My Dad was a company man for 35 years. He moved up, got promotions and fat raises, stock options has a pension and a great 401k. They treated him like royalty as he excelled at his job in a technical field where very few people operate. He was, for a long time “irreplaceable”… until he told them he was retiring.
The amount of disrespect, forced meetings, blackout days, late calls and demands put on him for his final 6 months bordered on criminal. They cut him off midway through his final day as he was still trying to work with HR on getting things set up for retirement (they pushed it out for as long as possible), shut off his email and tried to cancel his company phone at 5pm the day he retired. Despite prior promises he could keep the phone (he couldn't) and his number…that he alone has had since 1998! He kept the number but had to get a brand new account and port it over to my family plan with IT jumping through hoops for him.
It was the most ridiculous treatment of an employee that helped build the his region, gave them 35 years of his life and at the end he was nothing more than a number. No dinner. No gold watch. A quickly put together Teams call with not even a dozen people that lasted 20 minutes.
When it was over he called me and said: “I wish they hadn't done anything at all, that was insulting. I'd rather have quitely signed off and disappeared.”
I could tell he was hurt. My Dad moved heaven and earth for this company, made them tens of millions of dollars in profit and built out platforms that will continue making them millions more for a generation.
Within 6 months my Dad went from the ultimate, in-office company man with absolute loyalty into a bitter person that is pro WFH and feels my sister and I should “get ours” no matter what's good for the company, including leaving if needed. In the end, corporate greed caused the most loyal person I know to perform a complete 180. Congratulations corporate America, you've officially fucked yourself! 🥳