Meanwhile I attended a recent all-hands with the division VP, he stated that we desperately need to be able to hire foreign talent via H1B so we can remain competitive. An amendment was introduced into the immigration bill that might help put the brakes on this.
"US companies that lay off large numbers of workers shouldn't be allowed to hire workers with H1B visas if they're planning a large layoff that will reduce their total number of US workers." http://tinyurl.com/ynu4db
Can you sue IBM for age discrimination and win enough in damages to pay for the lawsuit? Maybe...
Did you sign the covenant not to sue in order to collect severence pay? If so, then you could be liable for IBM's attorneys' fees as well as your own if you attempt to sue IBM -- while IBM's waiver was held to be unenforceable in a federal court in May, 2005, IBM revised it shortly after that, so you were offered a more iron-clad agreement.
Are you prepared to have your name and reputation dragged through the mud? IBM's attorneys are masters at the art of portraying any employees who sue IBM as pond scum -- to win a discrimination suit, all they have to do is demonstrate that there was at least one non-discriminatory business reason for laying you off, and one of their favored ways of doing that is to find every speck you have on your employment record and embelish it. Needless to say, it is not a pleasant experience. )-;
Are you prepared to spend years waiting for the outcome while your case progresses through federal court? Mike Saville, an IBMer in Utah, filed an age discrimination lawsuit against IBM back in 1998; IBM just won the final appeal this year, so it took 9 years to go through the courts before Mike's final loss. IBM has spare cash to invest in legal expenses, so they will not be in any hurry to settle. Be aware that information about current lawsuits is public information -- any employer you apply to for a new job will be able to find out that you are in the process of suing your former IBM, and that could factor into their decision of whether or not to hire you. As a policy, IBM does not give references, good or bad, for former employees, but they will let anyone who calls to verify that you were an employee know about a lawsuit, so factor that into your decision...
One on-going lawsuit you may have heard of is Syverson v IBM; it is a collective action age discrimination lawsuit that was filed against IBM several years ago. Anyone who IBM laid off between July 7, 2001 and May 4, 2005 is eligible to join if they were over 40 at the time. The attorneys in this case are footing the bill (in hopes of getting 25% of any settlement) and there are enough class members that each individual member is relatively anonymous. More information is available at: http://www.ibm-age-discrimination-litigation.com/
If you do want to proceed with an age discrimination lawsuit, your first step should be filing a charge against IBM with the EEOC. There is a relatively short time frame for doing that -- you lose your right to sue if you don't file within 90 to 365 days of the discriminatory action (the time varies by state, but whereever you are, the clock is ticking!) There is no legal fee for doing that, and the form is relatively easy to fill out. Use class language in the charge (I, and 'others similarly situated', was released from IBM because of my age...) so that if you do file a lawsuit, or if the EEOC decides to do so on your behalf, others can join you even if they didn't file their own EEOC charges -- the attorney fees become more affordable if you can spread them over mulitple plaintiffs! Information on how to file an EEOC charge and locate the office nearest you for filing is available at: http://www.eeoc.gov/
Next, you should find a lawyer in your state who specializes in employment law. Some states have much stronger discrimination laws than the federal ADEA law, so it is important to find someone familiar with your state laws. The first exploratory visit should be free, but make sure of that when you set up the office visit -- otherwise, you risk getting billed for a discussion before you decided what you wanted to do. A good place to start locating an attorney in your state is: http://www.findlaw.com/
By the way, if someone reading this thinks they are being discriminated against in the current or next round of lay-offs, the two steps I just listed should be done BEFORE you sign the covenant not to sue to collect your severance pay -- your chances of winning a lawsuit will be much higher if you leave the severence pay on the table, so you need to visit with an attorney to fully explore your rights and your chances fairly quickly; you risk getting nothing in exchange for a possibly higher payout far down the road...
Hope that helps! Janet Krueger, Rochester, MN
Note: Legal information provided over the web without details about individual circumstances is worth exactly what you are paying for it. I am a licensed attorney, but I specialize in criminal defense work, NOT employment law!
It is true that people with college degrees make more money than people without degrees. The gap has narrowed somewhat in recent years, which is disturbing. But the earning power of college graduates still far outpaces that of less-educated workers.
The bad news, though, is that a college degree does not ensure a bigger share of the economic pie for many graduates. In recent decades, Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show, only college-educated women have seen their compensation grow in line with economywide gains in productivity. The earnings of male college graduates have failed to keep pace with productivity gains.
Instead, an outsized share of productivity growth, which expands the nation’s total income, is going to Americans at the top of the income scale. In 2005, the latest year with available data, the top 1 percent of Americans — whose average annual income was $1.1 million — took in 21.8 percent of the nation’s income, their largest share since 1929.
By the time companies initiate conversations with older workers about what they can do to get those employees to stay, it’s often too late, said Bruce Monte, director of retirement plans at PepsiCo, during a presentation at the WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference this month in Orlando, Florida.
These employees already have a date in mind and have discussed their plans with friends and family, he said.
A May 17 report in the local press that two U.S. senators posted letters on their Web sites questioning nine India-based IT outsourcing firms about their heavy and possibly illegal use of H-1B visas riled numerous Indian executives. The letters suggest that India-based companies are skirting U.S. immigration laws while facilitating the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries
Key to these efforts is Randy MacDonald, IBM’s senior vice president of human resources. MacDonald came to IBM in 2000 after a 17-year stint at telecommunications company GTE (now Verizon Communications). Under MacDonald’s leadership, Big Blue has continued its tradition of establishing HR standards. Aside from the leadership steps, IBM has done such things as experiment with training in virtual world Second Life and set up a database of tech consultants’ skills, availability and billing rates.
Some of IBM’s workforce decisions in recent years have been controversial, especially cutting thousands of jobs in the U.S. and Europe while expanding offshore. And last year, IBM announced it was freezing its pension plans for U.S. workers, offering a generous 401(k) plan instead.
MacDonald, 58, defends IBM’s shift away from lifelong employment and defined-benefit pensions for U.S. workers with the hard-nosed language of a businessperson. "Sometimes taking tough action is ultimately in the best interests of the country," he says. Yet this son of a union local president is keenly aware of the importance of honesty and integrity in relations with employees and the broader public. [...]
But MacDonald, who reports directly to IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano, doesn’t have much time to bask in praise or worry about criticism. Among other duties, MacDonald is in the midst of a $100 million project dubbed the Workforce Management Initiative. Announced in late 2006, the multiyear project is designed to catalog the talents of all 350,000 IBMers and help them upgrade their skills for the future.
MacDonald says he sleeps "like a baby" at night. But he’s putting in 75-hour workweeks. "I want to deliver," MacDonald says. "This is a competitive company with a competitive culture. We like to win. And we like to do things right." [...]
MacDonald: We have seen marked improvement in our employee satisfaction index, which measures three or four specific things. Job challenge and job opportunity are two examples. In both cases, our index in the last couple of years has gone up by an amount that is statistically significant.
They just issued an absurd opinion that totally convolutes common sense in cases of pay discrimination against women. Lilly Ledbetter had worked for Goodyear Tire for 20 years. Late in her career, she learned that men doing the same work she did had been getting far higher pay raises over the years, leaving her salary some 40 percent lower than theirs.
Her 1998 lawsuit was backed by the government's anti-discrimination agency... until Bush came along. Last year, when Ledbetter's case reached the Supremes, the Bushites disavowed the agency and filed a brief on the side of the corporate discriminator. And now, Bush's two corporate-biased judges have – Big Surprise – embraced his and Goodyear's view of the case.
Alito wrote in the 5-4 opinion that the discrimination was irrelevant because, technically, employees must file a pay complaint within 180 days of having their salaries set. This bit of judicial activism completely overturns decades of federal policy and precedent.
More importantly, it's a ridiculous atttempt by Alito, Roberts, and gang to overturn reality. The corporate workplace is shrouded in secrecy and is hostile to anyone asking questions – so no one's going to know within 180 days that discrimination is afoot. What Bush's judges have done – on behalf of powerful corporations – is effectively to negate the federal law prohibiting workplace discrimination.
This is why it is essential to begin evaluating judicial appointees not merely on social issues, but especially on how they'll treat workers, consumers, the environment, and others abused by corporate power.
While women accounted for almost 60 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2004, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the same period they accounted for 32 percent of the IT work force. Furthermore, according to a 2005 ITAA (Information Technology Association of America) study, women who leave the IT workplace are less likely than their male counterparts to return.
The perks mean free stuff for a crowd that could afford to pay its own way. After all, the median 2006 total pay for the CEOs at 386 Standard & Poor's 500 companies analyzed by The Associated Press was $8.3 million.
In 2006, the group's total amount of "other compensation" was $169.2 million. Besides all the cushy perks - which are considered taxable income by the government - many companies picked up the tab for those costs, too.
Bottom line: IBM pays below average salaries and wants to keep it that way for as long as they can.
Someone I know who works in HR says that the general attitude is that IBM pays a fair salary and if you think you can get more money somewhere else, you are welcome to leave. Everyone can be replaced with someone who will work for less.
Of the 386 Standard & Poor's 500 CEOs whose companies reported under the Securities and Exchange Commission's expanded disclosure requirements this year, salary accounted for only 9.5 percent of total pay. For the 11 CEOs in the group who earned more than $30 million, salary was just 2.7 percent of total pay.
After all the resource actions of late, the increased workload, the loss of innovative drive among my colleagues, the lack of good leadership and certainly the freezing of the pension after December, I've decided to retire at the end of November, assuming I don't get RA'ed before then. I certainly don't trust the leadership and figure they've got or found a way to screw those of us who stay beyond 2007 of our DB plan benefits. I am a second choicer and already know about the massive theft of benefits we 2nd choicers suffered in 1999. [...]
If I am not RA'ed, and the time comes (which is very shortly although I just read the old 6 month advance notice for retirement is now 60 days) to retire, why can't I just give notice, hand in my badge, only sign the Fidelity related papers and just walk away? I went through the steps to retirement recently and they are now asking us to sign "Covenants Not To Sue" and "Statement of Understanding" as well as other documents unrelated to the disbursement of my pension. Why sign them? Is there anything the company can do to stop my retirement payments or otherwise penalize me if I refuse to sign? Could they force my retirement payments to be held back until age 65? Why do I need to sign any of my rights away if I'm not going to be given any severance package, retirement bridge, etc.?
Your pension and the FHA are protected be federal ERISA law (even though the FHA never vests, and can be eliminated by IBM at any time, it CANNOT be withheld from specific employees for reasons not covered in the summary plan document filed with the DOL).
There is also absolutely no reason you have to give IBM a full 60 days notice before leaving, although it might be 60 days or more before your pension kicks in.
You *DO* have to fill out the pension paperwork and turn that in, unless you're willing to wait until you turn age 65 to collect benefits.
If adopted, the proposal could fundamentally alter how more than 160 million Americans get their health and retirement coverage, allowing employers a more arms-length approach to offering benefits. [...]
"This is middle ground between a total individualized system, which we don't think works, and single payer, which we also don't think works," says Mark Ugoretz, president of the ERISA Industry Committee, which drew up the proposal. "It retains the employer commitment and influence and offers universal coverage for all Americans." About 115 large employers are members of the committee named for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
But some consumer advocates see the proposal as an acknowledgment that employers want out. "This is the final death knell for employer-based health insurance, when big employers say they don't want to manage the benefits," says Jamie Court of the Los Angeles-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "If they don't want to manage the benefits, we should expand Medicare to cover everyone."
We hope you are enjoying your well deserved retirement from IBM. We are reaching out to you again to continue our focus on recruiting retired IBM employees who may have an interest in working as a temporary/supplemental employee. We are interested in learning more about you and your interest in returning to IBM.
There are three types of opportunities that we are recruiting for; on-call (maximum 999 hours per year), part-time (20-32 hours per week) and full-time.
On-call supplemental positions provide a great deal of flexibility based on the needs of the business as well as the amount of time you desire to work. Hours can vary from none to 40 hours in a week as well as from week to week. Flexibility also exists to only work during specific months of the year should that be desirable. There are a variety of positions currently available and employment is not guaranteed and hiring decisions are made on a competitive basis. There are many types of positions we are currently hiring for nationwide:
If you are interested in being considered for one of these supplemental positions, please apply via the IBM external employment website a http://www.ibm.com/employment/us Select the option to "submit your resume". When submitting your resume, on the second screen (or step), there will be a section that asks "How did you hear about us?" Please select "Other", then "Other [Please Explain Below]" and then type "Current IBM Retiree" in the box provided. On the Search IBM Jobs page, under Job Type, please select Full Time Temporary/Supplemental and Part Time Temporary/Supplemental.
Cisco Systems Inc. has struggled with the attrition of workers at outsourcing firms in India, Israel and China that develop software for the firm, said Jan Roberts, Cisco's senior director of its central engineering tools & services group.
Cisco first used outsourcing firms to supplement teams in the U.S., she said, but found that the attrition rate was "terrible." After that, she said, Cisco sent core projects overseas, so that developers at outsourcing firms "don't feel like we are giving them work we don't want to do." Since then, she said the attrition rate has been cut significantly.
The company now is struggling to ensure that its intellectual property is protected in projects sent to outsourcing firms in China, Roberts added. Cisco is working to create an automated process of separating key pieces to ensure it is not sent overseas, she said.
The U.S. is near the bottom, with the average wage earner able to count on a government-mandated pension for just 52.4% of what he got (after taxes) in his working days--and higher-income workers even less. But the picture at the other end of the scale (dominated by Continental Europe) is misleading. Most of these governments haven't put aside money for pensions. As the ranks of retirees grow and workforces do not, countries will have to either renege on commitments or tax the hides off future workers. [...]
In the Netherlands--"the globe's No. 1 pensions country," says influential retirement-plan consultant Keith Ambachtsheer--the average retiree can count on a pension equal to 96.8% of his working income. Ample money is set aside to fund pensions, and it is invested prudently but not timidly. Companies contribute to employees' accounts but aren't stuck with profit-killing obligations if their business shrinks or the stock market tanks.
“It was causing her some pain,” Ms. Hatcher said. “And then, of course, it was a Friday night. Overnight the whole thing blew up and it turned out to be an abscess.”
Where to get a dentist on a Saturday?
Luckily, Ms. Hatcher’s best friend is married to a dentist who was more than happy to open up his office that Saturday. But he needed an assistant. Ms. Hatcher volunteered.
She digressed: “I hate the dentist... . Just my whole life, you know. It’s the worst. I would do anything to get out of going to the dentist. Really. Anything.”
But Ms. Hatcher stood there like a trouper as the dentist examined her daughter’s tooth. “He sees it is an abscess, and he has to do surgery,” she said. “So you, I’m trying to — I hate it. I’m squeamish. I’m going to throw up, and then I’m trying to pull it together...
“So he does the Novocaine and gives her a little of the gas. She is perfectly fine, because she’s going, ‘I love the dentist. I want to come here every day.’ And then, of course, I’m thinking, ‘Can I take a tank of that home? Because that is really what I need.’ ”
And so on. The story, of course, had a happy ending. Ms. Hatcher’s daughter was fine. Mr. Letterman got to tell a raunchy dentist joke. The audience was amused, and Ms. Hatcher eventually exited to a robust round of applause.
I was particularly interested in the segment because just a few hours earlier I had filed a column for the next day’s paper about health care for children. The column included the story of Deamonte Driver, a homeless 12-year-old from Prince George’s County, Md., who also had an abscessed tooth.
Now, if I had been in Ms. Hatcher’s position, I would have done exactly as she did. I would have knocked down doors if necessary to get help for a child in distress. So this is no criticism of her. It’s an illustration of the kind of stunning differences in fortune that can face youngsters living at opposite ends of America’s vast economic divide.
Deamonte needed his tooth pulled, a procedure that was estimated to cost $80. But his mother, Alyce Driver, had no health insurance for her children. She believes their Medicaid coverage lapsed early this year because of a bureaucratic foul-up, perhaps because paperwork was mailed to a homeless shelter after they had left. In any event, it would have been difficult for Ms. Driver to find an oral surgeon willing to treat a Medicaid patient.
Untreated, the pain in Deamonte’s tooth grew worse. He was taken to a hospital emergency room, where he was given medication for pain and sinusitis and sent home.
What started as a toothache now became a nightmare. Bacteria from the abscess had spread to Deamonte’s brain. The child was in agony, and on Feb. 25 he died.
There’s a presidential election under way, but this sort of thing is not a big part of the campaign. American children are dying because of a lack of access to health care, and we’re worried about Mitt Romney’s religion and asking candidates to raise their hands to show whether they believe in evolution. I’m starting to believe in time travel because there’s no doubt this nation is moving backward.
Twenty years later, the newly installed Clinton administration made health care reform a priority. Insurance premiums had risen by more than 3,000 percent since the Carter administration; clearly, something had to be done before health care bankrupted the American economy. But a multimillion dollar campaign, including shamefully deceptive TV ads, was launched by the insurance industry, and the Clinton reform initiative not only failed but was replaced by a reform that not only further empowered insurance companies but reduced medical services and physician salaries while increasing out of pocket expenses to the insured!
Now, as the presidential election season is heating up, candidates are presenting their plans for how to fix a health care delivery system that is so sick there is a reasonable question as whether to take the patient into the emergency room or just head straight to the graveyard. Interestingly, in 2007, no one seems willing to talk about a universal health care program that cuts insurance companies out of the system. Insurance and pharmaceutical companies have become so powerful that no politician who has even the slightest hope for winning an election will dare to challenge them. Our democracy is not “for sale” because it has already been purchased, and the owners are the for-profit corporations in the health care field. There are three lobbyists for every elected official in Washington, D.C. representing the pharmaceutical companies, which is why any legislation addressing medical services or prescription meds is written by and for insurance and pharmaceutical companies, not the elderly, the ill or the poor. [...]
From a perspective of sheer greed, we should provide universal health care so that we can export products rather than jobs. It makes no sense to just demonize the insurance industry because for-profit companies have no motivation for self-regulation. For them, the sky is not the limit. They are interested in patients in the same way that fleas are interested in dogs; that’s just the way capitalism works. For the sake of our country’s economic future and for the sake of our very souls, we must make basic health care available to everyone and at a cost that allows people to still earn a living wage. We must regulate the insurance industry until such time that we can do what every other developed nation in the world has already done: make it unnecessary.
On the Democratic side, many of the candidates are proposing to subsidize private insurance purchases for the uninsured. Most likely, this would actually wind up bringing the insurance companies billions in new income, while in some cases failing to serve the neediest individuals. As Steffie Woolhandler, the Harvard doctor who has compiled voluminous data on the structure of the industry points out, tax credits, medical savings plans, and other subsidies are next to meaningless to people without jobs or money. What good is an income tax credit if you don't have an income? And why, for that matter, is universal health insurance presented as such a bright shining promise, when, more and more, people who do have insurance continually have to jump through hoops to get the coverage they pay for?
The numbers of U.S. workers enrolled in such plans through their jobs (excluding dependents and those in firms with fewer than three workers) grew only slightly, to 2.7 million in 2006 from 2.4 million in 2005, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most do it because either their companies give them no choice or the premiums are the cheapest. Enrollment is growing faster on the individual market and among sole proprietors, but that may be because the plans are often the only affordable option. [...]
One reason for the frustration is the uphill battle many consumers describe in trying to shop for their health care. Six years ago, Howard Katz, an industrial-design research consultant in rural eastern Pennsylvania, bought a family health plan with a savings account and a deductible that is now $5,650. But getting specific price information on which to base purchase decisions for MRIs, doctor visits and blood work has been difficult, he says. And the money in the health savings account gets spent; only once has enough remained to roll over to the next year. Now, he says, he has rejoined a company as an employee after working on his own, and one of the perks is regaining traditional health coverage. "Now I don't have to act like a medical examiner anymore," he says.
Endicott, N.Y. -- In response to job cuts, job shifting to low cost countries and declining working conditions at IBM Corp., employee representatives, IBM union officials, IBM Works Council representatives and members of the International Labor Federations will hold an emergency meeting in Paris.
This historic meeting will be attended by IBM employee representatives from 12 countries. The meeting is being sponsored by IBM Workers International Solidarity (IWIS), the CFDT -- Confederation Francaise Democratique du Travail -- and the CGT -- Confederation Generale du Travail..
Lee Conrad, National Coordinator of the Alliance@IBM, a local of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, said, "IBM workers in many countries are facing a serious decline in working conditions, job security and salary. IBM Corporate management is aggressively reshaping the company to the detriment of employees and customers. There is also a serious concern for employees with collective bargaining agreements that IBM will use job shifting to low cost countries as a hammer to demand concessions. If that happens all employees suffer."
IWIS Coordinator Jean-Claude Vilespy said, "This meeting is a unique opportunity for IBM unionists to get together to discuss how we can best meet this crisis and develop action plans to protect the interests of our members and employees at IBM."
Other issues of concern that will be discussed are:
In the weekly LEAN status meetings, upper management is advised that yes there are problems, but we are overcoming them and that LEAN is working. You know, as well as the rest of us, that LEAN is NOT WORKING at ALL, execept to the point of its true intent! I know that you are in the same boat [yes, the sinking ship!] and that your future depends on the successfull implementation of LEAN. I can tell in my conversations with you, that you know this, but there is nothing you can do. Your solution to this back log is to work more overtime.
I feel like a sheep, herded into the corral and slowly being proded to the slaughter house gate. Why would I or anyone else work more overtime? I/we should work 60/70 hours weeks, just so you can justify to upper management that, yes LEAN is working. What's in it for me? A little more time on the job? I don't get paid for any overtime hours! IBM bills the customer for my overtime. What does the customer get in return? Nothing! But, as usual, IBM turns a profit.
Whatever happened to the IBM Values we used to live and respect? Where are truth and integrity today? You tell us we can not miss target dates, change them if you must. Do whatever it takes to get the work done and on time. As long as line management continues to white wash LEAN to upper management, the LEAN initiative will continue on. Therefore my days are truly numbered. It is just a matter of time.
Why would you expect me/us to sacrifice our families and our health in a frutile attempt to bail you out of this neverending mess, that we had now part in creating? I for one do not intend to work one more minute of overtime, than I did pre-LEAN, except in an emergency "outage" condition. I guess I still feel I owe that to my customers (not sure why though?). Again, I ask, "where are the IBM Values of yesterday? Where is the Truth? Where is the Integrity? Where are the Ethics?" Gone with yesterday's employees? Sincerely, -BOHICA-
Organization and unionization at a minimum puts some resistance and accountability in their path and will slow the train down. Publicity on this web site has already caused them to slow the process of elimination. In the mean time, cease and desist in providing adequate knowledge transfer. Do not train your replacements. Let them sink or swim on their own merit. The exec's will make it a condition of employment to prop these folks up, so play the game. But don't pass the requisite knowledge. It's time to push back.
Only by uniting can we make a stand and interject a little sanity into our current situation. Third Level support, you should join us too!! Without us, the evil empire will suffer a serious setback. Despite the little spirit initiatives orchestrated by a bunch of mindless (or clueless) minions, Miller, Cropper, and Diggleman do not care about you! Loyalty is a two-way street. -Organizer-
Alliance reply: There is no way for us to know whether IBM's customers are monitoring our comments sections, unless they tell us. Most posts we receive, are "anonymous", or without email addresses. We get plenty of flames, suggested violence, vulgarity, etc. that we will not post, for obvious reasons. If any of IBM's customers identified themselves as such; we would post their comments under the same scrutiny we use for everyone else. We do not advocate disparagement of IBM's business. Our advocacy is about organizing toward a union contract to represent non-management employees. We believe a union contract can only make IBM a better company.
I responded to his statement very nicely and politely by giving him my verbal notice of retirement on July 30, when I take a position with a competitor. After overcoming the shock of my statement, he asked me if I was upset, I responded that I was feeling ill and going home for the rest of the week to recuperate. Maybe I'll see the doctor on Friday if I feel like it so he can say I'm better and fit to go back to work on Monday. I'm going to love playing hooky and taking it easy for the next 45 days.
Second line called my house and my wife answered, telling him I was ill and sleeping. He asked about my leaving IBM, she told him she was very happy with my decision. When asked what I plan to do next after retirement by the second line, my wife said she had no idea what it would be, but it would certainly something that is better than IBM. "1" performance rating, 93% utilization and just starting a mega buck engagement that now is in jeopardy with lots of contract penalty clauses. Screw them. -Making it Painful for the Boss-
So what are folks that are PBC "1", "2+" and "2" performers who are grossly and obscenely underpaid to do? I say unionize and get fairness!!! If not, then I guess they should all quit this cornhole that calls itself an American corporation cause IBM isn't fair in regards to pay practices. The person that wrote that article on "pay, performance, merit, retention" on this website (if you haven't read it: READ IT NOW): You are 1000% correct in your observations! Even with this IBM so called change in pay philosophy, guess what? it isn't any change at all! By and large: IBM UNDERPAYS and PRACTICES PAY DISCRIMINATION TECHNIQUES to most of it's employees. -MBA and TCA @#$%-
Vault's IBM Business Consulting Services message board is a popular hangout for IBM BCS employees, including many employees acquired from PwC. A few sample posts follow:
There was client resistance due to suspect service levels when wages were 25 cents on the dollar. Service quality will experience a significant drag to begin with as the swarm of new recruits has moved left in the talent distribution curve. The hope is that a rise in the composite experience levels of the country's workforce will rise to more than compensate for the increase in wages, but over the last ten years of this, I haven't seen it. There are certain skill and profile gaps that are intractable and insurmountable. From the article:
"Smaller time zone differences, strong language skills and a sharper understanding of their clients needs, have added to the appeal of Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary". Hmmn….where have I heard that before?!
If they want to continue on to the next level, they will need to wipe out the residue of many centuries of having a rigid and inflexible approach to human interaction, make English the official language, and change their vaunted engineering schools to teach business, philosophy, and the social sciences. Of these three requirements, the latter is the only one that has a chance, but that just won’t be enough to get the job done.
This site is designed to allow IBM Employees to communicate and share methods of protecting their rights through the establishment of an IBM Employees Labor Union. Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act states it is a violation for Employers to spy on union gatherings, or pretend to spy. For the purpose of the National Labor Relations Act, notice is given that this site and all of its content, messages, communications, or other content is considered to be a union gathering.