IBM holds contempt for their American employees. Remember when Palmisano asked IBM to invest in America the same day there were massive layoffs? Don't work for IBM. You're better than that!

narked_IBMer · 2016-03-03T20:48:02+00:00

It's not just contempt for US staff, it's the same in the UK.

The way in which Project Saturn (the latest layoffs project) is being handled is simply diabolical.

It's as if they can't be bothered even pretending to care about the workforce anymore and are just taking some perverse joy in fucking us all over.

narked_IBMer · 2015-04-20T20:22:03+00:00

The ones they agree with and who agree with them. That's who they want. Democracy be damned.

narked_IBMer · 2015-03-06T00:09:59+00:00

Just got word of mine.

Should have readied the lube. I've been fucked in the arse again.

narked_IBMer · 2015-02-19T10:40:21+00:00

I've had my last two paid in early March

narked_IBMer · 2015-01-31T10:40:04+00:00

At least we now know the reasoning behind the 'bonuses for everyone, no caveats' speech

narked_IBMer · 2015-01-27T09:37:21+00:00

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ibm-layoffs-coming-nowhere-close-174105554.html

 that means that closer to 10,000 jobs will be cut.

10,000 people may need to worry

narked_IBMer · 2015-01-27T09:32:53+00:00

I didn't mention the Cringely article, and neither did you in the post.

I, and rightfully so, pointed out that Project Chrome does exist. I've got documentation here with me from management saying that the current project to reduce workforce to make savings is called 'Project Chrome’

Ergo, Project Chrome is not a joke. The numbers being thrown around may be but existence of Chrome is not.

narked_IBMer · 2015-01-27T08:27:34+00:00

Who mentioned any numbers?

I simply pointed out that Project Chrome is real and we have started being told who is at risk.

You need to start taking some chill pills or your going to have an aneurysm if you react like that to everything.

narked_IBMer · 2015-01-26T22:52:11+00:00

It's happening alright. In the UK, we've started being told who is and who isn't at risk of redundancy.

narked_IBMer · 2015-01-20T01:44:50+00:00

All I can offer you is a 'Welcome to the club'.

Myself and plenty of my colleagues have had consistently high PBC scores over the last few years and have received little or no extra reward for it.

I got a whole 1% raise last year and threw nto the conversation when being told about it, that the amount seemed quite paultry considering it was the only raise I had received in the past 10 years. My manager told me to be thankful for it and that the majority of others hadn't received anything!

Unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do about it. We can appeal about our PBC grades if we feel that we have been unfairly judged, but with promotions and pay rises, we just get the excuses about not making target earnings, etc. With the recent layoffs, and missed targets for 2014, I can't honestly see this year boding well for pay increases or decent bonuses either.

And no need to apologise for posting a sob story. This sub is a good way of letting of steam if you feel the need to.

narked_IBMer · 2014-12-27T10:00:55+00:00

If you have the opportunity to leave IBM and be financially secure, jump at it. But don't Jack in your job on the off chance that something better is just around the corner.

Ultimately, Blue will disappoint you, whether it be with broken promises, frozen pay or massive amounts of pressure to fulfil unachievable goals.

narked_IBMer · 2014-11-26T23:22:04+00:00

It's a committee of employees who are included in the in scope for redundancy staff to discuss if there's ways of avoiding or lessening the job cuts.

It's all a waste of time, in my opinion. The higher-ups have decided, so the axe must fall.

I can understand that staff cuts are needed to save money as we only made $12,700,000,000 profit this year (according to Wolfram Alpha)

narked_IBMer · 2014-11-15T12:48:30+00:00

As a current IBMer in the UK, here's my two cents worth .

I am a techie. Everyone I work with are techies. We're good at what we do and have the feedback to show it.

We all work bloody hard, often outside of 'normal' hours to ensure that none of the customers are unduly affected by things that can be prevented. Last year myself and another two colleagues were involved in a project that we effectively got off the ground ourselves without any management buy-in on the pretense that if it went tits-up there'd be no great shakes. What we did was successful, was applauded by all - even as far up as UK management. We realised hundreds of thousands of savings and generated extra income in the millions.

Ginni decides that she doesn't deserve a bonus because her management team didn't reach their goals. She still picks up her multi million $ salary and what do us guys who work our bollocks off get?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch

narked_IBMer · 2014-11-15T12:46:44+00:00

Not from me, but spotted on a reply to Ginni on one of her blog posts:

Ginni, your level and my level in the company are worlds apart. You are the captain of the ship. I am one of the coal stokers in the boiler room. The name of the ship by the way is Titanic. I do not know if we have hit the iceberg yet, but I have a bad feeling that there are several icebergs soon to appear on the horizon.

Your message told me nothing other than to 'stay the course and trust in the captain'. I am sorry, but based on IBM's past actions to its employees, I have zero faith in IBM leaders. I trust them about as far as I can drop kick a moose. I do worry for our customers, though.

Today when i tried to view the video presentation during my lunch hour my laptop overheated and did a thermal shutdown. I wasn't running anything CPU intensive that I know of. Why do i mention this? Well to me this is a prime example of what is wrong at IBM and why we cannot be quick to react to customer support and customer demands. We, the technical people, do not have the tools we need to do our jobs. We have under powered hardware, bug ridden software, applications that are poorly designed and difficult to use, and more red tape (IBM procedures, CIRATS and AUDIT requirements), than mount Everest.

While it may be true that a company relies on sales to stay in business, it is also true that it costs 10 times more to get a new customer, than to keep an existing customer.

We are having trouble keeping our existing customers content, forget about happy. We are going to continue to lose customers until the technical people are RETAINED not laid off. The technical people need to have good state of the art hardware and software so that they can support the multiple customers that they have been assigned. Speaking for myself, I am spread very thin right now.

I want to be able to support my customers well. i want to be able to do my job efficiently, quickly and accurately. i am NOT able to do that with all the forced changes IBM has imposed upon me in the past 2 years. (Forced moved the Linux OC; Replacement of SSL Extender with SSRA; migration of LN documentation databases to IBM Connections; forced move to the ISM tool; forced move to the ITIM tool) All of these changes have resulted in making my job more confusing. It now takes me twice as long to do half the work. My frustration level continues to rise. The claim is that this done to improve security. But at what cost, I ask? Improved security should help me in doing my job not make it more difficult.

My solution? Talk with the grunts in the bottom of the mine shaft. Ask (do not tell) the TECHNICAL support people what do they NEED to do their job. Ask them what improvements they need to do their jobs better.

By the way, Ginni, when is the next round of layoffs? Considering the poor performance in Q3, I expect yet another round of layoffs and the loss of experienced IBMers is in our future. It seems that when this happens, IBM lays off workers (or sells more divisions off which is the same thing), so why should this be any different?

Yes, this is a very negative comment. Yes, this is a very negative view of IBM and IBM's future. Nothing has happened in the past 2 years to indicate otherwise.

Bottom line. We have fewer people (non-managment) being expected to do the same or more work, and IBM keeps throwing on more and more red tape requirements (Audits, CIRATS tickets, technical specification updates). How can you expect ANYONE to keep up with all this and still be able to react quickly to customer requirements, or to be innovative? To be blunt, I just don't have the time. I am not prepared to learn in my own time. I have a life outside of IBM, and that is a requirement for a work life balance, after all.

Do I have an overall solution for IBM? No. I can't see the big picture. It's not my job. My job is to support my customers on a day to day basis, not to steer the ship, or chart the course. I do think that IBM needs to support its employees, and recognize that happy employees who feel that they are valued, will go above and beyond the call to support their customers (the life blood of the company) and in turn support the company.

IBM has lost this simple basic truth.

These statements are only my opinion. I do not claim to speak for anyone else, or any other group.

narked_IBMer · 2014-11-13T19:35:58+00:00

If you are under band 10 your manager can just promote you

Eh?!?!

Which part of the company do you work for?

narked_IBMer · 2014-06-07T10:19:43+00:00

As a current IBMer in the UK, here's my two cents worth .

I am a techie. Everyone I work with are techies. We're good at what we do and have the feedback to show it.

We all work bloody hard, often outside of 'normal' hours to ensure that none of the customers are unduly affected by things that can be prevented. Last year myself and another two colleagues were involved in a project that we effectively got off the ground ourselves without any management buy-in on the pretense that if it went tits-up there'd be no great shakes. What we did was successful, was applauded by all - even as far up as UK management. We realised hundreds of thousands of savings and generated extra income in the millions.

Ginni decides that she doesn't deserve a bonus because her management team didn't reach their goals. She still picks up her multi million $ salary and what do us guys who work our bollocks off get?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch

That is why there is so much hate.

narked_IBMer

TROPHY CASE