IBM is going to be writing some really big checks soon.
L
IBM has been losing business and revenue for decades. Their idea of how to modernize is comically out of touch - let’s get rid of older people who know what they’re doing, and hire young people who will work for low salaries. What could possibly go wrong?
their mature product line...
I worked for a while with someone who was dinobabied out of IBM.
He came to worked where I did for the five years it took to get vested in the retirement and keep medical insurance until he could finally retire.
He did not look kindly on IBM.
It’s not just IBM, it’s SOP throughout the industry. Apparently IBM is the only one with management stupid enough to put it in writing, though.
Almost invariably, once a company conducts a thorough purge of the old, about six months later they discover they’ve also pushed crucial knowledge and experience out the door. Then they begin putting out feelers to former employees, to see if they are willing to come back as contractors.
I can’t begin to tell you how good it feels to be in a position to tell your former employer to f*** off when they ask you to come back as a contractor. But trust me, it feels REALLY good!
The IBM execs, older employees themselves, are ok to stay. Just all the other older employees have to go, so they can hire younger, cheaper and lower paid employees. Perhaps some H1B-visa holders.
My kid got a job with IBM right out of college. I thought “score”. But after 8 months he announced he didn’t like corporate life and quit. I thought “WTF?”.
But, he may have been right. He’s doing pretty well training to be an airline pilot.
“older workers”
I wonder what other demographic traits these workers might share...white and male perhaps?
I hope the lost wages and lost career benefits, fines and penalties put IBM out of business or close to being out of business. As an older worker challenged because of my age, I want to see these companies pay and pay big.
Another email refers to IBM’s “dated maternal workforce,” an apparent allusion to older women, and says: “This is what must change. They really don’t understand social or engagement. Not digital natives. A real threat for us.”
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These top IBM execs really don’t understand discovery, the permanence of email, or creating liability for an open and shut discrimination case. Get ready to write some fat checks.
A defense contractor I put 25 years in (and I was a relative noobie at that) moved out OWGs (figure it out). In a couple years they had gone from a powerhouse to the punchline of a bad joke.
At our company we routinely hire older workers. When I mean older, it’s people in their 60’s, sometimes 70’s. They have a lot of experience to bring to the table. Then again we are small, light industrial manufacturing, not a large corporation. It doesn’t matter if someone just graduated from Oxford. They cannot stack up against 30+ years of experience.
Without them, the youngins could end up making old mistakes news again.
Most major corporations have done this for decades; it’s the historical military promotion system of ‘up or out.’ It’s just that they have mostly had to camouflage it of late.
I completely did not understand the term “dinobabies”.
It just seemed bizarre to me. What are these people taking?
“… employees designated for layoffs were officially allowed to apply for open jobs within the company…”
This was done at a hospital where I used to work. All employees were ‘laid off’ and then required to reapply for their jobs. Administration refused to ‘rehire’ most of the older nurses, technicians, etc. Caused a huge stink. This was around 1989 ish.
IBM has done this before.
Some new guy wanting to get ahead suggests why not re-organized, it will save money!
“Great idea, Jones” Start this right away and there is bonus money in it for you”
This has been happening for the last 4 years at my last company I worked at. Big company. About 4 years ago all the upper managers were told that worked at the west coast offices had to move to New Jersey east coast office. If you did not you would lose your job. Imagine sunny California and now winter and higher taxes and mosquitos.
Next the IT dept I was a part of had the Director and his 3 upper bosses all be replaced by people from India.... They in turn started firing half the IT dept and outsourced to Microsoft and Oracle. Other depts were also having many people replaced. The older more experienced and of course higher paid were leaving one way or another.
My manager and supervisor had no future so they left within 2.5 months of each other last year. The new manager is in Mexico and the new supervisor is in Poland....
I came across a list of Help Desk people dated Dec 2020. 17 of 33 people left by the time I left in Nov 2021 !!
That was not all of them as the entire dept in India was replaced by people in Poland. Also any new hires are from CapGemini which is a temp agency.
Some people are getting a lot of bonus money. All I was hearing for those years were many complaints about things not getting done and no one to contact anymore.
Experience equals dinobaby.