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When one thinks of technology leadership, the first company that comes to mind is International Business Machines (IBM). However, IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano, and former CEO Louis V Gerstner have both given cash donations to Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. IBM continues to outsource professional jobs, now a common practice with technology firms despite growing criticism at home.
IBM has not disclosed how many professional jobs the company has shipped to India. At IBM's annual shareholders meeting in Providence, RI, in April 2004, a handful of shareholders expressed discontent with IBM's labor practices.
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"We are determined to give IBM employees every opportunity to be
retrained in skills that will be valuable inside and outside IBM." Randy (Randall) MacDonald, SVP IBM HR
Why would IBM not retain an employee who earned the following comments from his managers?
2002 (assessed in January 2003)
2003 review (assessed after the layoff notice was given January 2004) |
IBM CEO Sam Palmisano addressed 340 attendees by casting a positive spin on the outsourcing topic at the company's April meeting. IBM is a company with strong ties across the globe, and IBM must look at "global skills around the world," he said. "Most people recognize that you can not lock down jobs [in the USA], businesses and skills," and there can be "no emotional attachment to things that do not represent your future," Palmisano said.
In practice, IBM plans to increase headcount outside the USA in the year ahead. In India companies pay $20 per hour for a job that costs them $100 per hour in the States. The practice of reducing labor costs, on corporate balance sheets, looks super to investors. In June 2004, IBM purchased Daksh eServices for $170 million, and plans to absorb 6,000 Daksh employees to expand IBM's India-based workforce -- already 9,000 strong. Daksh is the third largest outsourcing firm in India.
What happens to "well educated" guy or girl in the USA who loses his/her job to an Indian in Bangalore? How will your voice sound over the loud speaker announcing Wal-Mart's daily specials? Your $35 per hour IT job is now an $8.42 per hour job with the USA's largest employer, always the lowest price, always.
The options for re-employement in the USA are fading in the same way farming jobs vanished one century ago... an unless employees make demands of their executives for alternative ways to manage costs in the USA, to provide for professional adjustments, the trend will eventually reshape our business culture -- to the detreament of US-workers.
When you've been given the "heads up," that is, told that you have 60 days to find a new job within IBM, or take an exit package.... the options to find a new job inside grow few and far between for a number of reasons, and as Palmisano says, none of these reasons are emotional.
First, you compete against other employees facing the same fate. Second, the hiring manager(s) for open positions have likely filled the position. It is possible to find a job when you've been cut, although IBM will not comment on percentages, 1 in 10 is what the unconfirmed data shows.
In the case of this writer, the countdown started in early December 2003. By the end of January 2004, with IBM jobs moving to India, it seemed like a good idea to try and find a job with IBM India... especially since IBM India's website said "we are hiring." Although, the form to submit your resume did not work at the time.
It was no loss to me whether I stayed in the USA or applied for citizenship in another country --especially if it meant keeping my career with IBM. So, I proposed the following idea to IBM Human Resources in India.
"I'm a top performing employee, and I'm willing to move [myself] to India at my own expense, in exchange for a chance to apply with IBM India..." After all, IBM India could not fill positions fast enough. IBM India could not train new employees fast enough -- as IBM switched its phone support from US call centers to India. My proposal was not what IBM executives expected, especially during heightened media awareness towards outsourcing US-jobs.
Martin Appel country manager for IBM India Human Relations, received my first request on 5 January 2004, a second time on 15 January 2004, and third time on 29 January 2004 -- along with (cc'ing) his manager, Abraham Thomas, vice president of IBM India Human Relations. Additionally, Appel received two telephone calls from me -- which were never returned, and Abraham Thomas received his own e-mail from me proposing the same plan, to which he did not respond.
The e-mail of 29 January solicited the only response from Appel, after several people in both countries were copied on the request. He copied his manager in return and said, "I had replied to you earlier, asking you to post your resume in the BPFJ+ tool. Here is the link..." Appel in fact had not replied earlier as his e-mail suggested. And the link he provided in his only response did not work.
Abraham Thomas did not comment, although we have confirmation that he received the two e-mails sent.
How serious is IBM about retaining talent? Palmisano claims IBM set aside $25 million in retraining investment dollars, however the funding was not yet approved at the time of April's shareholder's meeting. Is IBM serious about its internal retraining program? It depends upon whom you ask.
Randy (Randall) MacDonald, senior vice president of human relations for IBM, says IBM acts on behalf of its employees to not only retain talent but to retrain those employees who may face layoff due to the poor economy. If you currently work at IBM and face layoff, be sure to visit MacDonald in Armonk and ask him for assistance.
On 15 March 2004, MacDonald, 56, blasted the Wall Street Journal in an opinion editorial "IBM Retrains Employees To Find Work World-Wide," expressing his surprise that the Wall Street Journal did not discuss IBM's industry-leading retraining initiatives.
Think & Ask sent MacDonald a formal letter (not an e-mail) inquiring what he meant, and asked MacDonald how an exemplary employee could be laid off when IBM claims they "retrain" as opposed to "layoff." MacDonald did not respond.
"We are determined to give IBM employees every opportunity to be retrained in skills that will be valuable inside and outside IBM. It's inefficient and undesirable to part with members of the IBM community when we can train them, in many cases, for the new jobs of the future," MacDonald wrote in the Journal.
MacDonald claims that IBM is hiring worldwide and in the US (unlike many other companies, he said) and IBM is working hard to retrain existing workers to keep them in the industry... even while IBM hires for emerging jobs of the new century.
If there was an award for the best corporate "snowjob," MacDonald would need one huge shovel.