That is a competitive advantage when presented clearly.

It is also advisable to remove unnecessary age signals. Graduation dates, roles older than 15 to 20 years, and outdated technical skills add little value and may introduce bias.

## 2. Close Skill Gaps With Precision

Generic learning is inefficient. Instead:

1. Review 10 job postings in your field.
2. Identify repeated skills and language.
3. Compare them against your resume and profile.

If data driven decision making appears frequently, show metrics. If stakeholder engagement is emphasized, highlight examples clearly. Targeted alignment matters more than broad training.

Applied AI literacy is increasingly important. You do not need to be an expert. You do need practical usage. Identify one manual task in your field and automate or streamline it. Then quantify the improvement. Demonstrating real application shifts perception from outdated to current.

## 3. Build Relationships Before You Need Them

Desperate outreach rarely works. Reconnecting only when unemployed offers little incentive for others to help.

Instead:

• Reengage former colleagues while employed.
• Offer value before asking for favors.
• Stay visible in your industry by contributing insights and commentary.

The objective is referral access. Entering through trusted networks reduces dependence on automated screening systems.

## 4. Consider Fractional or Project Based Work

Full time employment is not the only option. Fractional roles are expanding across finance, marketing, HR, and operations. Many companies want senior expertise without full time overhead.

Working 10 to 20 hours per week across multiple organizations can:

• Provide income diversification.
• Offer schedule flexibility.
• Match or exceed full time compensation in some cases.

Framing your value as a targeted solution to a specific problem often makes hiring decisions easier for companies.

## 5. Reframe How You Describe Yourself

Avoid emphasizing years of experience. Instead, focus on problems solved.

Not:
"I am a marketing manager with 20 years of experience."

Instead:
"I help B2B SaaS companies scale from 1 to 10 million in revenue by building demand generation systems."

Organizations do not buy tenure. They buy results.

## Adapt Strategy, Not Expectations

The system may not change quickly. Bias and automation are real constraints. The professionals who continue to get hired share consistent behaviors:

• Quantified resumes
• Targeted skill alignment
• Practical AI usage
• Strategic networking
• Openness to alternative work structures
• Outcome based positioning

The market rewards relevance and measurable value. Position yourself accordingly.

• This is from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSblhOCY6bM

https://hbr.org/2018/11/when-no-one-retires

“Yet the flawed perceptions persist, a byproduct of stubborn and pervasive ageism. Positive attributes of older workers are crowded out by negative stereotypes that infect work settings and devalue older adults in a youth-oriented culture. Older adults regularly find themselves on the losing end of hiring decisions, promotions, and even volunteer opportunities.

Research from AARP found that approxi­mately two-thirds of workers ages 45 to 74 said they have seen or experienced age discrimina­tion in the workplace. Of those, a remarkable 92% said age discrimination is very, or somewhat, common. Research for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco backs this up. A study involving 40,000 made-up résumés found compelling evidence that older applicants, especially women, suffer consistent age discrimination. A case in point is IBM, which is currently facing allegations of using improper practices to marginalize and terminate older workers.”

Class action lawsuit coming soon to Michael Dells desk for review. Count up all your revenue that is Pending Production….we have 3 months to get ever shipped out to hit our attainment to make our commission.. if we don’t hit 60%, then we owe back to Dell…
Be on top of factories and team to build and ship your product out ASAP!!! That 60% is what needs to SHIP!

I’m curious how much backlog will actually ship that will count towards the 60%.

Who cares about the 100% when 60% is what were actually needing..

Let's prove it, shall we? For those of you who have seen layoffs in your groups and orgs over the past year+, what percentage of those WFRs would you say were over 40?

Gave this place 18 years. That’s the thank you I got. Loyalty means sh-t these days.

https://www.techmonitor.ai/leadership/workforce/ibm-dinobabies-age-discrimination-case?cf-view

The documents showed communications between two executives, in which one “applauds the use of the disparaging term ‘dinobabies’” to describe the older IBM employees as part of a “plan to oust them from IBM’s workforce”. According to the court documents, “he describes his plan to ‘accelerate change by inviting the dinobabies (new species) to leave’ and make them an ‘extinct species‘”.

Both executives, whose names and positions were redacted in the filing, have since left IBM. Other documents referred to the company’s “dated maternal workforce” and called for IBM to “shift headcount mix towards greater percent of early professional hires.”

They settled this in 2022 and yet we are seeing IBM's desire to reduce staff and pay based on age, s-x, race, skin color get WORSE after a settled lawsuit on this?! Hire with little to know experience but tell the world experienced people are no longer needed because we have AI now and everybody knows 20 somethings know AI better than the dinobabies who built their skills over decades of dedication to IBM?

Removing people with seniority = removing OLDER employees. It's always the same. When they do a "reorg" with layoffs, they slice and dice the data to hide the age impact. Then they rinse and repeat every couple of years. They don't care about their "teammates." They routinely clean house of the older, more experienced and expensive workers to make the company's financials look better for "The Street" and try to improve the stock price. Most of those folks have 3 years worth of unvested restricted stock that they LOSE when they get laid off and then those shares revert to the company's coffers. They give people NO NOTICE, knowing 99% of them will sign their sh---y severance agreement waiving their right to sue because they need the money. It's horrible the way they treat people.

Good post, it should be in its own thread. The original poster is @7jc+1kd557pb0.

Why are most of the affected folks 40 and above? I'm yet to see somebody in their 20s or 30s affected, at least for now.

My retirement date is my only light at the end of this BofA tunnel. I'm too experienced for most entry level roles and seen as too old for the senior jobs I'd actually want. It's a very frustrating and powerless position to be in professionally.

Does it appear that HR is setting itself up for a class action suite with demonstrated age based bias? Will 2026 be the year that HR is accountable.

i will try to be brief. I was dpced last year in nov and then told I failed the dpc and now was on a pip. The pip was very similar with a few things added. I failed dpc in dec and failed pip in feb 2026. I was 53 years old with 17 years in. I was constantly asked to leave on my own and take the pil during the dpc and pip. I was told in the beginning that exxon was trying to help me to get to retirement age. I complained to hr and of course got no help from them. If I knew i was doomed I would not have tried as hard as I did and just left. Everything I did was not good enough according to the supervisor. I was told it was not the work but that I was not a good fit for exxon anymore. I left with no medical and lump sum payout. I am getting unemployment right now and pondering on whether to retire or keep working. There are no guarantees any more so treat exxon like a year to year contract job. I would not have stayed as long and suffered if I knew this outcome. Give exxon the loyalty they give their employees none. There was another who was fired during their dpc and was nre as well. Anyway I hope this helps those in their 50's decide and I am done with exxon.

I am several months into a new role that I knew from day 1 was not a real job. I was due for a move and they clearly didn’t want to waste one of the few visible jobs on me so this is what I was given. Anyone been in a similar situation? Feels inevitable that my ranking and potential will be dropping. Anything I can do about it? Advice? I am just planning to find a new job in my own outside of EM. Just the push I needed as I am in my early 40ies and quickly approaching the age where moves become more difficult due to age discrimination.

Is anyone who was laid off within 5 years of retirement?

I am wondering if anyone impacted by the RIF was close to retirement, maybe within 5 years.

The younger folks here don't realize how lucky they are. They're cheaper to keep, so they're safer. And if they do get cut, the job market is actually open to them. At 52, a layoff for me could be career-ending. It's a terrifying position to be in.

Now that you have been acquired by Texas Instruments, allow me to foreshadow what’s in store based on how the Lehi acquisition went.

66% of you are getting laid off. No one is safe. Start looking NOW!

Your leadership will tell you how great TI is. How we do not do layoffs and have great profit sharing of 20%. This is a LIE. We have quarterly layoffs and profit sharing has been severely curtailed for 2026.

Older employees will be “managed out“ to avoid illegal age discrimination. Document everything! Save every email! Do not sign any forms without consulting a labor lawyer! HR IS YOUR ENEMY!

You will be encouraged to bust your butt during the transition. Don’t. You are probably going to lose your job. Spend that energy finding a new one.

All I have heard regarding those packages were people had a 24 hour response time or it was being withdrawn. Is that true? There are also 21 - 45 day acceptance of severance packages in the US depending on your status. Are those being violated?

This company has outsourced so many jobs to India. Are they really true employees or are they Indian owned and operated with agreements to label them as employees? Is that why it takes them weeks and months to fully terminate them or the 5 managers? The US employee numbers and the high number of Indian employees are a nudge to contact whistleblower portals in the federal government to offshore employees and save money.

For the people over 40, these RIF's are considered group layoffs. It does not matter if you were terminated in groups from the same team. We you given a list of all terminated employees, their ages, title, and any other?

Has anybody contacted DOL or any other wage and labor law representatives regarding the terminations, older people, people with disabilities, offshoring to India, and anyone else?

I would have assumed there would have been audits by now as FIS is breaking up the terminations to bypass federal and public reporting by now but have not heard of any.

This seems like a clear pattern and a major problem, doesn't it?

I am over 50 and was recently laid off. During one of my conversations with HR, they said if I am over 50 and had been with CITI more than 5 years, my severance would had been a full year. I can’t find any information related to this. Does anyone know?

Gen Z can’t move into management roles until the baby boomers leave or retire.

From the last few rounds, I'm getting the strong impression that if you're in your late 40s or 50s, your job is at extreme risk here. Please correct me if I'm wrong since I've been known to be paranoid before, but I think the pattern in the cuts is really hard to ignore.

It makes no sense to fire your most valuable workers to cut costs but here we are again.

Nails it!

"The company discriminates against older workers, outsources U.S. jobs, favors unqualified employees, and prioritizes H-1B hiring for lower-cost labor."

So Citi wants to run off the older generation but the younger generation (mine) has no desire to work in a culture like this. The younger generation’s personal time off is not something they are willing to sacrifice for the good of Citi’s profits. So who’s going to work here? The older folks are willing to work like that but not the younger people. So now what? If you’re hoping that AI will run rampant, its not there yet. More like years away. So…..who? Sure you’ll find some people who may hire on but they won’t put in the hours that Citi is keen on demanding.

Let's see once again who their main target is.

When did Stanley say “we don’t need employees who know how to use an abacus?”

Hint… mostly old white guys with kids in college … not H1Bs who do the same work !!!

https://www.hcamag.com/us/specialization/employment-law/ibm-faces-age-bias-lawsuit-alleging-impossible-performance-improvement-plan/561411

The news comes just in time when 15% low performers would potentially be put on PIP

The average age of employees grades 14-17 seems to have dropped by over 10 years since 2022 at least in Sekou’s org. Clearly driven by layoffs. We’ve seen what looks like blatant examples of age discrimination. Pushing an over 50 to a unique role, replacing with a 30 something, a year later eliminating the unique role. Thats pretty common. What’s the worst example you’ve seen of age discrimination?

65 yr old must retire in the next few months or severance will be forfeited. Can't afford to retire but hand is forced.

Why this push?

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/why-microsoft-employees-over-40-fear-theyre-being-targeted-january-2026-layoffs-1769297

IBM is & always has been about laying the unprotected class off. White men 55 & older. Then white women (= ageism + s-xism). Black men (= ageism+ racism) Black women (= ageism, s-xism, racism). So what did/does IBM do to accomplish this so methodically? They bring in incompetent black women to lay off (throw away like trash) white men to really slap employees in the face. THEN they remove your entire life from your personnel file when you ask for it. It’s like a Wormwood episode. You get your sign- on paperwork & your last “bad” appraisal (to justify their laying you off) written by the DEI hire who suddenly leaves w/a promotion after you’re RA’d. Every award, best appraisal, letters of merit & commendation magically disappear. Where did they go? IBM he-l.

African Americans at IBM can do whatever they want. An ex black co-worker of mine, who still holds her job at 62yo, said to me “if they ever try & lay me off, I’ll sue for racism & s-xism on top of age discrimination.” She never came into the office or customer site when everyone was told to do so back in 2009 -2015. She stayed at home taking care of her mother, her boys, making random Zoom appearances when necessary. She travelled w/IBM all over Europe & India. She took time off constantly (her FB & IG accounts looked like she was retired). And last year when her boss left & a white man got the job, she retained an atty, filed a letter w/the EEOC claiming racism bc she didn't get the job. She was never there but wanted a job she knew nothing about & was totally unqualified to do. What did IBM do w/just the mere threat of a lawsuit? They promoted her & gave her a 13% increase in salary. It literally PAYS to be part of a protected class.

IBM, the business world implores you, release the demographics of your layoffs from the 1970-2025. And Congratulations Arvind Krishna for your recent 23% increase in 2025 pay to $25M. Meanwhile stellar, high performing employees you & Ginni Rometty laid off (Dinobabies & a dated maternal workforce as Ginni called them) are working the graveyard shift at supermarkets, so they can feed their families & put their kids through college. Sc--w you both. Thomas Watson is spinning in his grave. One can only hope grand karma kicks in one day.

Layoffs #Demographics #PersonnelFile