Making the New Hybrid Workforce Work

A year of Covid has taught us that we like working from home

But we also like collaborating with our colleagues. This is the future of the workplace. It’s a hybrid solution.

What Guideway learned about hybrid workplaces

At Guideway, we initiated a hybrid model within the first week of the Covid lockdown. We knew that we had to provide a safe way for our clients to create Living Trusts, Divorce and Probate and other legal documents. Like so many other businesses, we masked up, wiped down and began Zooming. Some of our team worked from their home offices. We found that the intake process was very efficient via Zoom, and we created socially distanced office spaces for our clients to sign and notarize their Trusts and other legal documents. We learned from each other and our clients and continued to evolve.

The need to establish relationships is stronger than we might think

In June, when California became mask-free, we promoted both our virtual and in-person services. We fully expected that our clients would prefer Zoom meetings for their convenience and efficiency. Surprisingly, we’re finding that most of our clients are scheduling in-person appointments.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at all. When creating important life-affecting legal documents, people want a one-one relationship. Guideway’s own experience is a testament to the importance of collaboration and need for creating connections.

Getting hybrid right

Creating a hybrid work model requires careful strategizing. Who gets to work in the office and who stays home? Who decides? If it works well, it can create a collaborative, creative environment where teams can thrive.

Gensler Principal Todd Heiser and Steelcase CEO Jim Keane, both workspace experts, published an article in Harvard Business Review. They found that: 

• 52% of U.S. workers would prefer a mix of working from home and the office; it has a positive impact on their ability to be creative, solve problems and build relationships.
• 72% of corporate leaders plan to offer hybrid models.
• Only 13% say they expect to decrease their real estate footprint in the next year.

The hybrid workforce transcends people to include technology and space

Designing for employee engagement means thinking like a movie director – lights, camera, audio and content.

• One company is turning a café into a high-energy social and collaboration space that they hope will support new hybrid work patterns.
• Rethinking the conference room. Instead of a long table with a monitor at the end, give all participants their own screens, placing monitors on rolling carts that can easily be moved around.
• Deploy angled or mobile tables, additional lighting, extra speakers, in-room microphones and mobile markerboards and displays.

Meetings will happen more often in open spaces with movable boundaries 

• Individual focus work will happen in enclosed spaces like pods or small enclaves.
• Open collaboration spaces are more flexible because they don’t require fixed design features
• Quick stand-up meetings which require visible, persistent content can be hosted in open spaces, defined by flexible furniture, easy-to-access technology.
• Software systems now let us split people and content onto separate displays.

Companies are also rethinking their real estate

There’s a demand for less space and shorter lease terms. A fluid space that can meet changing needs becomes the ideal. One company designed an open area that supports hybrid meetings in the morning, becomes the café at lunch, hosts a town hall in the afternoon, and can be rented for an evening event.

Collaboration and solitude need to coexist

Gensler’s Research Institute conducted a survey during the pandemic that shows full-time work-from-home employees saw a drop of 37% in average collaboration time. But collaboration is not just about group work, it requires solitude too. Employees report higher levels of productivity when they can work without interruption.

About Guideway

At Guideway, we are Legal Document Assistants who assist our clients in the preparation of legal documents for uncontested legal matters–those in which parties are in agreement about the division of property. Our fees are significantly lower than those of attorneys. We like to think we’re making the justice system accessible to everyone. Why work with Guideway? One flat fee. There are never annoying add-on charges for copying, phone calls and other miscellany. Where appropriate, we also notarize documents and file them with the County Recorders’ Office.

We’re a single point of contact. You’ll work with a dedicated specialist who is available for questions and support throughout the process. We’ve been in business since 2003 and have expanded to three Bay Area offices–Dublin, Oakland and Walnut Creek. More than 60% of our business comes from referrals and repeat business.

We’re proud of our comprehensive Living Trust package that includes a Power of Attorney and Advanced Healthcare Directive. We provide a hard copy as well as a soft copy of your documents. More questions? Contact us today.

Guideway services the entire Bay Area

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Americans Are Planning a Different Kind of Holiday This Year

My longtime friend Christine grew up in Chicago and most of her large extended family are still firmly rooted in the Midwest. Thanksgiving has always been the time when her family gathered. Much more than Christmas, Thanksgiving has been their time for traditions—the same favorite recipes—no deviation allowed, ever. Annual walks along the shores of Lake Michigan, holiday shopping along the magnificent mile. Long lunches, dinners and conversations. As long as I can remember, she braved long lines, colds and flu, pregnancy, snowstorms and airport closures to be with her family at Thanksgiving.

But this year, her family is putting their traditions on hold

They’ve been frantically emailing and texting for the last few months. Time has taken its toll. Many family members are now in the high-risk group—older, with conditions that make them vulnerable to infection. One nephew has asthma, an uncle recently had a kidney transplant. They’ve considered gathering as usual, but excluding those who are high-risk. But for those who need to fly to the Midwest for the holiday, there is too much resistance. This family will put off their traditional Thanksgiving for the first time in more than 50 years.

Covid cases are on the rise, and each day exceeds the previous day’s record

“I’m not going to tell people not to have a family gathering, because mental health is important, now more than ever,” says epidemiologist Saskia Popescu, PhD, an assistant professor at George Mason University. “But I can’t in good conscience say, ‘Yeah, it’s okay to have a big celebration.’ There is no 100% safe way for two households to get together for the holidays in any area where Covid is circulating, which currently includes the entire United States.”

It’s not just the gatherings, but the getting there

Airplanes have good ventilation and air filtering, but you can’t control who sits near you. If one of those passengers is shedding virus, your risk rises.

If you must go, reduce the risk:

• Move gatherings outdoors, weather permitting.
• Wear masks except when eating.
• Maintain as much physical distance as possible, with six feet as a minimum (more is better).
• Limit time spent with others, especially indoors.
• If you must be inside, open the windows if possible, to increase ventilation, or get an air purifier or upgrade your whole-house air filters to help reduce the concentration of any virus particles. If someone is shedding the coronavirus, it can build up in a poorly ventilated space, and the risk grows with each passing minute.

We’re all feeling increased levels of anxiety

We’re all on edge. The chaos of the campaign and the election. An uncertain economy, the insecurity of our jobs—the added responsibility for schooling our kids. Covid adds another layer of ambiguity and fear.

Experts advise us to start the holiday talks with family now

“If you’re the person who’s ready to walk through the door at Aunt Jen’s house, know that your siblings, cousins, and other family members may not be comfortable joining you. We suffer a lot because we are waiting for things to change, as opposed to accepting what is,” says Karen Dobkins, Ph.D, a professor of psychology at UC San Diego. The holidays will be different this year, and there’s no use crying over the loss. Once you’ve accepted the insanity that is 2020, you’re ready to take the next important step.”

This is the time to make new traditions

Rather than fighting the inevitable change and mourning the loss of your traditional holiday, create a new tradition.

• Think about what you value most about the holiday and replicate it in your own home.
• If Thanksgiving is about food, replicate that meal in your own home. Get the whole family involved in its preparation. Share it via Zoom with your extended family.
• This is the season for giving. So many people have lost their homes and livelihoods in the North Bay fires. Contributing to this or other causes could become your new tradition and a way to introduce your kids to the spirit of sharing.
• Think about family walks, games or bike rides. The possibilities are endless.

Celebrate being together, being grateful for what you have. It’s been a tough year!

Covid has prompted many of our clients to create Living Trusts

Many of our clients are gaining some peace of mind by creating or updating their Living Trusts. Naming your heirs and identifying how you want your estate to be distributed ensure that your family will avoid the painful Probate process.

Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive. It also includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, this means that they can name a Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for them.

Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Itching to Get Away? Travel in the Time of COVID

We’re well into our sixth month of COVID restrictions. We’ve mismanaged our response to the pandemic, so we can’t travel to countries in the European Union. But it’s fall, the best time of year to travel, and many of us are itching to get away. Surprisingly, there are quite a few countries that would be delighted to take our tourist dollars, including the Maldives, Jamaica, Mexico, the Caribbean, Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Ecuador and Brazil. Dependencies may include a temperature check, COVID test and the ability to show a place of residence during our stay.

Travel closer to home: What does a COVID vacation look like?

I traveled to Washington state’s Whidbey Island a month or so ago. I flew into Seattle’s SeaTac airport, rented a car and drove up to the island—about a two-hour trip.

Some observations: Forget about social distancing on the airplane

There were no COVID concessions on my flight–it was packed. It may be that we can expect that—the airline industry has been hit hard by COVID. With fewer flights to popular destinations, I suspect these flights will be full. Be comforted by the fact that air is circulated and filtered on airplanes, so most viruses don’t spread easily on flights. Reduce the risk by frequently washing your hands, using hand sanitizer, wiping down your tray table, wearing a mask, opening up the vent above you and freezing to death for the duration of the flight.

Be aware that your flight may be canceled and cost more. A colleague flew from Oakland to eastern Washington, and his expensive connecting flights were canceled in both directions. This translates to a lot of extra time hanging out in airports—and increasing your risk of exposure. He’s in the high-risk group with health issues, so this trip was terrifying for him.

To be aware of:

• If you need to rent a car. In some areas this could pose a problem because people are renting cars and taking road trips instead of flying.
• For a road trip: Pack a cooler with water and food. Fewer stops are safer.
• While we’re used to a high level of COVID awareness in the Bay Area, this is not the case in many parts of the country. Iowa and South Dakota have no mask requirement. In 17 states, there is some mask requirement, which means that the level of COVID safety will vary by city and county.

Everyone knows the drill by now

For my little adventure, everyone, everywhere, was masked and social distancing—at the car rental counter, cafes and shops. The TSA team wear masks, face shields and gloves. As I drove up to Whidbey, I noticed that the rest areas were closed. For those traveling with kids on longer road trips, this could pose a problem. Kids require frequent snack and bio breaks.

If you’re planning a road trip: Some tips from the experts

Do some research and be flexible. Even if you’re doing a business trip that will require renting a car at the airport, there’s a very good chance you’ll encounter closures and frustration.

• Research travel advisories.
• Don’t leave home without hand sanitizers and disinfecting wet wipes, disposable gloves, sealable disposable plastic bags and tissues. You’re allowed to carry a 12-oz bottle of hand sanitizer on the plane with you.
• Expect to be wearing a mask in all indoor public places, so bring a stash.
• Stop and buy water and snacks—it will limit the number of times you need to stop for refreshments.
• Drivers may want to wear disposable gloves while pumping gas. Pay with a credit card rather than cash, eliminating a face/face interaction.

Bathroom access these days can be challenging

Limit fluids. Many public restrooms are closed. Starbucks or other fast-food establishments may prevent noncustomers or even customers from using their bathrooms.

Dining

Restaurants in some states have resumed dine-in service, but there will be limitations on the number of people permitted in a given space. Eating in outside patios or decks is safer. Consider purchasing your own food and eating outdoors. This will all become more difficult as the weather gets cooler.

Sleeping

If staying in a hotel, call ahead to confirm your reservation.

• Consider renting a home rather than staying in a hotel—you’ll have a kitchen to cook your own meals.
• Guidelines from the American Hotel & Lodging Association include stringent cleaning procedures for everything from elevator buttons to exercise equipment.
• Recommended guidelines include wiping down high-touch areas–doorknobs, TV remote control, etc.
• For stays of more than one night, forgo housekeeping services so that you can control sanitization and limit the number of people who come in and out of your room.

Trying not to touch handles, doorknobs, elevator buttons, escalator railings, etc. is challenging. Keep hand sanitizer in your bag and use frequently.

Before leaving on your trip: Create or update your Living Trust

 

COVID has created an urgency on many levels, including creating a Living Trust

As the COVID crisis drags on, more clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Living Trusts. Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive. It also includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, this means that they can name a Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for them.

Creating a Trust helps provide peace of mind during these uncertain times. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

What if Your College Kid is Sick or Has an Emergency?

If your kids need help, these are the healthcare documents you may need

Sending kids off to school in the fall has always been an important ritual that marks the changing seasons. It’s an exciting time for kids: A time for learning, social development and a growing independence. Parents are just glad to get back into familiar routines.

Nothing’s normal anymore: Be prepared with health care documents

Anxiety over COVID is forcing new conversations as kids return to college campuses this fall. At 18 or more, these students are officially adults, but they still depend on their parents for food and shelter. Parents declare them on their taxes and pay for their health care. While these kids may be testing their independence, they remain closely tied to their families.

It may seem morbid to talk about health care documents for robust young people, but accidents and illnesses happen to young adults. COVID infects every demographic, and young people are vulnerable too. Nothing is normal anymore. If your kids are away at college and something happens to them, you want to be the one making decisions for them.

 

If there’s a medical emergency with your child, these three forms will help you come to the aid of your child.

 

1. Advance Healthcare Directive

Also referred to as a Healthcare Agent or Medical Power of Attorney, a Healthcare Power of Attorney. By signing this document, you are appointing someone to act on your behalf to make medical decisions if you become incapacitated. Your agent will have access to your medical records and your permission to talk with your health care providers. In this case, your son or daughter would sign this document, giving you, as a parent, permission to act in your behalf. At California Document Preparers, we include an Advance Healthcare Directive in our Living Trust package, along with our Power of Attorney.

 

2. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) authorization (also called a HIPAA release)

This is a more narrow document that permits healthcare providers to disclose your health information to anyone you specify. A standalone HIPAA authorization (meaning that it is not incorporated into a broader legal document like an Advance Healthcare Directive) does not have to be notarized or witnessed; however we include Notary on our form.

This document alone will often suffice for you to get information from the health care institution treating your child. In a HIPAA authorization, young adults can stipulate that they don’t want to disclose information about sex, drugs, mental health or other details that they prefer to keep private. As with the broader Advance Healthcare Directive, a HIPAA release can also be included in a Living Trust, but it is always included as a standalone document in our estate planning package to conform with particular California rules and so that your agent doesn’t have to share your Trust document just to get health care information.

3. Power of Attorney 

A Power of Attorney enables a designated agent (in this case a parent) to make financial decisions on the student’s behalf. The POA can begin immediately after signing the document or only if your child becomes incapacitated. As the designated Power of Attorney, the agent can sign tax returns, access bank accounts, pay bills, make changes to a child’s financial aid package or figure out tuition problems.

Fortunately, most families will never need these forms, but it’s always a better idea to be prepared in case you do.

What else changes at 18?

As teenagers turn 18, they’re adults according to the law. They can now vote, serve in the military and on a jury, sign a contract and get married without parental consent. They still can’t legally drink alcohol and car rental companies usually will not allow them to rent cars, but their legal status is decidedly different than it was at 17. All males with U.S. citizenship must register for the selective service upon reaching the age of 18.

 

COVID has created urgency on so many levels

As the COVID crisis drags on, many more of our clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Living Trusts. Our Trust package includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, it means that they can name a Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for them. Creating a Trust helps provide some peace of mind during these uncertain times. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents.

Our Trust package includes a Will, Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and Incapacity Planning. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

COVID Heroes: Feeding Workers, Putting Restaurants Back to Work

We’re six months into this miserable disease and there’s little to feel good about. Yet stories emerge of truly heroic people who are manning soup kitchens, putting in 14-hour days in healthcare facilities and fueling supply chains to help save lives. Now independent groups have come together as “Frontline Foods”. An estimated 1,000 volunteers have delivered more than 541,000 meals.

“It’s been an incredible experience,” said Alexis Perlmutter, one of the Frontline Foods volunteers leading Chicago’s efforts. “This would not be possible without an army of volunteers that is rolling up their sleeves to solve problems together.”

Frontline Foods works with World Central Kitchen, a global nonprofit, delivering fresh meals to essential workers

Bringing meals to hospitals in a safe and organized fashion can be extremely difficult, said Nate Mook, the chief executive of World Central Kitchen. But World Central Kitchen has the expertise to help. Having served communities ravaged by disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, it has stepped in to coordinate these separate fundraising initiatives.

• World Central Kitchen has served more than a million meals in more than 95 cities across the country.
• It has also been working in seven cities in Spain, which had one of the world’s highest coronavirus mortality rates.
• In one week, the Chicago’s Frontline Foods teamed up with 10 restaurants and delivered more than 1,000 meals to six hospitals.
• In New York, World Central Kitchen set up a distribution site at Hudson Yards to serve the staff at the makeshift hospital in the Jacob K. Javits Center. The organization is also planning to bring daily meals to roughly 30,000 professionals working in the city’s public hospitals and health clinics, with support from Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York.
• In Washington DC, World Central Kitchen staffers cooked 8,000 meals/day for homeless people, older residents and essential workers, including firefighters and police officers.

World Central Kitchen: Helping restaurants whose businesses have slowed or closed

We all have our favorite neighborhood bars and restaurants, many of them now shuttered. Those lucky enough to have outdoor seating have reopened, but we know they’re limping along. We wonder how long they can hang on, what our neighborhoods will look like when this is all over. Happily, World Central Kitchen is extending a hand.

World Central Kitchen is providing administrative and financial backing to Frontline Foods and other grassroots groups, like Off Their Plate, which has operations from Boston to Seattle. “We’re good at moving quickly,” said Tim Kilcoyne, the director of chef operations at World Central Kitchen. Yet given how widespread the current health crisis is, he said, “the only way we would be able to help as many people as possible is with partners.”

Other collaborations are underway in Oakland

• World Central Kitchen has delivered thousands of meals from dozens of local restaurants to medics at drive-through testing sites, homeless residents in transitional housing, seniors and at-risk youth.
• Kingston 11, a Jamaican restaurant that has been contributing to those relief efforts, has hired back more than half of its back-of-house staff, said Sam Chapple-Sokol, who works for World Central Kitchen in Oakland. “They’re open three days a week right now, because of the limited demand and the limited ability,” he said.
• World Central Kitchen has also been creating opportunities for food delivery workers. It has connected with Uber Eats and other delivery companies to bring meals from local restaurants to front-line workers and others in need in Los Angeles, Newark and New York, as well as Washington and Oakland.

If someone is hungry, you start cooking

The motivation behind the organization’s work comes from the can-do attitude of its founder, the celebrity chef and activist José Andrés, said Mr. Chapple-Sokol. “If somebody is hungry,” he said, “you just get in the kitchen and start cooking.”

COVID has created an urgency on many levels, including creating a Living Trust

As the COVID crisis drags on, more clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Living Trusts. Our Trust package includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, it means that they can name a Guardianrather than having the court appoint one for you. Creating a Trust helps provide some peace of mind during these uncertain times. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents.

Our Trust package includes a Will, Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and Incapacity Planning. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

John Lewis’ Long Goodbye: The Final Journey

 

Like many Americans, I’ve been profoundly moved by John Lewis’ long goodbye. He represented his community in Congress for 33 years and never ceased his pursuit of equality. He believed that ordinary people with extraordinary vision “can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble.”

His story is a retrospective of the civil rights movement

You can’t really tell Lewis’ story without its broader context–the brave men and women of the civil rights movement who fought and died for the right to ride busses or to sit down and eat at lunch counters. There was Dr. King, of course, but there were others. Ambassador Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, Reverend C.T. Vivian, Stokely Carmichael, Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson—there was a common brotherhood and always a strong faith that united them.

Lewis was 15 when he heard Martin Luther King Jr., and it changed the course of his life

Lewis was inspired by Dr. King’s talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence, that each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. In 1960, the lunch counter sit-ins began; they were fighting for the right to sit down and order an inexpensive meal. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), led by Stokely Carmichael, encouraged students to get involved in the civil rights movement. The Freedom Summer of 1964 was a crusade to register Black voters in Mississippi. Lewis was arrested 45 times during more than half a century fighting for civil rights. He was beaten unconscious in 1965 on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he and 600 peaceful protesters marched toward the batons of Alabama State Troopers.

Education became an important stepping stone

The son of sharecroppers, Lewis knew that there was more to life than picking other people’s cotton. He understood the importance of education, and received a BA in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University, and he is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. He has been awarded more than 50 honorary degrees from prestigious colleges and universities throughout the United States, including Harvard. In 2010 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.

At his funeral, three former Presidents and the Speaker of the House eloquently shared personal, emotional experiences of working with Lewis. President Clinton believed that Lewis had survived so many close calls “because he was here on a mission that was bigger than personal ambition.”

A capacity for great courage

John Lewis would have been delighted that a former president, a Black man, had delivered a eulogy that received a standing ovation. “He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage,” Obama said, “that in all of us there is a longing to do what’s right, that in all of us there is a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect.”

Now it is your turn to let freedom ring

After reading John Lewis final letter, it may be that we look back on Lewis’ lifelong activism as a bridge between the civil rights movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s and the global consciousness-raising that is today’s Black Lives Matter movement. “That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.”

COVID has created a new urgency about creating a Living Trust

As the COVID crisis drags on, more clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Living Trusts. Our Trust package includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, it means that they can name a Guardianrather than having the court appoint one for you. Creating a Trust helps provide some peace of mind during these uncertain times. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents.

Our Trust package includes a Will, Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and Incapacity Planning. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Worried About Age Discrimination? Are You Kidding? It’s Thriving!

Sally Clark is 62 and unemployable. She’s savvy, high-energy and at the top of her game, an expert in branding. She would love to be working but can’t find a job. “I worked in corporate America for more than 40 years with big-name companies. But I cannot get a job–the same job I rocked 15 years ago. I can’t even get an interview. Nobody takes me seriously at my age–even at the job where I excelled.”

It’s a scary job market for those 50+ and it’s not getting any better

About 35% of the U.S. population is now 50 or older. And age discrimination remains a significant and costly problem for workers, their families and the economy. COVID’s tanking economy means furloughs and downsizing will have an even greater impact on an aging workforce.

Ivanka Trump just offered a suggestion to the millions of people who have been laid off or furloughed over the last few months due to COVID to just “try something new”. Well, Ivanka, finding something new for an older worker is going to be a whole lot harder in a climate where the unemployment rate is somewhere around 14% and growing. As businesses ramp back up, they’ll be looking for ways to streamline their operations and cut costs. That translates to an increase in contractors and younger employees who command lower salaries.

According to an AARP survey:

• Nearly 1 in 4 workers aged 45 and older has been subjected to negative comments about age.
• About 3 in 5 older workers have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.
• 76% of these older workers see age discrimination as a hurdle to finding a new job; half of these older workers are prematurely pushed out of longtime jobs; 90% never earn as much again.

Victoria Lipnic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) acting chair compared age discrimination to harassment: “Everyone knows it happens every day to workers in all kinds of jobs, but few speak up. It’s an open secret.”

Age discrimination has a long-term economic impact

Nearly 30% of households headed by someone 55 or older don’t have retirement savings or a pension–they’ll have to continue working or rely on Social Security to survive. Yet workers at age 50 are highly skilled, at the top of their games and earning power. These should be important income generation years. But if someone is laid off and can’t find comparable well-paying positions, what remains open are unskilled, minimum-wage jobs.

As employers replace high-priced older workers with fresh, younger workers who are willing to work at significantly lower salaries they’re leaving a lot of intellectual capital on the table.

The socioeconomic consequences

Older people who don’t feel useful are three times more likely to develop a disability, four times more likely to die prematurely than their counterparts who are engaged in meaningful activity. If 30+ years of experience are suddenly discounted as irrelevant, the effect on your health and longevity take a toll.

Ageism: An accepted bias

The AARP Bulletin examined ageism in the workplace to determine why it is so prevalent and what can be done about it.

“Age discrimination is so pervasive that people don’t even recognize it’s illegal,” asserts Kristin Alden, an attorney specializing in employee rights at the Alden Law Group in Washington, D.C.  In the workplace, we found illegal age discrimination in:

• Recruitment and hiring, when younger applicants are shown favor simply because of their age.
• On-the-job bias, when older workers receive fewer training opportunities, promotions and rewards, or are harassed.

Ageism is the result of a culture obsessed with anti-aging everything

One big reason ageism remains an issue is our youth-obsessed culture that spent an estimated $53 billion on antiaging goods and services in 2019 alone. No wonder our resistance to growing old is shared by the companies that employ us.

Rising technologies that didn’t even exist until many older people were already well into their careers has led to hiring biases in which many organizations assume that younger workers will be more tech savvy. This is often not the case.

Not a lot to be gained from winning an age discrimination suit

Even if you win an age discrimination suit against an employer — and even if you prove the discrimination was intentional — the most you can be awarded is twice your lost back pay plus attorney fees if you prevail. Nothing for pain and suffering.

Over the years, it has become increasingly hard to prove that there was willful intent to discriminate based on age. An example might be a company deciding to lay off all its vice presidents. Nothing wrong with that, except that VPs are generally older workers.

A class action suit against PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm

The plaintiff, Steve Rabin, then 50, was rebuffed in his effort to obtain an associate position at PwC. He had an MBA and more than ten years of experience in accounting services. The complaint asserts that a PwC manager asked Rabin whether he’d be able to “fit in” with younger employees and made other somewhat derogatory age-related comments. More than 3,000 other plaintiffs have joined Rabin in a class action suit against PwC. The company, of course, denies wrongdoing.

Job ads address the age issue with descriptors that discourage older workers

HR departments know this is a problem. The average HR person would say, “Oh, yeah, that’s definitely a problem; it needs to be addressed.” They may try to avoid it entirely by creating job ads that use descriptions like “fast-paced environment, young and energetic, technology ninja’ or ‘We work hard and party harder.” These descriptions are code to older workers, telling them that they likely will not fit in.

Tech companies among the biggest age discriminators

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously declared in 2007 that “young people are just smarter,” Silicon Valley is the poster child for the hip, hot youth culture. According to a 2016 report by Statista, the average median employee age at 17 top tech companies was 32, compared with 42 for the total U.S. workforce. A 2018 ProPublica investigation alleges that IBM deliberately engineered the dismissal of an estimated 20,000 employees over age 40 in a five-year period.

The EEOC is supposed to be our police force in all this

The EEOC’s job is to enforce federal laws that protect employees or job applicants from all types of workplace discrimination. Its mandate is also one of leadership: It’s charged with initiating investigations when warranted and being the overall champion of worker rights. But when it comes to age discrimination, the EEOC is struggling to keep up and to bear down. An analysis by The Washington Post found that of 205,355 total age discrimination complaints filed with the agency from 2010 to 2017, a stunning 1% resulted in a discrimination finding. While some of these cases may not have been actionable or too difficult to prove, this remains a shockingly low number of cases.

Many of our Living Trust clients are retired or thinking about retiring

Many of these clients are baby boomers, many are still working, and age discrimination is a topic that frequently surfaces. Our Trust package includes a Will, Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and Incapacity Planning. For most of our services, we charge one flat fee. Schedule a virtual or office appointment today. We guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

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This article is based on a story in AARP.