71-year-old manager refuses to retire, leaving 36-year-old employee of 5 years with no room to get a promotion: 'What am I supposed to do? Just wait until I’m 40 for my first promotion?'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Dec 31, 2025 8:00 PM EST

The system isn't working for the old folks, and it's not good for the young folks either.

Everyone is at a different place in their career at various ages. While it's common to be in entry-level roles in your early and mid twenties, the rate at which people climb the corporate ladder depends much more on their life circumstances than their age. When examining broader trends rather than individual cases, one sees that many people reach the height of their careers in their 40s and 50s. This is when they're earning more than they did in their 20s and 30s and securing the positions they worked for years to attain.

What happens when there aren't jobs for people who are ready to step up and be higher-ups? Are they destined to stay in their entry-level position until the older generations retire? It can be tricky when the workforce is aging. Not everyone over 65 can retire, and workers 60 and over are unlikely to leave their positions because they know it will be nearly impossible to find a new one. There's a lot of hiring discrimination against older workers, so all older workers can do is hold onto their jobs for as long as they can. 

If people at or nearing retirement age remain in the workforce, it will almost certainly affect younger workers' ability to advance within the corporate ladder. There is greater competition among younger workers from those with far more experience. It isn't easy to succeed when you're qualified for a role, but everyone else applying for the role is overqualified. 

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  • The employee in this story is struggling with being overqualified for his position and having no room to grow because his baby boomer coworker still can't retire. His coworker has a good reason for not retiring, but it's hard to feel stuck in your career. 

  • A successful senior factory worker with a helmet on his head is standing in the factory with arms crossed and looking away old factory worker looking for new challenges
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Boomers won’t retire and it’s hurting the rest of us. There I said it.

    My manager is 71. Seventy one years old. Been in his role for 19 years. Keeps saying he'll retire "next year" and has been saying that since before I was hired. I'm 36 and I've been waiting for any upward
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • Portrait of a young worker in a hard hat at a large waste recycling factory the engineer monitors the work of the machines and other equipment
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • movement for almost 5 years now. There is none. There won't be any. Because nobody fucking leaves. And look I get it, I do. His wife got cancer in 2019, wiped out a huge chunk of what they had saved.
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • Healthcare in this country is a nightmare. I'm not saying he's a bad guy or that he doesn't deserve to work. But also like... what am I supposed to do? Just wait until I'm 40 for my first promotion? This isn't just my
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • company either. I keep seeing posts in here and other subs about the job market being impossible and everyone's like "just get more skills" or "network better" but nobody wants to acknowledge that
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • there's a massive bottleneck happening because an entire generation didn't save enough and now can't leave I looked this up the other day when I was mad and couldn't
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • sleep lol. Labor participation for people 65+ is like wayyy higher than it was even 20 years ago. And I don't think that's mostly people who just love their jobs so much they can't imagine leaving. Most people I know
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • over 65 who are still working are doing it because they have to. Meanwhile we get think pieces. about how millennials and gen z "don't want to work" and are
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • "quiet quitting" like excuse me?? I would LOVE to be engaged at work. Hard to do that when you've been doing the same role for half a decade with no path forward because everyone above you is just...
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • staying there. Forever apparently. My cousin just graduated with an engineering degree, good school, good grades. Took her 8 months to find something
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • and it pays 58k in a city where rent is like 2k minimum. She's competing against people with 30 years experience who got laid off and are now applying to "entry level" roles just to have something. How is she
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • Young serious female engineer in protective helmet and workwear squatting by new industrial equipment and using digital tablet
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • supposed to compete with that The thing that really kills me is we're told to save for retirement constantly. Put money in your 401k! Max your roth! Compound interest! Okay
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • cool I would love to but I can't get promoted so I can't make more money so I can barely save anything and in 40 years I'm gonna be the 70 year old who can't retire and some 25 year old will be on
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • complaining about ME It's just a cycle and it sucks and idk what the solution is honestly.
    via u/Unique_Glove1105
  • getridofwires I'm 62. I'd retire tomorrow if I didn't have to pay for health care for myself and my wife. Everyone I know my age is in the same boat. Universal health care or just lowering the eligible age for Medicare would open many, many jobs.
    via u/getridofwires
  • Street_Random Boomers can't retire because they are being screwed by the same that capitalism you are.
    via u/Street_Random
  • No-Surround7860 I will have to work until I die. It sux. It's all fucked up. All the jobs that used to be "teenager and college kid" jobs are now filled by grown ass adults 30 to 75. All the upper management jobs are filled by Boomers and if they're not, companies don't promote, the execs just bring their friends in. It's really impossible in most industries. The only option for the past 10 years has been to job hop for higher salary in the same position but that's only worked for millennial and
    via u/No-Surround7860
  • Wide-Intention 1350 Maybe change your title to "boomers can't retire" there aren't many around that are still working at 71 because they want to, mate. They're working because they have too.
    via u/Wide-Intention1350
  • harpie84 I'm 68. I don't ever see a possibility that I'll be able to retire.
    via u/harpie84
  • ¡Eugene72 My dad is 75 and literally CAN'T retire.
    via u/iEugene72
  • nugman91 I'm 52 and will most def have to work til I'm about 75 most likely. Certainly not cause I want to
    via u/nugman91
  • musashi-swanson Intergenerational bickering is one of many distracting "identity politics" that will keep us all down together, beneath the thumb of the billionaire. Honestly, he probably needs the money because he's been trapped in the same system.
    via u/musashi-swanson

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antiwork employee work stories manager coworkers millennials career old people baby boomers workplace
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