My Government Position is Being 'Downsized'

[asphaltgambler]

It is with a heavy heart that my small department is either being "Put on Hold" or possibly eliminated all together as of this week..............

Back story: I came to work for a large local ( very wealthy) county government almost 10 years ago at age 53. I wanted out of the car business,; fixed operations as I was done with the constant volatility, uncertainty, the core business model of everybody cheating everyone else and essentially no future. Because in the retail car business no one really 'retires' they just don't show up to work the next day.

With a minor career in IT in the late 1990's to early 2000's, I used that to break out of my former career and into something that at least looked promising, secure, steady pay. I started essentially as a 'Help-Desk' person for a separate division, albeit part-time with the promise of full time position within the county. After almost 2 years that division was struggling financially and a permanent gig was not to be......... for me or anyone else. In fact when I left ............they never filled it.

With my limited IT experience and training I could not make the transition to a different division within the county when a similar (rare) opportunity showed up. There are a lot of components to this part, but at that time / bad economy everyone wanted out of the private sector because of the fallout from the housing crisis and dwindling tax base.

It was said at that time for every 1 position that the County 'advertised', as much as 1000 applicants were received. Very telling in that recent era.

So I (very reluctantly) fell back on my 3-1/2 decades of automotive experience, applied, and subsequently was accepted in what was basically...... a glorified tire changer. I accepted that as it was the only opening they had full time with benefits. I swallowed my pride and my small paycheck and worked diligently; applying myself to the work at hand. I was promoted in 6 months to next level Technician, and again @3 years later to a Technician III within our small quality control department.

It was my dream job, I flourished at least at that time. I had a great boss that was retiring soon. We did on-site inspections, accident investigations, incident investigations. We were free to develop training, research better, more efficient was of doing things, etc, etc. For most of the time after that, my coworker and I did not have any boss, directly anyway.

Fast-forward to the last 6 months. We are losing good and sometimes not so good people to both outside industries as well as other divisions within the county itself. Currently we have the least amount of staff in 10 years yet responsible for more vehicles to service than ever. It is primarily due to lower pay than competing outside entities.

Last month, I was given a letter from the head of our division that I am going to work back as a technician on the floor with a wrench in hand My coworker received the same news, but a month earlier. This is my last week in my comfortable office, with truck, laptop, cell phone, working a banker's shift - to standing in a bay, with a wrench in my hand, working on giant equipment where the shift starts: 5:30 am. I am completely heart broken. I've done this all my life. After my last promotion, and have accomplished a great deal of projects with a lot of success, it feels like I'm going backwards...................................becaus e I am.

The upside is we're going to receive more semi-annual bonuses, I am scheduled for an @11% pay raise, starting this Friday. But at 63 years old, I feel like I'm already past all this *****. Like, apparently, they seem to need a strong back with a weak mind in the current climate.

I'm in very good health, do not look my age and have already laid out plans to retire here in @7-8 years. My current position is very specialized, and no surrounding counties' or even Federal govt has similar openings available. The reason I'm staying is the county has a pension plan, not 401K or Virginia Retirement System.

I start next Monday; 5:30am. I know I can do it, but just do not have the 'want to' right now. My fear is that I will not have the physical stamina that I had even 3-1/2 years ago....................... I just need to vent today ..........here

[masraum]

That sucks, but at least there's a silver lining. At least you have a job on Mon instead of sitting home on Mon wondering when/what the next gig is going to be. And a demotion with a raise is also a pretty nice silver lining.

I find that most of the time when something occurs, later down the line I can look back and think "that sucked when it happened, but it lead me to the next step, and that next step was an improvement over what I'd been envisioning for the future."

Hopefully, 6 months or a year from now, you can look back on this and think "thank goodness that happened because look at me and where I am now!"

[stomachmonkey]

Sorry to hear.

On the upside, you are close to retirement age.

Imagine if this turn of events came about when you were 10 years younger than you are today.

Hope that helped.

[fintstone]

Everything in government goes full circle. The work you were doing was likely taken for granted by management, but it was not created for no reason. Just hang in there and do your best where planted. Something will fail or not get done and they will wonder why/who did that type preventative/quality control work before and they will probably reopen the job or similar with a new name and you can get another raise when they rehire/promote you.

“When one door closes another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
Alexander Graham Bell

[asphaltgambler]

Thanks guys.........

[john70t]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

This is my last week in my comfortable office, with truck, laptop, cell phone, working a banker's shift - to standing in a bay, with a wrench in my hand, working on giant equipment where the shift starts: 5:30 am.

Traffic will be easier. Afternoon naps. They will still need an office foreman eventually. And they might realize your current job is stil needed. Those in in the know will shine. You still have employment. Just trying to find the upside here. That sux.

[flatbutt]

2 years and out? If so, you can do that time standing on your head. Good luck bro.

[KFC911]

^^^^ What he said .... sorry about your situation AG .... just put 'er in neutral and coast downhill brother.

Best to you.....

[jyl]

That’s ****ty. You have every reason to be bummed out. On the positive side, your base pay is going up, you should have overtime opportunities, and more physical activity is potentially a good thing. Make the best of it, it’s their mistake not yours, and at some point you may have the chance to help them set things straight.

[Zeke]

The uncertainty of being self employed is only eclipsed by being employed by another. I've had my share of ups and too many downs to want to think about it, but I wouldn't have traded that for having a boss for anything.

I have, on occasion, worked for an actual boss and I think I made it 6 months at the longest. I did stay at my first full time job with the phone company for 9 months, mainly because climbing poles was fun. That was until they got over 50'.

[billybek]

Is it a pensioned position? If so that bump in pay will make a pretty big difference to your pension income once retired.

Sucks to hear that you feel you are going backwards. It seems that recently my employer has begun to "quiet fire" older employees.
Will see how it all works out.

[asphaltgambler]

Thanks again guys. Yes ^^^ I'm eligible to retire there with full pension at 70. I want to work, up until recently I liked going to work, feeling I was making a difference. Now I feel like a coal mine mule...

[jyl]

BK raised a good point. Watch for clues that they are trying to pressure out older employees, or other patterns based on age. Maybe someone in HR figured out the pension plan savings.

[cstreit]

Ug. Unexpected job changes are a tough one to swallow. I've been there once when we got acquired. Good office job to "You're going to travel 4 days a week".

...the best time to look for a new job is while you're still employed.

[stealthn]

Is this not constructive dismissal?

[KFC911]

I saw more layoffs, downsizings, outsourcing, etc. than I care to remember during my corporate IT career. Don't take it personal AG ... it just "is", and many times there is very little logic involved except reducing headcount (costs), and has little or nothing to do with you.
It sucks, but there is no loyalty towards employees .... zip, zilch, nada .... NONE!

Take care of your mental health and realize that you are going to be just fine even though you don't see it right now.... I've seen that in almost every scenario too.

Best to you!

[jhynesrockmtn]

I don't have much to add other than sorry. These kinds of changes are tough to deal with. It sounds like you are handling this well. Hopefully something better presents itself in short order.

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Is this not constructive dismissal?

No, not at all. I have the same position / title and bump in salary, but our division is extremely short-handed and they people that can do and can lead............
Also a lot of what I do is training; both classroom and hands-on. These days they cannot afford to have the limited staff off even for classroom training

[creaturecat]

work slow and methodical.
use mechanical advantage at each and every opportunity.
you will get fitter, unless you hurt yourself.
enjoy each day - for what it's worth - or quit.

[fintstone]

Sounds like an opportunity to be even more valuable to me. If you successfully meet challenges of reduced resources, eventually they will give you more responsibility. A pay raise indicates confidence in your abilities.

About 20 years ago, I was happy in my dream job. Management loved me and I was doing great. I was loyal and practically worshipped them and was deep into an organizational change project that would have promoted both to career pinnacles.

Then one day the senior leader and deputy called me in, fired me, had me walked me out of the facility, and refused to tell me why I was fired. I was devastated. Apparently, they believed I had turned them for some minor infraction through our anonymous whistleblower program (they just lied, and it blew over completely) but they wanted payback.

Since I was not the whistleblower, I did not enjoy any legal protections for whistleblowers. I would have just moved on as several companies and other parts of my organization had been trying to hire me away for more money anyways...but each one called my old boss for a reference who told them not to hire me and even threatened to blackball the business if they did. When I applied for unemployment, they tried to stop that as well (but could not without providing a cause/reason for firing me).

I was virtually unemployable (even at McDonalds), and had lots of time on my hands, so I spent the next several months studying the law and reviewing all my old work/emails to find things they had done wrong. I put together a case on each possible offense (about 20) and passed it all to the IG.

The IG investigated and most charges were substantiated. Eventually, they escorted #1 and #2 out and someone else got the promotion that they would have received from my project (Payback/karma?). I got my job back and back pay. It took about 8mths.

I really had no future there as enough of the managers had been spanked (initially lied to the IG to protect management) but were still there. I expected some sort of sabotage in retaliation, so, I looked for another job. Mgt had blackballed me so thoroughly that I could not find anything locally, but I took the first real promotion that came along. It paid well but was a hard, crappy job in another state that no one else wanted and was not permanent. The organization was about to be closed if they could not pull off the next major project...which I was able to help lead them through. I learned a lot and it helped my resume tremendously.

That started a chain of events where I moved a couple more times, taking crappy but increasingly better paid jobs that no one wanted that provided me some new skill/qual. In the end, my net worth is about 10 times higher, and my pension more than double compared to staying where I was initially. The very folks that had tried to ruin me forced me to leave my comfort zone which led to my much greater career/financial success.

One door closes and another opens. A person just needs to keep paddling the canoe as hard as they can...and realize that getting to a better place may not be easy.