First, I'm fully empathetic for everyone who took the hit today. I'm truly sorry. This may or may not help folks, but after being with IBM for 38 years my best advice is to try not to take it personally - it's not - and instead decide to either try to get a job internally (likely very tough in 30 days), or put it behind you and move on. I've seen so many restructurings, surpluses, involuntary separations, terminations, resource actions (those are just the terms I remember) and have been part of two of them (made it through them though that's immaterial; the next one will definitely be the end, if I don't decide that first) and seeing several dozen friends let go through no fault of their own: it is not personal. The company is just not what it once was; the old culture is gone. Everyone I've kept in contact with after leaving IBM has landed on their feet, and they are generally happier. I know it hurts right now, I've been there - but there is another side to it.
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Same exact script I heard. Thanks for thinking of my family! They are surviving Covid but won't survive IBM!
I'm not too happy about what happened to me last Thursday. My manager started by asking how I was doing and how was my family, blah blah. I said I was doing ok, but a family member had Covid-19 and was in ICU on the machine. No real extended reaction from that and the manager moved to the actual topic and told me (from what I know was a standard script) that IBM was going to separate from me. Boom! Nice timing..! Thank you IBM...! I know IBM screwed up many lives by letting go of talent because of very bad executive decisions in the past. With the notice and severance payout, it gives me a timeframe when I will really feel the financial pinch. I will need to fix this somehow and maintain balance in my life. That's it.
Speaking as someone who was laid off on Thursday, whether it was personal or not doesn't matter anymore. It's done and I've come to terms with the very real fact that it s—s and I can't do anything about changing the decision. HOWEVER, I can decide to do something about the next several months, starting today. This lay off doesn't change anything about who I am, what I've contributed, and what I am capable of doing. Any lay off will always be unfair, it wasn't our mistakes on the ground but higher level mistakes or failure to prepare for tough times that often drive massive lay offs.
My mission for the next 30 days is to extract every last drop of value out of IBM so that I can reinvest it into my next chapter. I'm going to identify a few courses to take (of the better ones offered) via YL, I'm shopping around for courses/certifications that I can spend the retraining fund we are getting, mapping out all of my expenses and reworking my financials for the remainder of 2020, sorting out every thank you or positive feedback I have documented in my emails, and planning the painful goodbyes I wish to say to those humans that became near and dear to me at the company.
Last night, I spoke with my coach to begin mapping my 30 day strategy and honestly, I started feeling better during that conversation. It was empowering to begin planning what I do have control over. If you need some helping getting out of your own head right now and getting more objective, reach out to the coaching community of practice via slack or communities. There are many IBMers there who are trained and willing to support one of their own during good times and bad. I'm one of these coaches and even though I have been RA'd, I am standing ready to support anyone who comes to our slack group and asks for help.
I left IBM voluntarily 6 months back after spending 5 years , I was in Big data group, cloud, cognitive systems, software ...Technical sales and joined one of the 3 real public cloud provider. I was scared to make the decision after years of accumulating no real marketable knowledge, lazy work culture ..and I can tell you its takes a lot of personal makeover to rebuild my skills, focus ..etc. I am in mid-40's .. hence I had to swallow the bitter pill and make myself marketable and product-able.. its not easy journey but one that I had to take.
The problem is "Leadership" .. they have no vision and understanding how the future IT landscape will look and is not ready to give up old and embrace new .....its sad but without younger leadership you can't evolve. I can tell you after six months ...IBM's leadership is simply outdated and i believe it will drive IBM down to a point that it will split into 2 ... Services & Systems ....
My advice to anybody is re-skill yourselves ..most of us are at home and there are plenty of course out there..and you will see that there is market for our enterprise knowledge..we all have to be brave.
All the best !!
I was here when John Akers was CEO, so I have seen a lot, I got tapped but After the i ini always shock I am glad to be moving on.
When executives gets paid millions for a bad job and they keep their job, I take it very personally. When you just stopped my steady income and my kids' future is at stake, I take it very personally. Very nice you are trying to give us friendly advice, but the reality is that IBM effed with many lives at a critical time in the entire world.
This has been going on for years... Always sitting on a knife blade every year just waiting for your turn. My suggestion to everyone who has been RA'd is to try and find another job where you can turn the table on IBM. Ensure that none of their products are used and replace them with the competition. Their are enough disgruntled ex IBM employees that can bury this company. Revenge can be sweet.
Anybody who has seen what has happened to the U.S.economy in the last few months and takes this layoff personally has their head in the sand.
Of course we take it personally! Especially when they RA and at the same time bring in hundreds of millennials. My all team were impacted including the manager and we are all over 50.
It's not personal. If leadership doesn't get rid of you, shareholders will get rid of them...
It is always personal to the employee being let go.
Original poster here ... I understand everyone's point of view who posted here. My point is this: I've been with IBM while it built up to ~400K employees in the late '80s (way more by percentage in the US then), very painfully and rapidly down to ~200K employees into the mid '90s, and then gradually back to the 360ishK depending how you count it (less after today), with lots of ups and downs along the way. I've known so many people RA'ed and it has suc*ed at the time for every single one. The point remains: yes, it is completely unfair. IBMers have always been highly motivated and worked very hard, with very few exceptions, in in my career. And the C level guys and SVPs don't get hurt during any of these actions. Ever. All true. But the point is we on the ground floor can't control that (no, I'm not a manager, never have been - and this thread shows s a big reason why). The point is: the current situation is not your fault. All you can control is what you do next.
For those asking the original poster “are you kidding me” - I think the point is less about “oh it’s just business, don’t be mad at ibm” and more “what happened s—ks big time. But it says nothing about your worth as a person/employee or your talent and abilities - do not let them/this trick you into thinking this has anything to do with any of that or your ability to land a great next job” (at least that’s my interpretation as someone who has been laid off in the past and had (still has) a lot of rage for the company/what happened, and let it get in my head and allowed it to shake my confident for too long)
The RA wasn’t personal to IBM no. But lots of people worked nights, weekends, travelled and cared deeply about their job. It’s a shame but this is modern business and we are expendable. Right?
Luckily I had a good balance before this RA (yes got me too) and I worked normal hours and did something I liked.
All things being equal change can be good.
With Covid-19 I’m afraid the normal soft landing scenarios are going to be harder to come by.
I am trying to be hopeful at the same time.
Not taking it personally, are you kidding?
I had high hopes for AK and JW that they are fresh and wil be straight forward with the employees - and now it is clear that is not happening. This level of RA going down the same path as GR and SP had been doing for over 20 years now - destroying thousands of families every year. Wake up, IBM leadership - if anything is left by now. No wonder, I discouraged my own daughter, a Watson Scholar herself to take up a job at IBM in last year! Come on IBM, be straight and up front and explain what you have done today with the reason and what is ahead of us to all of our employees.
Thank you for a great post! That is exactly what I've been telling myself, don't take it personally. I was RAd today. I've kept in touch with several former IBMers and they've said many times that being RAd was the best thing to happen to them. Still it's terrible news to get, don't get me wrong.