I worked for a major company that just did a Reduction In Force initiative. I was one of the select few who was chosen to participate in the program. As HR explained to me during my “And here are your lovely parting gifts…” phone call, I qualify for 3 months of their Outplacement Services to “further my career…”.
The funny part was that I had just turned 68, with the intention of working until my 69th birthday. I spent the prior week working on a training plan to teach someone to take over my duties, at the insistence of my boss, her boss, and her bosses boss. All of whom were paranoid I was going to win the lottery and quit my job. Or actually retire in gasp… only a year…
So then someone in an office somewhere removed from my building looked at a chart and decided that my position was not necessary. Entirely not based on age, of course… It was merely coincidence that 80% of the positions removed had people in their late 50's and 60's…
Which is strange since the VP that runs our building was so concerned with me leaving. Apparently no communication between HR and our buildings boss.
I supported a custom built application that our department of 10 people is 100% reliant on, that will be practically impossible to find someone to support it. So I figure there's about a 2-5% chance that I'll get a call in a few weeks asking me to do some consulting work… Got my fingers crossed; I wouldn't be cheap…
Now it's trying to adjust to having all kinds of free timee…