Tag Page WorkplaceExploitation

Company Lowballing Me After 30 Years - Help! 😤

I'm honestly at my wit's end here and desperately need some advice from you all. After three decades in IT, I'm finally retiring next month at 65, but my company just threw me a curveball that has me completely stressed out! 😓 I manage this critical system that literally no one else understands - I've tried training others but it's been a disaster. Now they want to rebuild everything in a new datacenter, and suddenly they're begging me to stay as a consultant for 5-6 months. Here's where I'm furious: they offered me the same hourly rate as my current salary but with ZERO benefits! 😡 I'd be working 10-20 hours weekly, which sounds reasonable until I realized I'm basically giving them a massive discount. My biggest worry is how this might mess with my Social Security benefits. I've heard horror stories about losing $1 for every $2 earned - is that real? There's got to be some annual cap, right? I feel so taken advantage of after all these years of loyalty. Should I negotiate harder or just walk away? What would you do? 🤔 #RetirementStruggles #WorkplaceExploitation #ConsultingDilemma #JobCareer #Career