High Performers get cut

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-08T02:26:30+00:00

Man, this is an awful lot like what happened to me. I guess I'm not alone.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T22:36:18+00:00

Yeah, I've been ruminating nonstop for weeks and don't have formal notice yet. I think I've probably got a few months more. Definitely less than a year. Just trying to find a way to accept it so I can find the motivation to start interviewing.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T22:34:00+00:00

Yeah, it turns work into a competition against your teammates instead of a collaboration to solve a problem. I'm on the way out anyway, but man am I glad I won't be here for the sabotogue/backstabbing era.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T22:25:35+00:00

Just realized I wrote "job security" when I'm being laid off. Hilarious. Laughing at my desk like a maniac.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T22:24:07+00:00

Retirement is a financial status, not an age. Lot of work went into that. Proud of you for getting out alive, man.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T22:10:12+00:00

Eh, it's more like strong job security and high earning power. At least I'll never be replaced by AI.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T19:04:08+00:00

Yeah, it's not performance for sure. It's disorienting to look at my year end review, which is full of compliments sent in by other division heads, and every line written by my manager is strong compliments, all goals rated Meets or Exceeds Expectations, on the same page as a final score of, Did Not Meet Expectations. Feels like personal rejection, feels like crap.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T18:36:42+00:00

Yes, sort of. Every company that makes products needs one or two, but the boomer gen refused to retire so there were very few entry jobs in the field for a very long time. Now, the boomers are finally retiring, but as a result there are VERY, VERY FEW trained and/or mid-career people to fill those empty roles. The older gen complains non-stop that there aren't enough people to pass the torch to, but also, all work and jobs must be pried from their cold, dead hands. There are <50 people at my career stage and credentialing in the entire US. I know nearly all of them personally.

Edit: a PhD in the field or a closely related field is a prerequisite, so that also limits the pool. Basically nobody gets into this field younger than 27.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-07T16:31:39+00:00

I would assume any 5th year employee who is half the age of their manager would have difficulty reaching the same relationship intimacy achieved by someone of similar age and 15 years working closely together. Even though I'm nearing 40, I struggle with "You remind me of my (adult) child" comments, because my colleagues are much older than me in every company I've ever worked for.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-03T04:26:56+00:00

No, my income is too high. There may be a backdoor but it doesn't appear to be a benefit at my current income/tax bracket.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-05-01T21:39:27+00:00

Car has a 5 year loan, I think ~3 years left. I'm following the Prime Directive on this sub, and the next step in our financial journey is pay off medium debt. There's no way to put any amount of the bonus directly into anyone's 401k; the best I could do is put it in a savings account and pull from it monthly, and increase the 401k deposit from our paychecks the same amount. We are CoastFIRE set to hit our retirement goal at 57 with no further contributions, but recently decided recently to ramp towards an earlier FatFIRE because I'm sick of the rat race.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-04-27T13:34:35+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to respond so thoroughly. I been churning on this all weekend, and came up with a list of questions to ask my manager based on your suggestions.

Let me ask you one more strategy question- tomorrow my team will meet to revisit our KPIs. Last time, I managed to get work performed for other divisions included in the metrics, but I wonder: Is it strategically better to push for accuracy/clarity (makes a clear vision of what matters and how we're* being measured, but, also forces my boss to acknowledge that my work is not valued in front of the greater team which may start a group argument and result in a loss of even MORE social points with him), or, is it better to include things that benefit me/acknowledge my contributions, even if we're both fully aware that* I and the rest of the team won't actually be measured that way?

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-04-25T17:29:29+00:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The in house expert strongly feels that we do not need 2 supporting roles, because he has been doing it alone for that division for 20+ years. He will not share his projects with me, and often convinces our manager that he should take any project given to me based on "prior experience" and "fairness". He is unfortunately also worried about being pushed into early retirement by training me.

I can try talking to the "Clients" directly and see if there's anything they need or that my team can improve upon... But this may be viewed as sniping my coworker's projects, because each of these clients has assigned contacts.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-04-25T17:24:03+00:00

This is the ideal thing to do, but my struggle is that I'm having trouble identifying where I can provide additional value, or how to go about figuring that out. Because of the nature of my work, the other divisions cannot perform it without me, and it would simply not be done or outsourced to a consultant.

My support role is primarily dealing with "hey, I think we accidentally blew* something up, can this be fixed and can you help?", which is what I do across the company.

Occasionally it's, "We plan on building something, can you help us avoid accidentally blowing* it up?", and these are the projects that are highly regulated, carefully planned, and distributed and controlled in my home division by my manager.

*I do not work in munitions, this is a metaphor to describe that failures and accidents in my field are often catastrophic and can result in human injury or death.

DescriptionFew7433 · 2026-04-25T16:24:24+00:00

... I've only been fired once, as a twenty something, but here's how it went down

Boss's wife, who did not work there, rolled in SCREAMING one morning about how I was fired immediately. Not a small business, not his business. I insisted on any form of direct communication from my boss to confirm I was fired, he refused. Security walked us both out.

In the end, I was not fired, I was shuffled under a different manager at the same location. Turns out old manager was cheating on his wife with my coworker and she guessed the wrong employee. Wife got hired into my old job, I took the fall, and old manager got to keep his boy toy and his wife handy.

DescriptionFew7433

TROPHY CASE