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IT Workers Facing Layoffs Jolted By CEO's Message (computerworld.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the lowering-the-boom-on-boomers dept.

HCSC recently announced layoffs for more than 500 IT workers, and expects them to train their replacements from an India-based contractor. But a few days earlier, CEO Paula Steiner said, "As full-time retiring baby boomers move on to their next chapter, the makeup of our organization will consist more of young and non-traditional workers, such as part-time workers or contractors." dcblogs quotes ComputerWorld: What Steiner didn't say in the employee broadcast is that some of the baby boomers moving "on to the next chapter" are being pushed out the door. "Obviously not all of us are 'retiring' -- a bunch of us are being thrown under the bus," said one older employee.
The insurance provider argues that its members want easier technology solutions that "help keep rising costs in check. Our IT teams are being transformed...focusing on those and other member needs." But Slashdot reader ErichTheRed writes: Having a CEO actually say in public that their company wants to engage in age discrimination and eliminate full-time employment, rather than just carry out the work in secret, is new to me... for those mid- to late-career technical folks, how have you managed to adjust to new realities like this?

8 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. Don't worry guys... by Mashiki · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those H1B's are just there to "temporarily" fill a lack of skilled workers.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
    1. Re:Don't worry guys... by Tailhook · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A 200,000/year H-1B quota is why the tech companies have been writing checks to the Clinton Foundation. The web monkeys and cubicle trolls of Slashdot are about to vote themselves out of their own industry.

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      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    2. Re:Don't worry guys... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      A 200,000/year H-1B quota is why the tech companies have been writing checks to the Clinton Foundation.

      Heh, but Trump even outsourced his wife

    3. Re: Don't worry guys... by just___giver · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I was asked to train my replacement from India about one year ago. I gave my manager a list of everything they needed to know. They wanted me to do sessions to train them. I said fine, I need prep time for each session and I'm only doing one a day. They screen recorded each session and it took about a hundred hours over three months. I buried them in minutia. If anyone wants to go through it or search it there's a hundred hours of tedious monotone instruction. It's been eight months since I left, no significant features committed to source control. We were doing major releases every month previously. They are thinking of bringing us back now but it is too late we've all moved on to better work. Company is losing millions a year by not having all of their refineries using this custom system that's been eight years in development. Tens of millions to re write from scratch. I've heard they are considering bringing us back but we have all moved on to better things now.

    4. Re:Don't worry guys... by swb · · Score: 5, Informative

      The problem with bulk immigration, whether legal or illegal, has always been that both parties have a paradoxical alignment.

      Traditionally the Republicans have been OK with it because it served the interests of corporations and big agriculture by pushing down labor costs and helping profitability. The existing system is OK because as long as the immigrants are non-citizens, they can't be a voting threat and their semi-legal to illegal status makes them disposable or willing to submit to hostile working conditions. This is why the Republicans have never done anything about illegal immigration or H1B abuse.

      The Democrats have been in favor of it because it mollifies their progressive constituency's desire for social justice and multiculturalism and they believe it will give them a long term demographic base that will vote Democratic. Democrats also want to cozy up to Silicon Valley, which at least on the corporate side, is in favor of H1Bs, too.

      But this has started to unravel for Republicans -- a non-trivial bloc of voters has seen through their strategy as a jobs replacement program and demanded better border enforcement. This was manageable for Republicans when they had a bottled up Tea Party segment who could scream about illegals but not do anything, but that genie has escaped the bottle and now they have Trump.

      It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Republican establishment would back a Hillary move to expand H1Bs as a way to regain political power and try to evict the Trumpistas.

      What I'm curious about is when immigration policy begins to unravel for Democrats. I'm amazed to this day that Black politicos haven't called the Democrats on immigration. It's worst effect is on African Americans who have seen Mexicans completely take over low-skilled, entry level jobs. And by rotting out the base of technical jobs that don't require professional degrees, Democrats have basically been gutting the kind of employment that allows people to pull themselves into middle class jobs and lifestyles, especially African Americans, who lack the connections and family history to gain entry to these jobs any other way.

      I think the support Bernie Sanders had shows that Clinton globalization economics isn't universally popular, as does her inability to outpoll even Trump by 40 points.

  2. I saved hard from age 30, retired. by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I saw 50 year olds being laid off when in 1980 when I was entering the field. And that's when we had stronger age discrimination protection (pre 2009 gutting by SCOTUS) and no H1B's.

    If you are lucky or a genius (top 1% in your field), you'll be fine. otherwise, count on being dumped on the street without warning at about 45 to 54 years old. If we can get the ACA correctly in place, it would reduce some of the incentive ( "self" insuring corporations realize that older people cost a lot more for insurance starting about age 45 and want to dump them unless they have critical skills).

    The next 20 years are going to be bad. A glut of older workers with no savings willing to work at anything to keep from starving. Meanwhile fields like Trucking with 3 million employees may practically vanish over 5 years and the new jobs will only be open to 20 year olds trained in the new technologies (and they may not find enough jobs either- the 30 year olds I know are all about 8 years behind my generation to reach their first cars, first homes, etc.) and I was about 8 years behind my parents generation.

    When your skills are hot, save half what you make until you have enough to live until age 80 if you lose your job. If your job is stable, buy a house because that will fix your monthly payments. The house payment stays about $1200 a month while the apartment rent goes from $1200 to $1800 over a decade. Sure there are repairs but get home owners insurance and learn to change a washer and patch sheetrock (EASY for IT types).

    Management is good money for 4-8 years but a dead end (layoffs). Getting some critical, complex skill that can't easily be outsources is good. And as long as indian language skills suck, business analysts are going to be safe for a while.

    Over time- packages are going to become more common. You purchase them and configure them but you don't code them. Problem is they can be replaced with a new hot package you don't get trained in without warning.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  3. Labor union should help you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Walk out together without training any replacements. This is what labor unions are for.

    Force your employer into a situation it cannot handle by itself. It needs its workers and will stop functioning if enough workers walk out.

  4. WORKERS OF THE WORLD! FUCK OFF! by mad7777 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, competition sucks. Welcome to the global economy.

    That cushy job you call "yours" actually belongs to your employer. You are paid at the owners' discretion.

    OK, having said all that, I can tell you that, in all probability, the idiots in charge will be furiously back-pedaling in a few years, once they realize that you get what you pay for. I've been through this. Upper management has strictly no clue what IT even does, but they understand the bottom line. If some Indian IT consulting company offers services at bargain basement prices, they don't ask too many questions. To them, IT services are fungible.

    If you were good at your job, you might be able to get it back at that point. Of course, if you were good, you probably found something better in the meantime. In that case, you will be thanking your current employer for giving you the kick in the ass you needed to get on with your life.

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    Might makes right irrelevant.