@Creekland Unfortunately, neither one of us are the entrepreneurial type at all. Having your own business comes with its own challenges I am sure. We like the presumed stability of working for an established company with paid time off, 401(k), good healthcare coverage etc. and of course now we are confronting the fact that it’s not all that stable after all.
Great suggestion about joining the User Group, he’ll definitely do that.
@jonri, thank you for your advice!
If your husband decides to consult an attorney, it would be wise to bring any non-compete agreements he signed with his current employer to that meeting.
Based on everything I’ve read, I don’t think there’s a problem. Where I work, I’ve had to cross-train others because I’m literally the only person who can do certain things. The cross training is great because I don’t have to be as careful about days off.
“Based on everything I’ve read, I don’t think there’s a problem. Where I work, I’ve had to cross-train others because I’m literally the only person who can do certain things. The cross training is great because I don’t have to be as careful about days off.”
I agree. Based on what is posted here, I don’t see an obvious cause for concern, just prudent management practices. However, if these steps are also combined with less stellar evaluations than your husband has received in the past, that would be cause for concern.
It is always wise to be thinking about the next step in terms of skills and contacts. I’ll also add, that at the ages of parents posting here, it is wise to make sure you are saving adequately. Age discrimination is a thing and can be hard to prove. Looking for a job in one’s 50s/60s often does take much longer.
Yes, the is not much of a “social contract” around established company employment, despite the perception of such. Big companies pass business risks to their employees by laying them off quickly when business goes down. Compared to a few decades ago, more of the business risks are being shouldered by labor relative to capital, even though capital now gets a larger share of the rewards from economic growth.
Better benefits at big companies exist mostly because big companies are more desirable customers to benefit companies and usually have HR people who do a better job shopping for benefits.
I’m not sure I see a problem. Companies change, and expect that their employees will change as well. It sounds like your husband was pretty happy with the status quo…and now there will be a new one.
He has two options.
OR
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
This was such a straightforward question that required no insertion of politics (which is a ToS violation anyway). Please stick to topic. Several posts deleted.
I am 57. I’ve been with my employer for almost 30 years. I sometimes have to train people. I don’t particularly like providing training because it adds to my already packed workload. But I figure that being asked to provide training, being told that earlier trainees have commented favorably about the training I provided, and agreeing to train again can’t hurt me in the eyes of my supervisors.
Cross-training is especially important when only one person holds knowledge. I don’t want to be told that I can’t take vacation days because I’m the only one who knows how to do something nor do I want to be dinged for taking vacation despite being the only one who knows how to do something.
At a previous position, I thought this was happening to me (asking me to train another because they were going to take my place). I actually asked the people involved directly (probably a mistake). They said," no, no, we are doing it to help you as well as spread the knowledge". Sounds good right? well, they were planning on getting me out the door and they did a couple of months later. The person i trained took over. yay. Then the same thing happened to hubby, totally different industry. Large company so you could never prove it but everyone let go was over 45. In an industry that is relatively young overall. We have had enough! Always networking from this point on, and hubby is reemployed but continues to speak with the headhunter regularly and interview just in case. Now a friend (age 61) is being asked to train 3 other people on their job. The writing is on the wall and all the positive reframing in the world will not convince me that friend is not about to be let go…
Good luck to you. IMO talking to HR is going to be viewed as complaining, seniority has no meaning in many industries, and listening to positive takes may be reassuring, but hey you don’t need to worry about the day when his firm keeps him on, sharing responsibilities with others. You only have to worry about the potential negative. So get out and network, i would say. that’s the over 45 year old perspective.
At my first job as a structural engineer, the company was very slow (they lost a big project shortly after they hired DH and me). They had me pasting photos in reports for awhile, and then I was asked to oversee the installation of sewer pipes and manholes, an activity I knew NOTHING about. I did think it was odd that the male engineers weren’t asked to do things like that…
It sounds like a good thing that the husband is being asked to train the older worker who was left with no work to do. Getting rid of the older worker might have need easier but it sounds like they like to keep people. Agree that the husband should try to train and be cross trained as enthusiastically as possible.
I agree that age discrimination occurs and that some employers don’t need much of an excuse to let people go. But refusing to train a coworker is not likely to protect someone if an employer has plans to downsize. In fact, it might give the employer cause for firing. So, network and look for a new job but also do what the current employer requests.
I agree with cheddar. In all of my personal examples, the training of others proceeded normally…we all remain careful not to lose our own workplace integrity as we wonder about the intentions of the higher ups. one eye on the current job, cheerfully, refusing no tasks and one eye firmly on the future
“What I don’t understand is that the lady who he is training on part of his job is even older than him and also has been with the company a while and also makes good $$ so what’s the point in training her and take it away from him? That’s where I see unfairness and I think that needs to be questioned but he doesn’t want to start anything now in case he is wrong or even in case he is right but to not burn his bridges.”
This means he likely has no legal grounds to complain. Her being older probably nixes the age discrimination suit
These tasks don’t really “belong” to us. They’re all work we do on behalf of the company. Like some others, I don’t agree the writing is definitely on the wall. Even if he were training the newbie, I wouldn’t see any insult. Other details would need to gel, first.
My D is in line for a promo, but the position approval fell through (local had jumped the gun n the schedule) - after a new person was hired. They found work from all other senior staff to keep this new person. No one sees doom.
But it’s always good to CYA.
“It’s times like these when I’m really thankful H opted to start his own firm. He never has to worry about whether the boss agrees with him or wants to keep him!”
Yeah, you never have to worry about clients or customers.
Totally different than “the boss” deciding to replace you with someone else to save money or whatever the whim is.
Your aspect tends to depend upon skills, both on the job and people skills. Fortunately H shines at both and doesn’t even need to advertise to stay incredibly busy. Word of mouth works. Whether that works for others will depend upon their skills.
I agree with the others that this is probably something harmless but it could also be a good thing. Make sure husband polishes up his resume and adds “training” as one of his job-related skills. He’s not training classrooms of people but the skill is still important and I feel like it’s a hot buzzword now.
@Creekland, same for us. The only time we had to market was shortly after 9/11 when the economy seemed to stop up here. We made a few cold calls to architects and got some work. Other than that, it’s all word of mouth. We’ve been turning down jobs this year.
The trouble with working for engineering firms is that they are so dependent on procuring large projects. If that doesn’t happen, there’s not enough to do to keep everyone busy and they have to let someone go. When it’s just the two of us working, we can get by on small projects when we have to. It’s a very different situation.
I don’t see any issue here. It is important to cross train people so there are backups. A manager would not be doing his/her job if there is no backup for critical work.
I would caution about going to HR. In my experience, HR is there to protect the company, not the employees. Whatever OP’s H says to HR will be shared with the manager.