Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Boomer Blockade: How One Generation Reshaped Work and Left Everyone Behind

think-boundless.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 31 posts

Re: The Boomer Blockade: How One Generation Reshaped Work and Left Everyone Behind

#3

Post by mc32 »

This will be true of economies that go through quick growth. It’s already hit Japan and led to the “lost decades”, it will hit China in 20 years or so...

But the issue is more complex. Today there is global competition and your jobs (never mind promotions) get shipped off.

So they don’t even have a chance at a working stiff’s job at all. That’s where desperation comes from.

Re: The Boomer Blockade: How One Generation Reshaped Work and Left Everyone Behind

#4

Post by geogra4 »

Interesting article - but it's even worse than that. I had a friend of mine who is a lawyer at a large hospital system. When the boomer head of the legal department retired they gave him the same job she had with half of the salary. Even when the boomer blockade stands down, what's left isn't what it used to be.

Re: The Boomer Blockade: How One Generation Reshaped Work and Left Everyone Behind

#6

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

geogra4 wrote: post #4

Interesting article - but it's even worse than that. I had a friend of mine who is a lawyer at a large hospital system. When the boomer head of the legal department retired they gave him the same job she had with half of the salary. Even when the boomer blockade stands down, what's left isn't what it used to be.

I don't know if it's lucky that the job didn't just cease to exist or not in that case. I know when my father retired his job disappeared. One could ask if the job was that important if they could remove it, but in this case it was deemed non-vital, so no effort was made to replace him.

Ironically, it was focused on evaluating ways to transfer knowledge to new hires to account for the brain drain incurred due to retiring boomer population.

Re: The Boomer Blockade: How One Generation Reshaped Work and Left Everyone Behind

#7

Post by zaphod12 »

geogra4 wrote: post #4

Interesting article - but it's even worse than that. I had a friend of mine who is a lawyer at a large hospital system. When the boomer head of the legal department retired they gave him the same job she had with half of the salary. Even when the boomer blockade stands down, what's left isn't what it used to be.

while halving seems extreme, this isn't that ridiculous when you think about it (nor is it uncommon). The previous head of legal had probably been getting promotions for many years as (s)he continued to grow and become better at the role. Whenever I am promoted, I don't expect my entry salary will be identical to someone with the same title and 10 more years of experience doing the job.

Re: The Boomer Blockade: How One Generation Reshaped Work and Left Everyone Behind

#10

Post by sylk »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #6
geogra4 wrote: post #4

Interesting article - but it's even worse than that. I had a friend of mine who is a lawyer at a large hospital system. When the boomer head of the legal department retired they gave him the same job she had with half of the salary. Even when the boomer blockade stands down, what's left isn't what it used to be.

I don't know if it's lucky that the job didn't just cease to exist or not in that case. I know when my father retired his job disappeared. One could ask if the job was that important if they could remove it, but in this case it was deemed non-vital, so no effort was made to replace him. Ironically, it was focused on evaluating ways to transfer knowledge to new hires to account for the brain drain incurred due to reti…

That's hilarious. That sounds like such an important job, brain drain is heavily damaging to companies and can destroy work when people don't know how to continue what the previous individual was doing.
Post reply on HN