I have been working for a American MNC for 20 years... Now I am 54 and the company wants to get rid of me as I am expensive from a salary despite being a top performer - and me and my new boss hate each other

Hello. Name: Rishi Age: 44 I am a finance professional with 16+ years of experience. I am engaged with an IT major for the past 8.5 years, currently as a senior manager for their business finance division, overseeing the North America business region. I am located out of Bengaluru. I have been trying for a shift largely due to stagnation in my role and also since I want a relocation out of Bengaluru. I have been interviewed by two major competitors for leadership roles, but both mysteriously came to an end at the final stages. In one case, I was confirmed already by business and was only looking at an informal HR discussion which went well and was then met with silence. The only issue could have been my reluctance to work US shift hours, but that was cleared even before the final rounds and hence couldn't have been a challenge. The other company scheduled my final discussion with the India finance head twice, but the call did not happen and neither did I receive a feedback as to the reason. It leads me to think I am jinxed as far as a new job is concerned. My present company hugely appreciates my services, but all talks about salary correction and rewards and benefits fall on deaf ears, leading me to think my exemplary performance and loyalty is taken for granted now. Please advise.

Hi, Sorry, my story is long.I'm 43 years old. My life's been on a crazy downside since the last 3 years. I lost my job a year before Covid. I worked with my last company for over 10 years. In my initial phase I developed and introduced a high-tech animated presentation that the sales team used. This gave my career a boost quickly and I got timely promotions, more responsibilities.I worked 12-18 hours on many occasions. When my boss came to know that my wife and I are going to have a baby, he even gave me an advance appraisal. From earning 3 lakhs a year, my last drawn salary was 21 lakhs a year.Things were going good until I was diagnosed with diabetes. It gave me a real scare and I started taking all the precautionary measures like timely food, timely workout and my focus on the job was only as much as it was needed. I couldn't go overboard working 12-18 hours like I used to. This didn't go down with many of my seniors and especially my boss.I remember, initially he gave me a long-term work from home opportunity. That too was going well but suddenly it was stopped as many colleagues started asking for the same and the company was not ready for this change on a large scale back then.By then the company had ventured into too many online businesses and verticals and they got me to hire 40-45 designers. Suddenly they realized that handling so many things wasn't working for them as the profit margins decreased. Now they wanted me to fire people on the basis of performance. Unwantedly I had to do that. Laying off people who were marginally falling short than others was bad.In between one of the incidents I saw my boss yell at me for no reason. He wanted the team to source a large number of images for the website. He had verbally asked me to utilize everyone on the floor to get the job done. Me being me, I wrote an e-mail officially assigning small tasks to a number of people on the floor. However there was no formal communication from the boss that gave me authority over others and to get others who were not a part of my team to get involved in that project. This was not an easy task as his perspective and other people's perspectives didn't match. The job went on slow and my boss got angry. He came to my cabin and gave me a big scare using foul language which must have been audible even outside to others. And mind you I was not at fault. This incident made me scared and doubtful of myself.I could never face my boss again. Whenever he was in office I would not come face to face with him. My interaction with him soon became zero. The appraisals were below par. The amount of work I used to get, got diverted to my juniors directly, bypassing me. And soon they asked to resign. I got 3 months compensation. But, after that, I couldn't really find another job as I feel I am not capable of handling stuff. I feel I will fail. I have tried to psyche myself into positivity but I can't.While I have noticed that as a freelancer, I have successfully handled many projects in the past 4 years and clients have been happy. It's only that I am very uncomfortable working in an office environment. That corporate culture for me is like a HORROR movie. Now the scenario is such that my projects in hand have reduced. I think I don't have the business acumen. It's becoming tougher to find new clients. I have applied to literally 1000 places but no one's taking the GAP in the jobs well. That's my guess. I'm more of a hands-on worker than a manager so I also applied for junior positions but I've had literally no luck.My wife has throughout these 4 years supported me and my freelance ventures. We have one kid who's 11 years old and can understand the situation even without us explaining it to him. When we got married, my mother-in-law was much older than my parents were, we decided to stay with her initially and it's been 14 years since we started staying here. We save on rent. Things were good when I had a well-paying job but now my wife's had to shell out a lot for the day-to-day expenses. Now, she keeps asking why I am unable to find a job. How much is she going to have to shell out? My savings have depleted, now hers too. I am ashamed of asking her to pay for stuff every month but my situation makes it compulsory. I have two loan EMIs, and our monthly expenses which we pay through credit card usually. But I don't have adequate income. Somehow, my wife thinks that the kind of lifestyle she has always led and what she has visualized is something she'll have to stick to. Even though we stay in a bungalow, the finances are not exactly alright. The colony where we live is full of crorepatis and my wife thinks that she has to maintain her lifestyle otherwise the kids outside will not be fair to our kid. They will tease him. The kids here are such that they compare a lot -- your house, my house, your car, my car etc.Of late we have been fighting a lot. She's always been stressed with my joblessness, my son's studies. She ends up scolding him too much and generally remains in a bad mood. I won't hide the fact that I have faced a lot of insults lately and some of them in front of my kid. Basically whenever my wife and I have an argument, she always ends it by mentioning the amount of money she has spent on the family and my joblessness. Add to it the fact that I am staying at her place. I can never have any further argument. It's like her Brahmastra.I used to be very patient when things were fine. Now, even I get agitated in no time. I'm one confused soul at the moment. I'm not outgoing, I'm very shy when it comes to new people. I've been watching a lot of videos about gaining self-confidence. But practical things do not really work out the way I think. My freelance venture failed. My e-commerce venture failed. Basically whatever I do, fails. It's that kind of a phase in my life when everything just goes wrong. I'm not a suicidal person and I want to spend a lot of time with my family yet. I'm just not sure now what to do. How to get my confidence back? Is there a thing called bad luck? Is this spiritual? Will things ever come back to normal?P.S. I have personally spoken to many people in my friends’ circle and clients circle and told them that I am looking for a job. Hoping that something materializes. But in the meantime, whatever I wrote above are things that I can't speak about to anyone.P.S.2 There's a pattern. My father was jobless after 40. So am I. He struggled a lot in his life and did whatever he could to give us the best. I'm trying hard too but I feel I am losing it. I don't want my child to face these kinds of things in his future. I hope this bad luck doesn't pass on.

Resp. Ma'm, I am 53 years old. I have created my own identity in the field of sales & marketing. I am working with a US company for almost 20 years. Recently I am moved to the US headquarters in a new role. I am making adequate arrangements for my old age parents with 24x7 care at home and moving to the US with family for the future of my kids. However, I have realized my role is quite inferior. And it seems they want to observe my performance and keep me light weighted in the beginning to easily settle down. I think of my parents in such situation and feel like, quitting and moving back to India. What should I do? Keep patience? Or start my own business in India, which is a bright spot in the world economy? Kindly advise.

Hi, I am working in Indian company, was heading the department, due to some management changes they brought a new person from outside who is now heading the department, practically he has replaced me, but company is not removing me and asking to do what I was doing earlier, they now want me to explore new avenues for company. I told management that I want to quit, but they do not want me to leave... What should I do. I am trying but not getting good offers from Industry. It is humiliation but new incumbent is practically dow not anything about our business. It's is purely technical field. In this situation what should I do

Hi, Been working for a US based software product company for last 15 years. practically grew from a junior developer to Product Architect. But since last couple of years CEO seems to have taken a keen interest in my role. He has practically overthrown all the decisions that I had taken and instilled a team of developers without consulting me. He is taking direct meetings with developers and giving instructions and guidelines to them. I am informed after the fact. Also ESOP promise has been another item where company has failed to deliver. My concern is after all these years, is company now getting ready to throw me out? I am fine with that as I have enough cushion and intellectual capital to have a soft landing. Should I wait or move out?