http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/12/29/cibc-banker-age-discrimination.html
You bet, there's discrimination.
As a former manager with one of Canada's big banks, I can attest to the fact that theses companies do indeed base their "redundancy" decisions on age and seniority. Why keep a long-term, middle-aged employee earning an $80K salary when they can pay $40K to someone fresh out of university. It's all about the bottom line.
I can cite dozens of redundancy situations where excellent employees were terminated from their jobs simply because they were over 45 years of age and too high on the pay scale.
During my tenure with the bank, I had the unpleasant task of down-sizing entire departments on several occasions. I was given this verbal directive: take a look at your staff and cut the ones with the highest salaries and the ones within five years of retirement. Of course, this was never in writing and I was told not to refer to these measures in an e-mail.
The results of these actions looked real good on the bank's financial statements at the end of the year. The president is deemed a hero and the shareholders are happy. But the reality is back at the ranch, so to speak. The people who actually do the work are spread so thin that the slightest glitch throws the whole operation into crisis. The long-term employees who knew how to fix the glitches are gone - sent on their way with a handshake and a measly severance package.
After all these years, the big-wigs at the bank still don't get it. Maybe their jobs should be the ones made redundant.
You bet, there's discrimination.
As a former manager with one of Canada's big banks, I can attest to the fact that theses companies do indeed base their "redundancy" decisions on age and seniority. Why keep a long-term, middle-aged employee earning an $80K salary when they can pay $40K to someone fresh out of university. It's all about the bottom line.
I can cite dozens of redundancy situations where excellent employees were terminated from their jobs simply because they were over 45 years of age and too high on the pay scale.
During my tenure with the bank, I had the unpleasant task of down-sizing entire departments on several occasions. I was given this verbal directive: take a look at your staff and cut the ones with the highest salaries and the ones within five years of retirement. Of course, this was never in writing and I was told not to refer to these measures in an e-mail.
The results of these actions looked real good on the bank's financial statements at the end of the year. The president is deemed a hero and the shareholders are happy. But the reality is back at the ranch, so to speak. The people who actually do the work are spread so thin that the slightest glitch throws the whole operation into crisis. The long-term employees who knew how to fix the glitches are gone - sent on their way with a handshake and a measly severance package.
After all these years, the big-wigs at the bank still don't get it. Maybe their jobs should be the ones made redundant.
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