Lately I’ve noticed our lunch-time servers in various
corporate restaurants are older. They look to be about 50 or higher.
Yesterday’s Red Robin waitress was certainly a grandmother.
I’m sure there are employment trends tracked on sites like
Salary.com and LinkedIn to suggest that mid-career workers are more likely to
have been laid off in the financial crisis in 2008. Many were probably unable
to take early retirement and therefore found alternative employment.
Mid-career workers are the ones whose tenure and experience
make them expensive. But the ranks narrow at the top of the company. Ambition
is what would keep them in the organization, the desire to achieve leadership
heights. And the willingness to put in whatever hours, travel, and sacrifice
necessary to achieve those heights.
