Thread regarding IBM layoffs

Signs that you may be on the RA list???

1. Your Manager makes an obscene gesticulation at you every time she sees you
2. Your neighbor has trained his Emotional Support Monkey to throw po-p at your door
3. The guy in the Guard Shack moons you whenever you pull into the parking lot
4. Your HR Partner starts wearing a dominatrix outfit and insists that you call her "Mistress"
5. The lady at the Receptionist's Desk flashes you every time you walk by and it's not even Mardi Gras

Bye IBM... Me no want to work here anymore...

Signs you might be on the RA list:

1. Your colleagues ignore you in the hall;
2. No one answers your emails;
3. Your car gets keyed in the parking lot;
4. Sh-t is smeared on your door;
5. Your FLM asks for a meeting, and asks you to bring your laptop.

If possible (RA or voluntary) strive hard to be employed Dec 15th (do verify any particular year) as ONLY those employed on that cutoff date will get their 401K matching paid out.

That's right, that per-paycheck matching is all on paper until end of year and as of that date of record. Find the financial articles - they did that specifically to save money - and it does. Quite a bit.

Now that might not matter if a new job has significantly higher salary or is earlier in the year or (silly you) you don't participate in the free-money of matching.

But for example my overall plan is to retire at the end of next or following year. I will not announce (verbally nor the official WorkThingy interface) until that years matching date of record. This prevents, as I have heard happen, HR sacking you early to avoid paying that out. Gives them the traditional 2 weeks, and with everybody off anyway (due to the close-to-use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy).

I'd guess the risk less perhaps? on say Dec 1 (or perhaps mid Nov) (then almost any action is 30 days anyway) but particularly anything longer is inviting the action (1) Save company money, (2) Manager gets requisition earlier

Always had great reviews but then my last review they made up nonsense saying I wasn’t doing an adequate job even though my productivity was even higher than years before. That’s when I knew my time was up. Get out if you can sooner than later. I waited too long and the job I have now pays better and with a way better company. Don’t think it can’t or won’t happen to you because eventually it will!

No one is SAFE!! Some of the RA decisions in the past came right from HR....everyone who had two or three PBC 3 ratings in a row (regardless of what they did), this WHOLE DEPARTMENT (who needs planners anymore), the people in this location/country (who we do not want to deal with anymore), etc.

If you plan to stay at IBM, you need a backup plan and need to get your finances in order.....enough saved to live while you find another job or enough saved so you could just retire. When my financial advisor told me in 2018 that I had enough saved to retire, I was no longer worried and opted to stay at IBM. I retired in May 2022.

Everybody is on the list at IBM except for the Execs. It is just a question of time for your name to be pulled from the list and get laid off.

So, you have two choices:

1. You can accept that and suffer the inevitable
2. You can take matter in your own hands, and leave this awful company.

The choice is yours.

Signs that you may be on the RA list?

If you work for IBM!

The partnership angle is looking better and better. Intel found a willing partner after disastrous quarterly earnings and outlook.

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/3977e2cf-e7e9-3139-83b8-1e5756ebba9d/intel-seals-%2430bn-partnership.html?ftcamp=traffic/partner/feed_headline/us_yahoo/auddev&yptr=yahoo

Will IBM also venture down this path? Magic 8 ball says “probable”

#1 sign

You've fallen, and you can't get up!

IBM is a total waste of time. If you are still there, it is time to get serious and consider leaving NOW! If you don't, the likelihood of getting the boot is pretty high. The FCF is collapsing, and IBM has to fix that. The way to fix it (in the short term) is to cut costs. What is cost at IBM? Employees...

It's not just IBM that often lays off from higher than front line manager. I've survived this at other companies. Once even a Sr. Director was given his list of direct reports to sack. High level.

If your boss IS in the mix - then and only then will you start getting "more silence", short assignment, looked over, etc, as well as no raise when comparable colleagues get them.

That said "it's quiet in the eye of the storm" is very true for direct management; certainly directly happened to me with a very cr---y boss (who was eventually fired for conduct). So, especially (!) if your boss has been chatting with you about performance and growth, and then goes largely silent, well then the mentoring is over and it is ALL up to you to get off the gangplank.

I recently successfully "passed muster" on "tell me why you shouldnt be on PIP".
I disagree that should have been ME so what's up ? Dunno. But it probably (most certainly) indicates I'm on the bottom of HIS list (perhaps only above anybody that might have been put on PIP).

Now the question is - whether the proscribed work is worth it? As folks leave in droves the work is just re-distributed with extremely limited back fill. So do/should (!) I care about doing a solid 1 person's work and likely PIP/RA or multiple people's work that the (severely understaffed now) project needs to be successfull?

Sometimes even your 1st line manager doesn't know. She and I got RAd the same day. Decision was made, as far as we could tell, by 3rd line.

I'm an RA graduate, class of 2020. In my former org, each manager secretly ranks their employees from first to last. When the cuts come, the lowest ranked individual(s) are whacked. I know this bc after my manager read me the RA script, I challenged her on the criteria that was used. My annual Check Point reviews were positive, there were never any issues brought to my attention she wanted me to address...so I was totally blindsided. I asked if Check Point is used to derive a total ranking similar to PBCs. She was not at liberty to tell me. Then what was used...was it my age as I was over 50? No it wasn't my age she said. So what criteria was used I asked again. (She had hired two kids out of school who had not even started yet). She couldn't tell me except to say she ranked me last in her dept (evidently even lower than the new hires who had been in the dept about a year or two). So does IBM still gaslight you guys that all employees are treated with respect and dignity and do you still have to go through the annual BCG exercise each year? Back to the initial question, ask your manager: 1) what is my overall Check Point (or whatever system they are currently using) rating; 2) do you rank the employees in the dept and what is your ranking. Even if your manager honestly tells you that you are safe...it's only until HR/Finance impose new cuts across the company and then your manager will have to scramble to meet their quota. Since AK has not been able to grow meaningful revenue and FCF has been declining year over year, the dividend payout as a percentage is growing. The last thing he wants to do is cut the dividend bc if you think the stock price is in the tank now, just wait till the div payout is cut. A lot of heads will roll before that happens, even if your "safe" today.

If you are in Services, when your utilization is in the s-h-I-t-t-e-r… that’s a guarantee you are on some list, if you get lucky you will not get laid off but the likelihood that you will get laid off is exponential.

Your intuition, your age, where you are in popularity. It’s not just your manager making this decision. it’s also managers’ peers, 2nd line,3rd line are contributing to that decision. They all give their 2 cents and influence. Assuming all the mangers under that 2nd line meet way in advance and make the decisions collectively.

Bulletproof??? You obviously don’t know IBM!!! The 2.6 million you drive is a rounding error to IBM. Most likely important to your manager and his/her 2nd line, BUT not to anyone above that. Remember HR’s mantra “no one is irreplaceable” IBM views you as nothing more than a cost. The computer in the sky will highlight your name when you cross one of their lines (age, technical skill, changing strategic direction, or even dropping your two customers to a BP). It doesn’t have to make sense, but only has to save IBM money from their viewpoint.

My experience in software, Requests for documentation or knowledge transfers are a common sign.
If a whole team is in the list you’ll see also see odd requests for demos to higher ups.

It is simple, unless you personally drive at least 1.2 Million a year in revenue in a non-sales role, you are at risk. 800K will not do it, 1 million, maybe, about 1.2 Million makes a difference. What do I mean, I currently have 2 accounts, they total about 2.6 million a year, neither will renew unless I am on the account - the clients insist. Every time they have move me off an account they lose the account when it comes up. fir renewal. hence I am bulletproof.

IBM is bloated very bigley. We need to cut bigley in order to survive. All hail the new king

Sometimes you'll have clues. Things that were exceedingly important suddenly become less important. You won't get new assignments that can't be completed in a day or two... that sort of thing. Sometimes your manager who was once very chatty and met with you frequently suddenly starts blowing off 1:1's or keeping them short and meaningless. etc...
Often the clues are so subtle you won't even notice until after you're gone, and then you'll have that epiphany. OH... that's why my manager did this or that.

IBM is no longer a company worth working for. They treat employees like cr-p. Stay away for those considering joining, and for those who are still there it is time to make a move.

I made it to some list earlier in the month, waiting to hear the outcome!

You’ve been surrounded by darkness for many moons when suddenly a point of light appears in the distance.

You find yourself questioning if the shimmer is water or a mirage.

There are no real clues, unless you flat out ask your boss, and they break the code of silence.

You will be on a list 90 days prior, or thereabouts before you are notified. So they'll know well in advance. They are given a number, so it's easy for HQ to manage the layoff by area. Then the manager decides. But the overall number is driven by CHQ.

Performance generally won't help unless you're considered a high performer. If you have a good relationship with your second line, you can ask them.

Up until you're notified, you'll be allowed to transfer to another job. After that it's much more difficult. But if you're looking for clues, the best really is your intuition, have others been laid off in your area prior, how is my area performing and so on.

These things are kept really sealed up as management can get into heap of trouble should they spill the beans.

Former HR rep