How many of you over the age of 45 have had your commission or pay reduced in order to force you out and replace you with a younger cheaper employee. Also, how many of you have been passed over for a promotion for a younger person who has very little time with the company?
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I'm not really talking about Sales (and out of the 15000 or so Corporate employees only about 5000 are sales so there are lots of other people / positions to consider), and in Sales I'd say that you have a point.
But I can also call it like I see it, at Staples and at 4 other companies I've worked for.
Not everyone wants to be CEO, not everyone wants to even be a VP, or manage people at all. That's where there is a struggle. Individual contributors who max out the salary due to tenure without maxing out their effort. But I managed a team with a group of "lifers" who really thought they just deserved a lifetime appointment and annual raises beyond the COLA simply for just doing what was already expected. It's not everyone, it's not even MOST people, and I'm speaking as someone in my 40s but with less than 5 years in. But talk to people who have 10, 15 years or more in a company where they've figured out what they need to do to look busy, to get by, to check the boxes and not do much more and that's the problem. It's not just ageism. It's a combination of bad management (how can you motivate employees when managers change 3, 4 times in a year, reorgs and cuts are squeezing employees who are now doing the tasks or 2, 3+ people) and raises are capped,) and complacency (why should I do more when I won't get more in return?)
Take a foot off the gas? Nonsense.... typical staples management response to eliminating older employees.
Many of the folks pushed out were and are great sales people. For someone to generalize, basically saying they became ineffective and lackluster is just a play to excuse the removal of higher paid sales folks.
My suggestion to you is get your head out of you @ss.
Go back to your now temporary management position at staples and wait for the axe man. He is a coming!
The problem with crying agism is that for many people who have stayed in a job for over say 10+ years, there is often tendency to take your foot of the gas. To stop innovating, stop learning, etc. I managed people in this situation, hell I've been in that situation and knew it was time to get a new job. It's not only people 40+, it's people who have been somewhere for too long and either aren't incentivized (internally driven or financially) or threatened enough to keep achieving. I have seen that at Staples in every department.
Look at SDS. How many long-timers (not OLD-timers) who work ridiculous hours (6-2?? Seriously? What if anything happens after 2:00?) or work from home but are rarely reachable. There is just a lack of drive to do more, learn more. It's bad management, but also laziness, complacency. The amount of outrage over layoffs of people who literally only knew how to do a handful of IT tasks when they should've taken the initiative to educate themselves on new / emerging technology is just pathetic. People wonder why they get replaced. Not saying there isn't agism at Staples (I've seen that too) but take some personal responsibility.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe you just s---ed at your job?
I was replaced with someone in their lat 20s. I was cut and a month later, the position was filled. I was told the reason was realignment. I am in my 50s and it has all worked out. Have a way better job elsewhere and am VERY happy to be out of this failing company. Good luck to anyone over 50.