IBM swings axe through staff, humming contently about cloud and AI

Re: The American Dream

IBM is certainly following the HP path, but HP is innovating newer ways to fail. IBM still needs to have a big merger and then start fragmenting itself. Both are circling the bowl, but HP seems a bit closer to the bottom.

Re: The American Dream

Dear Sir,

<pedantic>

who said what now?

</pedantic>

Regards,

Guus

Re: The American Dream

@Pascal, if you think business should just be about handing people money go start your own and provide welfare to people, why is it that OTHER people have to do things you tell them to with THEIR money? Better to layoff a few thousand and revitalize your business than to keep going in a failing direction and have tens of thousands out of work when you go belly up.

Re: IBM managemant plan

you could also say

HP is being run for the benefit of its managers - they will reap fat salaries and a decent retirement / golden handshake from this as the company slowly sinks beneath the water. Think of the Titanic, with the captain throwing ice cures off the front of the ship hoping that they will form an iceberg.

so IBM is following the example set by HP who is following the example set by IBM etc etc.

I can't help wonder if there is a general clearing of the decks before Donald 'Build that wall' Trump gets elected in november on a 'Make Amercia Great' ticket.

Re: Loyalty?

Loyalty? Really? In this day and age? I have always been loyal to my employer until a better offer came along. It is out for number one in this game, it has been for a very long time.

Re: Loyalty?

I was also loyal... until I found out that I'm getting underpaid. And the employer just kept on adding additional responsibilities without renumeration on top of my current duties.

When my resignation letter hit the circuit, they were quick to offer two counteroffers... but too little, too late.

Seems the current crop of manglement types are only in the show for their own benefit, everybody else can get screwed.

Re: Loyalty?

It's the employer who expects loyalty, not the employee. An employee's loyalty should only extend to the next paycheck and that's only if there's no "hold that check for a few days or it won't clear the bank".

Sadly, IBM used to be one of the places the people loved to work for. As it is now, most of the ones I know who are still there are looking elsewhere and the ones not there, are glad they aren't.

Re: Quite impressed it has taken this long

Short term performance is all that matters now, the top brass have to make sure they make their numbers so they get their big bonuses every quarter.

There is a very easy fix for this. Defer bonuses by several years and don't tie them to a single years performance. That will force management to start thinking beyond the next quarter.

Re: Quite impressed it has taken this long

Why do they treat their staff / lifeblood this badly?

Human Resources works the same way as other resources like coal, iron-ore or oil: Set up a process to Extract the maximum amount of value in the most economically efficient way. Once the value has been extracted, we dispose of the waste.

PS

5 years is heathen Communism! In business the proper planning- (or more correctly event-) horizon is "when can my stock options be exercised".

Fun fact is that politicians always go for decades instead - this is because the longer they sit, the longer they get paid and the longer people have to wait for their "reforms" the slimmer the odds of anything happening that gets them unelected.

Re: better to leave...

Its also incredibly funny as once you are settled in a new role, the people still inside IBM send you their CV trying to get out - usually the lifers!

At one interview with a placement agency I asked if having worked at IBM was becoming a black mark on your resume. They grudgingly admitted that yes, it was heading that way.

Re: Really??

They're trying to. I was one of those who left last year (with a decent package, thankfully). I still talk to former colleagues and yes, there are still customers who want work done; many of them have got themselves into lengthy contracts with IBM.

IBM, having sacked most of the skilled workforce, attempt to fob them off with someone in India, who can't do the work, as they are thousands of miles away, 4 1/2 hours ahead, have lack of experience, and cannot comprehend the customer's business and how what they are doing relates to it.

So yes, they're apparently trying to fill the void with contractors, or at least want to. I've not seen any contracts show up on the usual job boards.

It has also come to my attention that where IBM have no obligation to do work for a customer, they are simply turning it down as they don't have enough skilled people.

Naturally, as someone else mentioned, the customer decides to get a different product next time. Hey, they may even decide to buy some new technology, like cloud, analytics or the other ones. IBM gets crossed off the list rather quickly.

Re: Box ticking

Er, no. In my case, the team was doing very well, and making a lot of money. We were part of a larger division, which overall, in the UK, was also doing well and turning a profit. However, head count must be reduced so managers were put under pressure to come up with names. I helped mine by volunteering.

I actually miss the work, to be honest, and I also miss most of my former colleagues. I don't miss IBM, the politics, the miserable atmosphere, the crappy salary, the lack of prospects, the contempt of employees and customers, etc. etc.

Re: Hmmm.

So are you planning to leave? Anything stopping you?

Re: Hmmm.

So, what's your handjob technique?

Re: 1 in 18 leaving GBS UK

I've just realised that when I was first offered a (voluntary) redundancy by IBM over 16 years ago, it was 40% higher than the statutory amount offered this time round. I'm still here, but I wake up most days wondering why.