Spectral lines: Over (or under) 40 and out (or in)

Listen to this manager speaking: —When crunch time comes, my best engineers help me to try to save the department — my worst people try to save themselves. It's too bad, but it's usually too late for the `losers´ _ who invariably have no trouble in identifying themselves.“ Another manager disagrees ” somewhat. “It's not that simple. There are at least three categories: my best people I really want to keep, the usual deadwood I'm glad to lose, and a whole group in between — good, journeyman engineers who, through no fault of their own, because of external economic conditions, project phase out, or what have you, are forced `on the beach′ for no good reason. It's traumatic for them, for their families, for me, and for the company. Many of these people are in the over-40 category, and feel that they are being singled out because of age and high salary.”