Thread regarding IBM layoffs

@1yug it sounds like you must have somehow dodged having to submit a weekly timesheet accounting for every hour of every day, and having to hit some ridiculously high billable target. Which part of IBM are you in? How does your management make sure you are working? I might want to move there.

If you don't like it, go work somewhere else

I worked for IBM for over 25 years, in many different roles, including managing large teams across the country. I was WFH the entire time. In fact, my teams did not reside in the same city or state, and some in different countries. I had the opportunity to hire the best skilled person--where they lived didn't factor into the decision. We had very high productivity, worked more hours than in a traditional office, and had work life balance. WFH was the ONLY reason I stayed at IBM as long as I did. I watched the culture change, but the trade off was being at home while my children grew up. No stress of commutes, home for school events, Dr appointments, etc. When I covered a WW territory, I had calls at 2am or 5am, depending on what was needed.... IBM "invented" collaboration. This is just another thing they are taking away. I am so glad I retired, never looked back.

@1yug YOU may be slacking by "hitting the gym" or sitting on the couch in jammies, but myself, and everyone who WFH on my team bust their butts each and every day. We spend those two hours of commute time actually working. Do we occasionally go to a doctors appt or have an issue with one of the kids? Sure, but I know that I personally make up for it by working later that night when that happens. I WFH NEVER work less than a 10 hour day. So, sounds like some of us are cut out for WFH while others of us need to be babysat to stay on task. You do you.

IBM has had a remote worker culture for so long that returning to an office somewhere will be seen as punitive and pointless. Why would a worker put on business-ready attire (even business casual), spend time and money on driving, parking, lunch, coffee, etc. and sit at a desk (or more likely one of those "collaboration tables" in a building somewhere) just to get on a conference call or web meeting (on their laptop!) with coworkers spread around the site, around the country or even between countries? This sounds like something a 3rd line or higher would think up, for it's hard to believe that a 1st or 2nd line manager would put their staff through all that.

IBM's return to work message has not much changed in 1 year. The only difference now is they released the target of 10% remote and 90% office. The reports in the system show orgs documented anywhere between 16 - 45% remote. (Reality some teams are actually 99% remote, just undocumented)

Work from office, work from home...it isn't going to matter. Sure, it will be an issue for employees that prefer to work from one place or the other, but it hardly matters when the company sheds jobs every day...either by voluntary resignation or by forced termination. "One cannot develop hardware, do science from home"? Tell that to the talent from other companies who do it every day.

IBM is at the point where it's not compelling to work for them from either the office or the home. They don't pay enough, job security is nonexistent and every LOB outside of mainframe hardware and software is struggling and probably due for the auction block. It's not quite the same as the go-go days of the late 1990s, but if you don't want to go back to the office then you have a LOT of options. For the talented (even average) employee, it is indeed quite possible to make $100k, $150k, $200k or more while sitting on the couch every day. Slaving away for the man in RTP or Poughkeepsie or someplace like that is not necessary in these modern times...it ain't worth it.

Wrong wrong wrong @1yug. I got every day as if I had to go to the office when working at home. I did not sit around in pajamas and dressed like I was going into an office. I did not do the dirty truth things you mentioned. You are the real liar here. I retired from IBM with over two decades working there but I spent another two decades working for large fortune 100 companies where I had to go into the office. Those two decades were much less efficient. Why is that? Commute time of an hour, constant interruptions and noise from inconsiderate coworkers, poor office space, going outside the door of conference rooms and waiting for your turn in the hallways due to a meeting running long, people just visiting cubicles to chit chat about gossip or not work related items, noise in office making it difficult to participate in conference calls, network speed in office slow as molasses. I could go on and on

Just a different thought different from group think here - Anyone claiming to be 'more productive' wfh is just plain and simple lying..We all know the dirty truth that includes hitting the gym, doing yardwork, picking up groceries, childcare, making dinner etc etc etc and lets not kid ourselves - it is great to sit in one's jammies on the couch and 'work' all day but that is not what we are getting paid to do - the 'coming to office' is a pre-requisite in our contract with the employers - if you don't like it - you can always leave and try to earn $100k,$150K,$200K+ sitting on the couch elsewhere.

PS# Most high tech companies are now asking people to come back to the office including Elon Musk, so there must be something they know that most of us don't!

The most offensive thing in all the blog posts is:
Ipso: we (the echo chamber of Arvind sycophants) "feel" that working from the office is the best and only way.
Facto: it must be.

Your hunches and your gut feelings obviously helped you to get to high levels but that does not perforce mean that you are correct. All of these blog postings come down to "we are doing this ... because it is the right thing to do ... because I 'feel' that it is the right thing to do."

Personally, I would feel much better if the communication was "we're doing this. shut up." At least you're not offending me by trying to convince me that you have some keen insights.

I left IBM on my own and would never go back. It's a poorly run organization starting from the very top and will always be that way. I moved into a entire new field making 3x the money.

IBM has been forcing employees back since Q1 depending on the business unit. If your Bluepages profile has a workstation location assigned to you - you will have to go back. For those with work from home or mobile in their profile - you may not have to. A great way to get rid of older employees. But let’s be fair, IBM has a ton of real estate sitting empty - about 689 offices globally. So asking employees to come back now that the pandemic is over isn’t that bad. IBM isn’t alone. Maybe now the Costco parking lots will free up some space between 9-5.

Dont worry they are already gearing up to shut down the US They can't risk a normal election

one cannot develop hardware, do science from home.

Here is the original post -- @OP+1otRQub6

Can somebody summarize the latest for those of us that have left IBM? Are they forcing you all back? Will you go back?

Personally I can see both sides. I'm permanent WAH, but(secks) will readily acknowledge missing those random interactions with people in the office. You can get by, but let's not pretend there no benefit to being in the office.

IBM has some of the most entitled, lazy, and incompetent managers on the planet. They should care about employee morale because there's a clear nexus to productivity, but (secks) they don't. They don't care about anything other than lining their own pockets while doing as little work as possible, lording their authority over employees, and just being general all-around creeps.