Today was sad... my last day working at Prudential's office. Monday, July 1 will be my final day with the company. My full-time work life began right out of college in 1986, starting as a management trainee at First Eastern Bank (where I met Laura Lewis). I later worked at PNC Bank, National Westminster Bank and Fleet Bank. After a succession of mergers, it seemed wise to leave banking behind me. One of my co-workers at NatWest had left for a job in Prudential's retirement business, and based on her recommendation I was hired in 1998. So from the time you were about 18 months old Alex, and for the last 26 years I've been working at Prudential. I didn't plan to work in financial services (after being a Government major in college), but I did plan to get established and then work part-time when I had kids.
That plan became a reality. I was able to work mostly part-time from the time you were born Rob for about 10 years. That makes me incredibly happy, and even so I know you realize my job was always a big priority. Prior to COVID-19 which led to working remotely from home, my workstation (complete with many photos of you boys) at the Scranton/Moosic office really was my "home away from home", from 8:30-5 or so most days. Here are some of the reasons I think our careers matter....
.... they give us a purpose. We need a reason to get out of bed in the morning, to be challenged to develop new skills and to strive for longer-term goals.
.... they enable us to pay bills, save and when necessary borrow money, all of which are absolute necessities.
.... we meet many interesting and intelligent people, make friends and keep on learning new things.
Alex, seems like your career in Human Resources (so far) is off to a great start at AZEK. Rob, can't wait to find out where your Paper Engineering college degree will take you. And I'm not done quite yet as I expect to get another job before long, but the majority of my career is behind me now. Prudential is a (Fortune 500) premier employer in Northeast Pennsylvania, so not suprising that the company demands a lot of and also rewards its employees. It wasn't easy - I dealt with excess workload often, stress and some travel especially to Hartford and Newark. But Prudential did allow me extra time to enjoy being your Mom, funds to live independently and support you, and (partnering with Steve) enough extra money for important things like a nice house, cars, vacations, college expenses and saving for the future. I was fortunate to have bosses who were flexible with work hours to allow for school, daycare, summer camp, appointments, sports, etc. By far the best part of working at Prudential was getting to know Steve over many years, then starting to date each other in 2010, quickly becoming true partners and marrying in 2015.
Grandad has said that beginnings and endings are hard. My beginning at Prudential was a rough time, banking largely did not prepare me for the complexities of the retirement business. The biggest challenge was to pass two securities registration exams within 4 months of being hired while studying largely outside of work hours, which was super difficult with an 18-month old at home. I was miserable, and several times almost quit. It took about a year to get my new job figured out. In contrast, the ending has not been bad. I was told my position would be eliminated over 3 months ago, I've had relatively light duty since then and I'll get a generous severance package. It is still a wrench, though, to lose part of my identity and "belonging" as a Pru employee, leave a workplace that has been super important (including as a haven when my personal life was unhappy) and to likely lose touch with co-workers. Steve knows exactly what this is like, since after 27+ years his Prudential job was abruptly eliminated in 2016.
But life goes on. I'm happy to have time off this summer to relax, visit Grammie and Grandad, take some short trips and help you Rob with launching into ESF in Syracuse. As Steve (who just gave me a hug) often says, there is much left to do!!
Here are Scranton office pictures, including of a "piece of the rock" by the front entrance.
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