Another poster here has spread across several threads, a comment whose longest version contained “Meg said publicly out with the old and in with the new!”
I wanted to confirm that, and point the reader to a source of details. See http://hpagediscriminationinvestigation.com/ and then (a sub-link from there) a PDF file at http://hpagediscriminationinvestigation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/DOC-60-FIRST-AMENDED-COMPLAINT-00996182x7A794.pdf ... There are several examples given, of such statements from Meg. Use this sample as a search-string to find more: “In October 2013, Ms. Whitman admitted publicly during a Securities Analyst Meeting that the Initiative’s overarching goal was to “recalibrate and reshape” the workforce by “replacing” existing workers with “a whole host of young people.” “
Here is another juicy excerpt: So-and-so said “…who described a phone call with Hewlett-Packard Company’s human resources team as follows: The theme on the EER call was, you know, college, college, college. Everything was about refreshing HP’s golden workforce. That was kind of the theme. I think they woke up and said, “man, everybody running around this place is old.” (emphasis added).”
“College hire” or “new college grad” is code for “young person”, and I heard it TONS of times! We want the youngsters!
If you as a lower-level manager try to “buck the system” and try to “talk back” to the upper management about this craziness, they will lay YOU off! An instance of this is given, where a boss and his/her boss are both laid off, for the “crime” of insisting that some non-performing youngsters, not oldsters, should be selected from their group of individual contributors, for the next layoffs. To find that instance, search for … So-and-so “…was asked to select two employees from his team to be terminated under the WFR Plan, he selected two who he felt had the worst performance: specifically, two younger, early career or graduate recent hires.” Result: 2 oldsters laid off instead, and boss and boss’s boss (also oldsters) laid off as well, for good measure!
The lawyers missed yet another example that I know of, where a boss’s boss was laid off for “talking back” to upper management, about this craziness. Non-performing youngsters are retained preferentially over oldsters, no doubt about it… And if you want to keep your job, don’t talk back!