IBM has over a few years built up a remote work program for its 380 000 employees. Now they are "quietly dismantling" this option, and has told its employees this week that they either need to work in the office or resign (alternative source). From the report: IBM is giving thousands of its remote workers in the U.S. a choice this week: Abandon your home workspaces and relocate to a regional office -- or leave the company. The 105-year-old technology giant is quietly dismantling its popular decades-old remote work program to bring employees back into offices, a move it says will improve collaboration and accelerate the pace of work. The changes comes as IBM copes with 20 consecutive quarters of falling revenue and rising shareholder ire over Chief Executive Ginni Rometty's pay package. The company won't say how many of its 380 000 employees are affected by the policy change, which so far has been rolled out to its Watson division, software development, digital marketing, and design -- divisions that employ tens of thousands of workers. The shift is particularly surprising since the Armonk, N.Y., company has been among the business world's staunchest boosters of remote work, both for itself and its customers. IBM markets software and services for what it calls "the anytime, anywhere workforce," and its researchers have published numerous studies on the merits of remote work.
This is despite that teams may not even be in the same town so it's effectively a telecommute at work anyway. And sometimes there's isn't even a desk assigned to the employee anyway. Instead employees get a locker room type closet with a trolley suitcase like thingy to stash all their junk that people used to leave on their desks. IBM employees are not allowed to leave any items on the desk, since it is not their desk. Every morning it's the "musical chairs" and everyone will try to grab a desk in a good location. What's a good location might however be different for a programmer needing concentration in silence . . . . and a salesperson next to you doing "Lines Of Calls" (LOC) instead of "Lines Of Code".. LOC like you . . . . well, that just ruined the day for you.
Managers at IBM know that this is a stupid idea, but the goal was to save money, which trumps everything. So they tried to sweeten the deal a bit by letting people work at home. Basically, they have outsourced their office space building services to their employees. But if you can't at least put a picture of your wife and kids on your desk there won't be any attachment to the "place of work". Neither will there be any attachment to the company either so turnover rates goes high.
Adding to the dismal situation is that these IBM e-places are as pleasant to visit as a trip to concentration camp with very loud, greying chipped concrete colored paint, rickety desks and chairs that make IKEA furniture look like luxury items.
Maybe IBM just have become a simple maintainer of large amounts of software they primarily had already or purchased from others and then branding it IBM. SPSS was bought but hasn't changed since they purchased it yet they still want thousands of dollars in licensing every year. At least their net promoter score (NPS) has gone to 27 compared to say Tesla at 97. Out of a range -100 to +100.
Some companies have started using the strategy to move office often and far enough to get rid of employees as the housing market punish them. Without having to pay out for firing them.
Already a year ago IBM have begun the usual India replacement, but the people getting that treatment didn't have any work at home policy. The key thing to understand about this company is that it's like a small city. They have more than 300 000 employees world wide. And just like cities there are good and bad parts of town. Working at Watson, that's upscale. Working for IBM Global Services as a NOC engineer, sysadmin or Java developer is the slum. Workers at IBM "true blue" probably let you have an easier time to opt for work at home in the past than a red-headed stepchild working at IBM Global Services. The clients in IBM Global Services are the table pounding types and mostly in financial industries. They'd just have to complain to the sales representative that they heard a dog in the background of a conference call and the work at home ends for everyone. Incidents like that has been observed to occur at IBM. But you can also bet your ass that the Ph.D researchers at Watson who have any work at home privileges are keeping them. The company was always scared shitless to upset that apple cart. People doing security scans at IBM, always had to give those guys a pass, no matter what. Bottom line is that it's where you are inside IBM that will ultimately matter.
TD;LR: IBM treats everybody who isn't a Ph.D like shit and won't let them work from home. The hauling back of employees to offices is just an excuse to get rid of employees. and yes their offices suck. As an investor, it might be advisable to reconsider being that in IBM as they seems to live on their name more than substance.
IBM hauls remote workers into office or "choose" to leave
IBM has over a few years built up a remote work program for its 380 000 employees. Now they are "quietly dismantling" this option, and has told its employees this week that they either need to work in the office or resign (alternative source). From the report: IBM is giving thousands of its remote workers in the U.S. a choice this week: Abandon your home workspaces and relocate to a regional office -- or leave the company. The 105-year-old technology giant is quietly dismantling its popular decades-old remote work program to bring employees back into offices, a move it says will improve collaboration and accelerate the pace of work. The changes comes as IBM copes with 20 consecutive quarters of falling revenue and rising shareholder ire over Chief Executive Ginni Rometty's pay package. The company won't say how many of its 380 000 employees are affected by the policy change, which so far has been rolled out to its Watson division, software development, digital marketing, and design -- divisions that employ tens of thousands of workers. The shift is particularly surprising since the Armonk, N.Y., company has been among the business world's staunchest boosters of remote work, both for itself and its customers. IBM markets software and services for what it calls "the anytime, anywhere workforce," and its researchers have published numerous studies on the merits of remote work.
This is despite that teams may not even be in the same town so it's effectively a telecommute at work anyway. And sometimes there's isn't even a desk assigned to the employee anyway. Instead employees get a locker room type closet with a trolley suitcase like thingy to stash all their junk that people used to leave on their desks. IBM employees are not allowed to leave any items on the desk, since it is not their desk. Every morning it's the "musical chairs" and everyone will try to grab a desk in a good location. What's a good location might however be different for a programmer needing concentration in silence . . . . and a salesperson next to you doing "Lines Of Calls" (LOC) instead of "Lines Of Code".. LOC like you . . . . well, that just ruined the day for you.
Managers at IBM know that this is a stupid idea, but the goal was to save money, which trumps everything. So they tried to sweeten the deal a bit by letting people work at home. Basically, they have outsourced their office space building services to their employees. But if you can't at least put a picture of your wife and kids on your desk there won't be any attachment to the "place of work". Neither will there be any attachment to the company either so turnover rates goes high.
Adding to the dismal situation is that these IBM e-places are as pleasant to visit as a trip to concentration camp with very loud, greying chipped concrete colored paint, rickety desks and chairs that make IKEA furniture look like luxury items.
Maybe IBM just have become a simple maintainer of large amounts of software they primarily had already or purchased from others and then branding it IBM. SPSS was bought but hasn't changed since they purchased it yet they still want thousands of dollars in licensing every year. At least their net promoter score (NPS) has gone to 27 compared to say Tesla at 97. Out of a range -100 to +100.
Some companies have started using the strategy to move office often and far enough to get rid of employees as the housing market punish them. Without having to pay out for firing them.
Already a year ago IBM have begun the usual India replacement, but the people getting that treatment didn't have any work at home policy. The key thing to understand about this company is that it's like a small city. They have more than 300 000 employees world wide. And just like cities there are good and bad parts of town. Working at Watson, that's upscale. Working for IBM Global Services as a NOC engineer, sysadmin or Java developer is the slum. Workers at IBM "true blue" probably let you have an easier time to opt for work at home in the past than a red-headed stepchild working at IBM Global Services. The clients in IBM Global Services are the table pounding types and mostly in financial industries. They'd just have to complain to the sales representative that they heard a dog in the background of a conference call and the work at home ends for everyone. Incidents like that has been observed to occur at IBM. But you can also bet your ass that the Ph.D researchers at Watson who have any work at home privileges are keeping them. The company was always scared shitless to upset that apple cart. People doing security scans at IBM, always had to give those guys a pass, no matter what. Bottom line is that it's where you are inside IBM that will ultimately matter.
TD;LR: IBM treats everybody who isn't a Ph.D like shit and won't let them work from home. The hauling back of employees to offices is just an excuse to get rid of employees. and yes their offices suck. As an investor, it might be advisable to reconsider being that in IBM as they seems to live on their name more than substance.
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