Too old to work for Ericsson?

Another biopolitics update (and no, contra Foti/Dyer-Witherford there's nothing 'subversive' about it this time either).  Like many other employers, presumably, Swedish telecoms group Ericsson has decided that being 35 years old or more makes its workers useless to the dynamic, fast-moving etc etc hi-tech sector.  The difference is that Ericsson is actually trying to make them leave, using 'voluntary' redundancy packages.  (Imagine staying on in a company whose Human Resources director has effectively declared that not having grown up with a Playstation and a 'telematic mentality' makes you a 21st century retard.)  The lucky sackees also get enrolled in a company-sponsored 'career change programme'.  Aside from ensuring that even the bio-chronologically crippled aren't allowed to slip into 'economic inactivity' for long, this scheme may be unique in the history of corporate retraining.  Ericsson obviously isn't seeking to push the over-35 year olds up the hierarchy of technical 'skill', as it doesn't even believe they belong on the level they already occupied.  So it must be trying to educate them in disciplines more suited to their prodigious age.  Like stacking supermarket shelves.Widely reported, but this version comes from A Fistful of Euros: http://fistfulofeuros.net/

Too Old To Work For Ericsson?by Edward

Well if you’re over 35 you may be. That’s the implication of today’s decision to offer redundancy to workers in the 35 - 50 age group:

Ericsson, the telecoms equipment maker, on Monday offered a voluntary redundancy package to up to 1,000 of its Sweden-based employees between the ages of 35 and 50. The unprecedented move is designed to make way for younger workers.

The world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone networks, which more than halved its headcount during a dramatic restructuring programme in 2000-02, said the measure was necessary to ensure the competitiveness of the company in the next decade.

“The purpose of this programme is to correct an age structure that is unbalanced,” said Marita Hellberg, global head of human resources, told the Financial Times. “We would like to make sure we employ more young people in order not to miss a generation in 10 years’ time,” Ms Hellberg said.

According to Ms Hellberg, Ericsson’s age structure had become too heavily biased to the 35-50 age group in the aftermath of its restructuring programme.

Employees aged between 35 and 50 with a minimum of six years’ service are eligible for the voluntary redundancy package that comprises 12-18 months’ salary, a SKr50,000 ($6,600) pay-out and the chance to participate in a career change programme.