OK, the first item isn't exactly correct; those 200,000 employees are only in Holland on paper -- it's a perfectly legal tax dodge. But the second item is exactly right, says Forrester Research analyst Andrew Bartels. By next year, he says, IBM's application business will be worth about $8 billion, behind SAP and Oracle and ahead of Microsoft, excluding sales of Office. "IBM simply doesn't like to talk about the application business because it makes its partners uncomfortable," Bartels tells me.
Ages, titles and numbers of workers are gone from the RA information, which was distributed to workers across numerous IBM locations in the U.S. on Thursday. The packets also include information about severance, retirement and health benefits as well as retraining opportunities. ...
The decision is based on privacy concerns. "IBM is addressing concerns raised by employees that the age/title information IBM previously provided infringed on employee privacy," the spokesperson explained. "Based on this privacy concern, IBM has removed that data from packets."
Alliance@IBM, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, cried foul.
"For IBM to say not listing age/title/number selected is out of concern for the privacy of employees is absurd," said Lee Conrad, a retired IBMer and national coordinator of the union.
"We were given this information freely by employees with the sole purpose of breaking the secrecy of IBM job cuts. ...
Alliance@IBM and news outlets, including WRALTechWire, have used the documents in the past to calculate numbers of layoffs and for other information, such as layoffs broken down by job titles and age.
IBM seldom formally discloses layoff numbers.
"This is just another attempt by IBM to hide the number of cuts taking place and the continued destruction of the IBM employee population in the US. Federal and State governments should look into this and demand transparency or tell IBM no more tax breaks," Conrad said.
The company wouldn't comment on the number of people being laid off or what divisions would be most affected. However, one source familiar with the plans told CNET that the layoffs entailed up to 25 percent in the Systems and Technology group -- this is the group that makes IBM servers and is often referred to as the "hardware" division.
Selected reader comments follow:
And all within days of announcing that you would 'forgo' your bonus. Poor thing.
Unfortunately most IBMers do not have the luxury of 30,000 free shares to fall back on. Instead they and their families are paying for these shares with their jobs, the security, and their future.
I do wish the media would focus on what is really happening.
Funnily enough, the board gave Sam Palmisano $14M above his salary that year. (The message obviously being that I was more to blame than the CEO for the poor earnings in a division I didn't even work in.)
IBM agreed to keep the high-technology jobs in the Hudson Valley through 2016, increasing the number of positions it has pledged to retain by 750, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. As part of a global workforce reduction, IBM fired almost 700 workers last year in Dutchess County, where it had about 8,000 employees as of 2012, according to the county government.
Job cuts have been one of IBM’s tools to maintain profit growth as it struggled during the technology industry’s transition to the cloud, where data and software are delivered online instead of being stored locally. Amid seven quarters of falling revenue, Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty has turned to stock buybacks, tax cuts, asset sales, and worker firings and furloughs to stay on track with profit goals. ...
Dutchess County would welcome a new company to take over chip manufacturing or other hardware plants in the area, said Ron Hicks, deputy commissioner for strategic planning and economic development. “We’ve got to make sure that what they have here -- their chip manufacturing and their mainframes -- that it stays here,” he said.
IBM won't disclose the number of cuts, calling the layoffs part of a "rebalancing" of its workforce as it invest in new technologies. The company points out that at any given time it has more than 3,000 jobs openings in the U.S. ...
Even though the latest round of layoffs was expected, the week began with an announcement by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that IBM had agreed to create new jobs, as well as maintain minimum staffing levels in the state.
There was nothing in the statement announcing the move about a pending job action, and appeared timed to try to blunt the impact of a layoff.
Specifically, Cuomo said, the state had reached "a major agreement" with IBM to "maintain 3,100 high-tech jobs in the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas. The company has committed to increase its minimum job commitment to the state by 750 jobs, and maintain the 3,100 jobs through the end of 2016." ...
IBM is believed to employ about 7,000 workers at its Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill facilities. That estimate is from Dutchess County spokeswoman, who said IBM is the county's largest employer.
Conrad said the governor's announcement raises some questions for workers and the region. "Yes, you're trying to protect 3,100 jobs but what about the other 3,900 jobs?" he said.
The New York governor's office did not respond to a Computerworld request for comment on the IBM layoffs and the agreement.
When asked, IBM referred all questions to the governor's office. ...
At one time IBM regularly disclosed the number of employees it had in the U.S., but stopped doing so several years ago as the number declined.
The main source of information about IBM's U.S. employment base has been the Alliance, gathers documents from workers that detail cuts in the various business units. But this information pipeline may be disappearing.
Conrad said Wednesday that IBM has changed how it releases information, something he called a "disturbing development."
IBM employees received documents listing the age, title and number of employees selected for a job cut. These resource action documents, as they are called, no longer include this information, said Conrad.
This data "is how we validated and counted the numbers that we gave you in past job cuts," said Conrad. "IBM clearly does not want us, you or other employees to know the depth and scope of today's cuts."
A selected reader comment follows:
I worked for this company for over 25 years and in that time they went from a client and employee centered institution to a shell company being run by a leadership (?) team focused solely on short term EPS, the well beaten mantra of 'maximizing shareholder value' and most importantly their own stock options. It was a sad decline and the sheer nature of the internal culture bordered insanity.This latest job cut is another stark example of their mode of operation. They lack the guts to show any reasonable transparency in how many U.S. workers they fired yesterday. Why? Because they do not view their employees as 'people', instead they are viewed as resources to be utilized and expended to prop up EPS, nothing more.
I am so very glad I left that cess pool and found a real job where I call the shots on HW and SW expenditures. My first project: replacing IBM hardware with HP, EMC and Dell. **snicker**
"Just lost my job after 32 yrs and 7 months. So much for getting great PBCs [performance reviews] that still get you RAed!" ...
Those posts today are from workers caught up in the layoffs (or "resource action" - RA in IBM speak) that began across U.S. IBM locations on Thursday - including RTP. ...
No one can better tell the story of what's happening within IBM today than the workers who are being laid off - or are seeing the reactions of others who are told they will soon be out of a job. Comments range from relief to happiness to sadness.
The posts as checked and then published at Alliance@IBM, the web site of the union seeking to represent Big Blue workers.
According to Lee Conrad, the national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, other IBM sites in the U.S. that have been hit include:
In a statement, IBM confirmed that layoffs had begun. “IBM continues to rebalance its workforce to meet the changing requirements of its clients and to pioneer new, high-value segments of the IT industry,” the company said. ...
A similar $1 billion plan in 2013 led to the layoffs of several thousand workers worldwide, including several hundred in North Carolina and some 3,500 across North America. The numbers were never confirmed publicly by IBM but were supported by internal resource action documents provided to affected workers and by a source well connected to IBM. ...
The layoff count as compiled by the Alliance based on reports from workers and affiliated unions in Europe:
Now most of those buildings are filled by the employees of other companies. According to an employee group known as the Alliance@IBM, Big Blue has only 720 employees left in Endicott, all in one building.
IBM lost a few more employees there last week, with a giant round of jobs cuts that swept through Endicott and other small towns where the computer powerhouse has a disproportionate effect on local economies: Essex Junction, Vermont; Rochester, Minnesota; Dubuque, Iowa; Poughkeepsie, New York; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and Columbia, Missouri.
The target of employees’ ire is not just IBM; it’s the deal with the devil that they think IBM has struck with Wall Street. The less formal name for the Faustian contract is the 2015 roadmap, as it is known around IBM. Its premise is simple: IBM wants to deliver $20 earnings per share to its stockholders by 2015. That’s not exactly an easy task considering that right now, IBM’s EPS is $14.94 per share. As the company draws near its self-imposed deadline, investors seem to be skeptical, pushing its stock price down. IBM stock currently trades at $185, down 15% from its highest point in the past year. ...
To Conrad, a former IBMer who fields employee complaints, the 2015 roadmap and Wall Street-as-nemesis consistently come up as themes when IBM workers are unhappy. “Employees are saying this business model benefits stockholders and executives is hurting the business,” he says. “It’s not building the business, it’s chasing the money. … People are running on a myth of the old IBM that cared about employees, that cares about the business, the executives in charge here. It’s all about getting that $20 per share.”
That finding comes from a new study, released Wednesday by vulnerability management security firm Secunia at the RSA conference, of the top types of software vulnerabilities facing enterprise networks. That information is crucial for helping IT administrators prioritize which applications and operating systems to patch first. ...
From 2012 to 2013, the total number of vulnerabilities seen by Secunia increased by 32%. Secunia officials said the spike largely stemmed from vulnerabilities reported in IBM products jumping from 772 bugs in 2012 to 4,181 bugs in 2013. Of those, 74% could be used to attack a remote network, 20% a local network, and 7% a local system.
Asked to comment on Secunia's findings, IBM offered a different set of statistics, based on counting any given vulnerability, even if present in more than one of its products, only once. "It's important that these vulnerabilities are measured accurately," said IBM spokeswoman Nicole Trager via email. "IBM reports unique vulnerabilities -- each unique vulnerability could affect more than one IBM product."
Using that approach, the total number of vulnerabilities reported in IBM's products increased by 260%, rather than the 400% seen by Secunia. "In 2012, there were approximately 250 vulnerabilities reported by IBM," Trager said. "In 2013, there were approximately 650 vulnerabilities reported by IBM. In both 2012 and 2013, approximately one-third of these vulnerabilities are Java vulnerabilities."
Before giving up your rights, it would be best to have a lawyer review any such agreement in light of your particular circumstances. Whether it is worth the cost for you is hard to say before evaluating your rights. Of course, if there are terms of the agreement that you do not understand, an employment lawyer should be able to answer your questions. ...
One thing the law requires as to an exit incentive program or an employment termination program, is that the employer provide census data relating to the ages and job titles of employees considered for termination and those terminated. The data can be analyzed to see if there is statistically significant relationship between age and termination.
Editor's note: In a turnaround from prior resource actions, IBM has thus far not provided census data relating to the ages and titles of terminated employees in this set of firings.
Pros: Good start for students and recently graduated. E-learning, trainings, certificates are available. Opportunity to learn how to behave in competitive environment and to start building a professional network.
Cons: Huge employee and TALENT turnover. Bad communication inside the team and between teams of the same department. Lack of motivation and trust between management and employees.
Advice to Senior Management: To think about employee rewards, recognition and MOTIVATION. To improve the daily communication with employees and guide them on their personal growth.
Pros: Well recognized brand, but not much else.
Cons: Ultimately, while the facade of IBM looks okay, the machinations of Big Blue from the inside belie an organization slowly devouring itself, losing its identity, and significantly undermining its future potential—snubbing its nose to spite its face.
Advice to Senior Management: Recognize that short-sighted planning to meet the 2015 EPS target will only diminish IBM's ability to perform in 2015 and beyond. If you are only achieving your targets through extreme cost cutting measures (like halving B&P budgets, RA's of 15,000 people, limited investments in your people or new technologies, killing morale through crushing utilization pushes), there is probably reason to reconsider your thinking.
Wall Street analysts should recognize that IBM's earning potential is soft because the company is not investing in itself—merely trying to keep pace with evolving trends by acquiring without assimilating new capabilities into the fray.
Pros: Good systems and processes and decent benefits. Overall people with integrity that you work with, that are reasonably smart.
Cons: No raises over the last 5 years. If your business unit does well, but if the company doesn't your bonus is small. Too many people on conference calls wasting money. Company is controlled by finance and employees are squeezed.
Pros: IBM has an incredible amount of projects going on simultaneously which gives prospective employees many different teams that they can apply to. Some require special PhD degrees, other programming jobs hardly require college. The teams work well together and if you're a programmer that's what you'll be doing.
They have dedicated translation teams, documentation teams, translation teams, etc that take care of work that isn't really your job. They make it very easy to transfer projects/teams within IBM and it's encouraged which is great for building your skill set.
Hours are relatively flexible and managers have a hands-off approach which lets people mind their own business as long as they produce great results.
Cons: Projects can be very boring and feature work can seem extremely useless. Young innovative engineers don't drive IBM's products; rather, corporate executives with little to no programming experience decide what should get done. This leads to a culture where programmers are face palming, in disbelief how stupid some work will be, while trying to fulfill the management's requests.
Developers are very, very low on the management chain, so you'll have tons and tons and tons of managers above you preventing employees from raising any real issues, concerns, or advice.
The entire development buildings are filled with cubicles so there is little to NO employee interaction. I only had lunch with teammates on the last day I was there; meanwhile I knew 30 of the interns. The culture is just boring and dry and it's reflected in the projects they tend to create.
The company is incredibly frugal, skimping on everything from toilet paper to overpriced food you need to pay big for. They'll count and charge you a lot for every strip of bacon you think about eating.
Your first week will have zero productivity as the company's authorization servers are numerous, slow, etc., and the software they force you to use is absolutely horrible. They made their own email client and it's the slowest, most bloated POS I've ever used, which is similar to most of the software they make.
Advice to Senior Management: Fire the management; keep up with Silicon Valley companies, and bring an innovative young spirit/happiness to the dry ashy company.
Pros: Possibility to have different careers in the same company, diversity is highly valued, work life balance is excellent, great people, good benefit package.
Cons: Too much bureaucracy; complex and time consuming processes that sometimes prevent you from doing productive work; difficulty to drive changes that would make a real difference; is currently making controversial decisions to keep its commitment with investors.
Pros: Good people, great capabilities, huge R&D investments, wonderful client base.
Cons: Ran by finance, H.R. and legal. Great capabilities can't be put to use due to all the internal roadblocks. While all over the world, not truly global in terms of incentives, ability to work easily globally with clients.
Advice to Senior Management: Cut out a ton of middle management so that senior management decisions can flow down. Push down empowerment. Run like a business, not like a spreadsheet. Allow managers to make business decisions vs. finance. Put clients ahead of IBM and IBM will come out ahead.
Pros: Excellent company reputation. Good 'first job'. Good 'bragging rights'. Makes you feel special to be an IBMer.
Cons: Workforce is considered disposable. Executive pay is through the roof. The 400 thousand people that 'make it happen' are peripheral.
Benefits continue to be reduced. No longer the 'work here till you die, get a gold watch' corporate culture.
Advice to Senior Management: Share you success with your people. Don't expect to grow 10% year-to-year EVERY year. Treat your people like the assets they ARE.
Pros: Excellent customers look for IBM GBS to provide state of the art technology solutions. IBM develops excellent proposals with details on who, how and what will be delivered. Upon award of contracts, IBM looks for other-than-bid individuals to work the engagement.
Cons: Customers are provided with numerous employees that are not prepared to provide the service or solution that was proposed. Business analysts typically have limited knowledge of the customer environment and even less knowledge of IBM's process and procedures.
Advice to Senior Management: Do not bid opportunities that you do not have the proper resources to staff.
IBM also bullied and threatened the Town of Yorktown about tax assessments for TJ Watson Research. Such fine corporate citizens IBM is (well, maybe in Armonk still). IBM has lost net jobs in East Fishkill and Poughkeepsie too.
IBM makes it difficult to prove (but look at the parking lots over the past year or so) since they don't supply site numbers of employees at these sites anymore ("for competitive reasons"). YET they still get the tax breaks (PILOT) since IBM says "they are creating jobs".
Sure, create one job and RA or outsource or move jobs three at the same time from EFK and/or POK. PROVE you are creating jobs IBM! Trust IBM on their word? Try to get ANYTHING from IBM not for their behalf in writing! -IBMrTaxBreakCheats-
As for IBM suing those that do not follow the agreement, I am sure IBM is suing them. Again, they are good at coming up with settlements out of court, especially in states like MN where one does not have to file a case in court to start a lawsuit. For those who do not need the severance money, consider if the cost to your rights is worth it. -Gone since '02-
There was also another HR guy, who then proceeded to do the paperwork.
I was given a package amounting to about 5 months of salary. Then they literally "escorted" me out of the building and took away my badge.
I was essentially made a scapegoat to protect the mediocre people whom the management of another team finds easier to control. (I was in the EDA, and the Processor team's manager essentially controls the EDA.) I got 2+, 1 and 2+ (in 2010, 2011, 2012), and was promoted twice in consecutive years, but this time round, I was given a 3 because ... guess what ... I was "distracted". 2 hours later, my first line manager was also laid off. Now we are looking for new jobs together! :)
P.S.: I was making plans to look for other jobs starting March anyway, so if anything, this so-called rebalancing only helped me, since I don't need to serve out the stupid 3-month notice period (that's right; notice period is 3 months in IBM India, and it cannot be bought), and I also got the "package". -Anonymous-
I hope some accountability is brought to the managers and tech people's ratings; awards and promotions are made based on technical contributions. As of today the ratings, promotions and awards are arbitrary and at sole discretion of manager. I know of several talented people including my tech lead were deprived of promotion while yes boss' got promoted. Shame on the management for losing all top talent and building a laid back low performance work culture. -anon-
Same with PoK, Fishkill - recall when I84 was built the Lime Kiln Road exit was added to handle all the IBM traffic. Rt 52 was backed up for a mike in the AM rush hour. Now, pick a spot, any spot.
Guess her highness worried about finding a spot at T.J. Watson as they built a helicopter landing pad for her a year or so ago. In a 'let them eat cake" moment" While folks were being RA'd there she made an arrival scene in view of all. -Anon-
The answer is simple. They are not laying off the media. It's really not a layoff. When people are laid off they have the potential to return to the same job when business picks back up. What IBM does is called firing. There is NO chance you will return as anything but a temporary contractor. What I wonder is why the remaining two-thirds do even less than the media when it's them who have everything to gain and nothing to lose. -Exodus2007-
Alliance reply: Alliance@IBM's web site is mobile friendly. It can be accessed from your phone. Reminder: Don't use any IBM equipment to access allianceibm.org. Use your own personal phone.
State Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, said: "Anything Gov. Cuomo can do to keep a multinational corporation like IBM honest is to be applauded. That said, this isn't our first time to the rodeo. IBM has consistently accepted taxpayer-funded windfalls while systematically offshoring American jobs, and unfortunately I do not see an immediate solution to this fundamental reality. "The devil will be in the details and if IBM isn't held to a firm standard, they will find a way to wiggle loose at the expense of local taxpayers and employees," Ball said. "That leaves room for IBM to cut a lot more jobs," he said.
So IBM is committed to preserving 3,100 jobs. Who is going to check that? Is IBM going to release employment numbers yearly? I don't think so. http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20140225/business01/302250016/video-n-y-ibm-deal-where-does-big-blue-go-from-here- -Anonymous-
Alliance reply: IBM will not show you any numbers that they aren't legally obligated to show. IBM has not released actual headcount numbers of their US employees since the end of 2009. Your right to know where your taxes are going comes from NYS government. If NYS knows the numbers of employees being fired and the actual number of IBM employees presently active in the Hudson Valley, then they should be petitioned by the taxpayers to get that information. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of IBM's "lies by omission" and NYS 's collusion.
Now IBM is really in a bind. If they do a layoff they will receive nation wide negative publicity. New plan is to increase the number of layoffs outside New York to compensate. There will still be layoffs in NYS but they will be called normal MIS, management initiated separations that they do every year. Oh yeah (now this part is parody) Ginni will be making a video chastising employees about not executing properly. This blunder was their fault of course. -Execution Problem-
As a long time STG'er this looks like the true beginning of the end for the hardware business at IBM. If any customers are reading this web site I would urge you to think twice about engaging or continuing to engage with IBM. Put simply there's not enough technical staff left to give you the quality of service you deserve (and are paying for!). The IBM ship is sinking and I sincerely doubt "Cloud", "Watson" etc. are going to save the business. Good luck to all. -gonetomorrow-
If everyone who reads this contacted NY Times, Washington Post, USA Today, etc., etc. who carried this IBM CEO propaganda and told the truth about how the company works and the execs. are pillaging the company then perhaps people would take notice. At the moment Alliance are viewed as the bad guys. Everyone get your act together are start to spread the word.
Read http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/executive-compensation/when-ceos-waive-their-bonuses-what-message-does-it-send/article17068741/ and the comments to see what I mean. Don't let them get away with this. -OnThinIce-
Alliance reply: That is because there are no documents that list the job cuts for contractors like they have to do for current employees. Each IBM RA package has an OWBPA report that lists number of employees "selected" and number "not selected" for termination.
What IBM is engaged in is entirely different. The rush to an arbitrarily earnings goal does not make business sense and it certainly can't be confused with a strategy. Buying shares when you could be investing in the core business suggests that there is nothing that the company feels is worth investing in—there are no more ideas.
I have been RA'd this time and I am entirely happy. In previous companies I have worked for, redundancies came as a shock. No warning. But we understood and dealt with it because we knew 'why'. At IBM, firings are well signposted. Utterly blameless and hardworking employees are wondering if this is their time. Everyone assumes their time will come, they just don't know when.
Employees are haunted with the prospect of redundancy. People don't expect to retire from IBM. The GDP situation suggests that hard work is pointless. This is not a normal company, and its policies are designed to antagonise the employees and keep them on edge. How can that be useful?
So, we have 400k employees, mainly demoralised, few incentivised. Are they working at 60% capacity? Who knows. But firing 4% and neutering 96% looks about as much a strategy as chasing $20 in 2015.
The beauty of capitalism is that bad and unprofitable ideas are supplanted by better ideas. In this way, IBM's contribution to innovation is clear. Smart people are released to places where they can make a greater economic impact. I don't mean to belittle the experience of individual employees, but trust me, as IBM declines, innovative new businesses grow. Be part of it. -HapplyReleased-
That's leadership. No one liked the layoffs but everyone understood and got back to work with a new purpose. The IBM execs are cowards, hiding under their rocks. -Hide under a rock-
Yes it can happen on vacation. Yes it can happen on leave. Don't take it personally; no one is safe or special. At some point you will fall within desired demographics and you will be gone. I had been there 33 yrs with great reviews most of my career. Happier as a part timer, getting sleep and health. Peace be with you all. -Brenda-
This is so depressing. I've worked my tail off for all these years, and I have gotten nothing but harassment, demoralizing messages from management, and a carp-ton of depression. I will be relieved if I get the ax tomorrow. Thank God I've been socking away for retirement like a friggin squirrel. -beenhereforever-
So, this is 20% for GBS IGA? Wow, no wonder it's so awful here. I also work in GBS IGA—please let the guillotine fall tomorrow, and let it be quick. It's getting more and more clear that all of GBS IGA in the US is damned. Just when I think it could not get worse, it gets worse. It is an incredibly demoralizing organization, full of political slimeballs and dishonest people, desperately climbing all over each other, trying to stay employed. I've had enough of the games here. Bring it on. -Anonymous-
These RAs lately are borderline criminal. I don't know how the CEO and her cohorts can look themselves in the mirror everyday, and I don't know how the board and Wall St continue to give her a pass. Where is the organic growth?
I got RA'd last summer and now work for a vendor doing the same thing I did before, making about the same amount of money. I don't know how they pulled that off. Good luck to all out there today. Be mentally prepared and you will come out of this stronger than before. -Still_Blue-
I feel sad that I will be leaving many trusted friends and colleagues, but elated that I no longer have to work with many others that will never again be in my contact list. I do know there is hope, I've been actively looking for other employment for several months now and expect to hear today from a company that actually values what I have to offer.
The only thing I want to know now is what does the package look like and where can I sign. Good luck to all of those who 'have the call' today. I promise you there are companies out there that want and value you. -AlmostGone-
First, consider moving you healthcare outside of IBM if you don't have any pre-existing conditions (now). It is only harder to change later and COBRA is a complete joke.
Second, get term life insurance outside of IBM instead of IBM GLI. Once again, it only gets harder to qualify as time goes by. I speak from experience.
IBM caused me to have to go on anti-anxiety, sleep and high blood pressure medication and that was held against me in my health exam for both health and life insurance. If you haven't been driven to that point yet, the time is now to increase your independence from IBM. Best wishes to you all! -BlindSidedinRTP-
They do not. They will continue to take away everything the employees have. Then reprimand us for being distracted. Enough! Support this site. Join! Tell your co-workers. IBM is not looking out for you. Management gets rich on the backs of employees.
I have been covered by IBM insurance since birth. Second generation. My father was assigned his position by Tom Watson Junior. Who by the way is turning over in his grave. Respect for the Individual. My rear end. Join the Alliance!! Put some fear into IBM! Bring back the workers that made the image this company is today. I've Been Misled-IBM -Anonymous-
Alliance reply: Sorry for your job loss. To all: We need to know your division, location and if you know how many have been cut. It appears that the RA packs for this time have had the OWBPA report (ages/title/number selected) stripped from the document. IBM does not want anyone to know how many are being cut.
http://www.troutmansanders.com/severance-agreements-for-employees-over-40-understanding-the-older-workers-benefit-protection-act-06-04-2012/ -Longtimebeemer-
The glory days are gone folks—IBM is becoming a shell of its former self. My heart goes out to those poor folk who still work at IBM and have to put up with all the 'stuff' that is showered down on them from on high. I also pity our customers; in the field IBM technical staff have been cut to the bone (and beyond actually in some cases—down to ZERO). How does IBM expect to support these customers? How can they keep taking customer's money and provide such a shoddy service?
Oh that's right; because decency and ethics was replaced by greed some years back. Congratulations IBM on creating an absolute army of former employees who totally despise you and will do everything in their power as customers or competitors to undermine and eradicate your business. As the saying goes "They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind." IBM's day of reckoning is coming—and it will be coming at lot faster than a lot of people think. -theend-
I read and signed off on those guidelines a couple dozen times assuming that those overseeing the writing of them were model citizens worthy of my respect. It turns out they're worse than wolves in sheep's clothing. They're vile, in the same league as a Bernie Madoff—complete and total waste of the human genome. May they rot in a place that the "distracted" in hell couldn't even conceive of. -Sorry Old Sap-
Some have said I have grounds to go to HR, but is it worth the fight? Maybe on principle alone. But, maybe it's time to move to a new company who treats their employees better than IBM does. I've also heard several names of co-workers hit and I'm just shocked...so, I'm not alone and I'd rather be hit than someone with children. -LaidOffinTucson-
What I didn't realize was just how bad some of IBM's managers had become and how 'little' they are (big egos, hurt easily = rain of hell upon employee). Wow! In any case, trying to decide what I should do next. I don't really need the severance; I hate to give it up. I want to fight as I feel wronged, like so many others. But I do know fighting is very expensive. In any case, thinking next steps. -Sad in Vermont-
I just don't see things getting any better at this company without a change of the entire leadership team. We need someone with a vision. Unfortunately, it is probably too late as the damage has been done through the years.
For those that remain, I would compare IBM to a concentration camp where you are just waiting to be led to the gas chamber. You never know when it will come and it makes no sense. I can honestly say I am embarrassed to work for this company the way we treat our clients and people. Time for me to move on before my number is called. Good luck to all down with the Fuhrer -embarrassed-
I just checked out the executives and their stock status through your link, they have all been granted shares worth millions, as of 2/1...so much for no bonuses and so much for true teaming. I guess they feel they "deserve" their compensation for some reason but they are really acting in a most brutal and selfish manner...taking millions in compensation, then justifying the termination of hardworking, dedicated and loyal employees. BTW, RAed last July; life is much better now; most in high-tech now see IBM as a joke. -REBIRTH-
The Internet is a big place. Somewhere there must be a scientific study that shows that a pattern of mass firings is harmful to a company's long-term health. Somehow, that has to be communicated to the stockholders (or at least the major ones). Suggestion: include the word "chainsaw" in your Google search. - Nick Danger-
Alliance reply: In IBM unions in Europe and elsewhere job cuts are negotiated, numbers challenged and alternatives worked on. In those unions job cuts are voluntary first. They have contracts that spell this all out in detail.
However, a lot of people have left voluntarily since last year (myself included). In some depts, more left voluntarily over the past year than were cut. They were counting on attrition, but it appears they got more than they had wanted. My guess is that they lost so many that they cannot cut in some areas without killing AIX altogether. Maybe that's what they want eventually, but not instantly like another deep cut there might have done. -MovedOn-
Alliance reply: This is why employees need the OWBPA report included in their RA docs'. Lots of age discrimination in job cuts.
People no longer interact or share ideas. Instead they're heads down and driven like slaves. They are treated with disregard by managers who only know how to use scare tactics to manipulate them, e.g., constantly told to 'work smarter' (who was the IBM jackass that started that phrase?) with no help to do that; to take on more responsibility, even though the workload increases exponentially as staff is reduced; to be a leader, even when there's nobody and nothing to lead. Way too may chiefs and hardly any Indians to do the real work. The list of denigrating tactics goes on.
My message to those that are suffering from the humiliation and self doubt caused by these layoffs is, don't suffer any longer. You haven't done anything wrong and IBM is way too stupid to realize what they're losing. Know that everything has a silver lining. It only took me ~1/2 hour after my notice that I found mine. My life has changed dramatically for the better. Looking back I only laugh with joy that I no longer have to experience that kind of treatment.
I'm grateful for having had the opportunity to meet so many good people and to work on such a great product. That said, I despise IBM and everything they stand for, not because they chose to remove me, but because of the dirty, despicable and unethical way they run their business and how they blatantly lie to their workforce and their customers. It is shameful and I'm so happy not to be part of it anymore, no matter what my future holds.
Whatever you choose to do post-IBM, I hope this will help to put some perspective on what has happened and know that you'll be much better off. I wish all a more fulfilling next stint. -ReleasedFromIBMPrisonCamp-
Alliance reply: Sorry for your job loss in 2013. All the negative aspects of working for IBM, that you have cited have been said before. This company will continue to do to their employees, whatever they feel like, as long as IBM employees allow them to. Alliance@IBM has been actively working to help change that "paradigm". The focus that IBMers should be using is to organize. IBMers just like you, who have dedicated their energies and loyalty to a company that abuses them at every turn.
The ONLY way to change that, while still working for IBM is to organize. Now that IBM has gone so far as to stop reporting job cuts as before in their RA pkgs; it's just another example of their disrespect for their own workforce. If the workforce unites, organizes and fights for a contract; IBM will immediately see that their employees have finally put "some perspective on what has happened and know that IBM workers will be much better off..."
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.