Run Forrest! Run!! But, Where?

I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it's both. – Forrest Gump

I often succumb to some external inspiration to write a post, and since I am getting older and crotchety, my writing usually involves some kind of censure. Not this time. The inspiration for my writing is a post from a Facebook group, fondly called the Dinosaur Club, that is comprised of people who worked at my former employer - a sort of alumni group, if you will. The company's name is never mentioned in the group for a variety of real and imagined reasons. I won't use it here, either. In the Dinosaur Club, it is called Benevolent Employer, or BE, for short. Members are called "Dinos."

I was going to copy and post here the original Facebook writing, but it has been deleted. It was basically a rant from a new Dino who was terminated after 30+ years with BE. She is hardly alone - many members of the group are people recently laid off or "retired" at BE. I write this post for some cathartic therapy over the situation at my old company, but to also perhaps help people appreciate that uncertainty in the employment world (and the rest of the world) is ubiquitous regardless of how rosy things seem. Most people who work now understand that premise, especially after the "great recession," but it seems many may think they are immune to it.

I worked for a bit over 20 years at BE. That may seem like a long time at one company, but it was not for BE. My story is somewhat peculiar, mainly because I came to the company at the late age of 34 and left at the early age of 55. I also left and came back in the middle of that (the "BE recapture" as I was told.) When I joined the company, it enjoyed internally a reputation as a familial place replete with familial norms - conservative behavior and politics, long, long tenured employees, traditions, rigid hierarchical structure, parental-style management, and a demand, of sorts, of loyalty. It also had some enigmatic characteristics that seemed contradictory- expectation of individualism, implicit permission to take risk, an educational culture that rivaled a college, and the opportunity to "climb the ladder" through hard work, self-promotion, sponsorship, and, of course politics. In terms of the Laloux Culture Model, they had lots of characteristics of amber and orange.

I came to the company with a reasonable amount of experience and education, though many of my new coworkers were amazed that I was "so old" (most came to the company right out of college...or the womb as I referred to it) or that I was unrelated to anyone at the company (I quickly determined that nepotism was actually promoted. :) I climbed the ladder quickly to the first rung of management with a couple of years. I was a bit of a maverick and unconventional and that behavior eventually caught up with me over the course of my first 7 years. In 1999, I was lured out to the world of IT recruiting right at the height of the dotcom wave. I knew nothing about programming or technical systems, but I was thrown in the middle of the mix. Recruiting is a cutthroat business and I failed at it miserably. I came crawling back to Beloved Employer, and it rehired ("recaptured") me immediately, but in a non-management position.

Ironically, because of my experience, the hiring manager told me the best she could do was hire me back at the top salary for that lower grade. I laughed inside - the amount was nearly $10,000 higher than what I had been making as a manager 6 months earlier. Naturally, I was restless and I was encouraged by a former subordinate to come back to the company's IT department (historically called "Systems" and still called that) to a role I had absolutely no experience in - Business Analyst. That meant I would need to move to the headquarters city and, since it is a smaller city, it has been historically dominated by employees of BE: one of three working adults works at BE. Though I knew nothing about business analysis, true to its culture and tradition, the company put me through what could only be described as undergraduate education program in business analysis. Then, I asked if I could go through a similar IT project manager program and the answer was, unsurprisingly to me, "Sure!! Why not!" Again, they had a PM education program that involved internal and external training with a curriculum of 12 courses - much like a college major.

While still in the program, I was selected to be a PM and that's when my education really started. I soon realized the limitations and pitfalls of trying to manage IT projects like they were "bridge" projects. I stumbled into "agile" and the fun really began. I developed strong relationships with people in the agile community outside of BE. Because of my zeal and persistence, I made some adversaries at BE, some of whom were in positions of great authority. I was tolerated, but I definitely fell on my career sword. In BE, stepping on someone's toes in the line of hierarchical command was a "career limiting move (aka "CLM".) I did "survive" for nearly 12 years in the Systems department before I decided to retire at 55. In my later years in Systems, work was not much fun because of the politics and bureaucracy, but the earlier years were fun and turbulent. Just my kind of place!!

My manager was "shocked" when he received my electronic retirement form in early 2013. So were lots of others. As I knew well, no one left BE before at least accruing the full retirement pension at age 62 unless you hit the lottery or inherited an uncle's fortune. People were quite provincial about BE. There was little regard for what happened outside of it and life was comfortable inside. Executives and managers told people what they needed to know and took care of them in a parental style. By and large, the work world was encapsulated by the BE cocoon. It was seemingly a cradle to grave existence.

Then came 2017 or thereabouts. BE had been under financial pressure and while as a retiree I'm not privy to all the ins and outs of everything going on inside, I have heard enough directly from employees to have a good sense of what was and is happening. I live only 2 miles from the 2 main campuses and I can go into either one by simply showing my retirement badge. I don't go inside either one very much, but when I do I run into people who say, "Do you have a minute? I have to tell you something." I believe I left a bit of a legacy there promoting and proselytizing agility and while I rubbed some people the wrong way, many others admired my courage and fortitude. I worked on many teams using Scrum and promoted and coached the disciplined use of it. I cared about many people on my teams deeply and I'd like to hope it was reciprocal. BE had a lot of talented people who waited to be unleashed. They rarely were. They could have been assertive, but that was risky and why risk things when life is comfortable.

Now, reality has set in (at least reality in the eyes of executive beholders.) A new CTO was brought in from the outside along with his lieutenants. People were put on notice that everyone could be subject to some sort of "necessity review." No one was safe, regardless of rank, save some very top echelon people. And the reviews and cuts started. It wasn't pretty and it isn't pretty. It's pretty awful. Now, don't mistake my writing here for complaining. I know the "real world." I was in it BBE (before BE) and I have been in it ABE (after BE.) While BE had never had a layoff in its history until this recent time, I knew plenty of people who had been laid off from jobs outside of BE, especially in economically cyclical industries. But, BE management (including me) had proudly proclaimed how it had never laid off people and handled economic variability through attrition and hiring reduction. IT relied heavily on "augmented staff," which could be laid off instantly. From about 1985 through at least 2010, it hired many people and opened many offices.

The world was good. But, after I moved to the Systems department in October 2001, I could see a storm growing on the horizon. We were developing computer systems to replace people's jobs, plain and simple. That was categorically denied and explained away by "we are going to make people more productive." We started hearing the phrase "doing more with less" except the less wasn't specified. It seemed intuitive: less meant less people. At the same time, geographical definitions changed. Three large hubs dispersed along the southern US replaced many scattered locations. Now, people have either transferred or been given a QTD - Qualified Termination Date - the date you are finished as an employee. You can quit "voluntarily" and get a small buyout (one-year salary) or roll the dice to see if you're retained. If you aren't retained, you don't get a buyout. People with "skills in demand" are usually safe. Those with skills no longer highly valued or critical are likely out.

You can imagine what has happened to morale. As one person answered when I asked: "Morale?? There isn't any, Tom. It's ceased to exist around here." Interestingly, many people who received QTD have over 25 years’ experience with BE and more than few have 35+ years. I'm sure the large legal department at BE has carefully thought this whole matter through and developed ironclad defenses to guard against litigation. There have been some other interesting byproducts of the disruption such as armed security at the buildings and avoidance of executives to be seen in person at events. Instead, they appear remotely by video. Though executives claim that the employee numbers will remain static, there seems to be broad doubt about that. Senior executives will quite unlikely be imperiled by the rampant dismissals. Some have been terminated, but the very highest are safe.

People who remain may have "survivor's guilt" - "why them and not me?" The familial culture was so strong at BE that many people could have reactions about terminations of people similar to the death of those people. This is not unusual when you consider that for 90+ years, the bargain was "stay with the BE family and be a loyal employee, and BE will stay with you and provide for you, likely until your death." It has always offered a rather meager pension, but it's a pension and it's "free money" in retirement. Given that I retired at 55, and given my years of experience and last 5 years salary, I receive an annual pension of about $16,000 (50% of the"full amount" at the time.) It's guaranteed for 10 years and then until I die after that. Had I stayed until 62, I would have received about $40,000 annually. BE also pays a third of my health insurance premium, which is better than nothing and the plan is pretty good. No dental or vision provided in retirement, though. (Admittedly, my pension is not a lot, but it does help some for payment of income taxes and health insurance premiums.)

For many, giving up their pension involuntarily through pre-55 age dismissal is a lot to give up if nothing better is on the horizon. Thankfully for me, lots better was on the horizon. But, honestly, I set that up over the last few years I was at the company and many who have been terminated never did that, and understandably so. Now, that uncertainty provides the foundation for whole lot of anxiety and trepidation. I left of my own volition and never looked back. I worked hard to formulate relationships outside of BE and many others never saw a need to do that. Sure, people served on industry organizations and volunteered, but it was often at least partly in the name of advancement and making a mark. Yours truly admits to that.

I read posts in the Dinosaur Club daily. Many are written by people I personally know or people whose names I know. I write little in the group, but that's not out of lack of interest or apprehension, but rather probably out of a lack of inspiration. Interestingly, though it is perhaps 2 or 3 years in existence, it recently admitted its 5,000 member. Given that about 68,000 people work at BE, I expect it to grow in the foreseeable future. People on it provide help and advice, and comfort and support. A lot of that is needed. Many weren't prepared for the shock of involuntary termination. For some, it will cause possible traumatic consequences, and for others, it could open doors they should have or could have opened a long time ago. Either way, the change in their lives will have an effect. "Mama always said 'Life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.' " Hopefully, they're the sweet variety.