IBM disguised Watson Health layoffs as a 'redeployment initiative'
Many companies are likely to lay off employees IBM way. Required relocation appears to have become a common tactic at IBM to avoid layoffs – it encourages workers to quit rather than go through a disruptive, unwanted move. In recent age-discrimination lawsuits against IBM, the company has been accused of using relocation as a way to get rid of older workers. One method by which IBM is alleged to have ousted a number of older workers is by requiring employees (who have long been permitted to work from home) to relocate to a different part of the country and work out of an IBM office," explains a court filing [PDF] in the recently settled Lohnn v. IBM. "Plaintiff's counsel has obtained evidence that this strategy was adopted with the specific goal of ensuring that older employees will resign from the company." The filing goes on to cite an internal IBM email that shows IBM is aware of how much relocation deters job seekers. It states, "Typical relo accept rate is 8-10%." On May 31, 2022, we're told, IBM's Redeployment Initiative became a Resource Action. That left employees not invited to join Merative one month to find another position at IBM or be separated. The separation agreement offered three months of severance pay and required the employee to agree that there had been no discrimination. IBM has maintained, despite paying multiple age-discrimination settlements and EEOC findings to the contrary, that it has never engaged in systematic age discrimination. https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2022/08/29/ibm_allegedly_hid_watson_health/
Not well played since the dirty laundry is out in the open now.
It's out in the open but nothing happens about it. They just do it again in another few years.
Oh man.. how do you solve a problem like IBM? Profitable yet not innovative, content to just milk the cash cow for eternity.
Revenue is decent tbh. But there is so much dead weight which needs to be removed that will cut down the expenses and increase the revenue.
if you really love drinking the koolaid so much then relocation doesn’t sound too bad 😂
Well played