IBM tells some employees they need 'training,' to cut their pay 10%

Post #394,890 by lincoln 9/22/14 2:35:32 PM Reply	IBM tells some employees they need 'training,' to cut their pay 10% IBM (N YSE: IBM) is cutting pay 10 percent for employees designated for training after they were determined to have "not kept pace with acquiring skills and expertise needed to address changing client needs, technology and market requirements." The union that is seeking to represent Big Blue workers says the move is "outrageous." Workers reacted with anger and sarcasm. (Read WRAL TechWire's report online.) "While you spend part of your workweek on learning and development activities, you will receive 90% of your current base salary," IBM declares in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by WRAL TechWire. Benefits will not be cut, but other compensation such as 401(k) and employee stock purchase plan, will be adjusted to reflect the pay cut, the memo says. http://wraltechwire.com/ibm-tells-some-employees-they-need-training-to-cut-their-pay-10-/13984777/ Satan (impatiently) to Newcomer: The trouble with you Chicago people is, that you think you are the best people down here; whereas you are merely the most numerous. - - - Mark Twain, 'Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar' 1897
Post #394,897 by crazy 9/22/14 5:37:27 PM Reply	1 day out of 5 to be spent dedicated to training So on that day they have no project responsibilities, and are supposed to spend it learning or polishing skills. And they get paid 90% on that day. I consider this a hell of a deal. Most tech people have to train on their own time and their own dollar continuously. Misleading headline. If you want to call it a cut, ignoring the skill benefit aspect, fine, but it is 2%, not 10%.
Post #394,898 by scoenye 9/22/14 7:18:42 PM Reply	That isn't how anyone else reads it The 10% is across the entire 6 month period, not just the days/time spent in training.
Post #394,955 by crazy 9/23/14 5:18:06 PM Reply	then they are idiots Or the article is wrong. Read it again.
Post #394,957 by crazy 9/23/14 5:26:48 PM Reply	or I misread it "While you spend part of your workweek". Does that mean the hours spent, or the entire workweek?
Post #394,963 by scoenye 9/23/14 7:47:45 PM Reply	To me, that means the whole week Otherwise, that is a pisspoorly worded sentence given its obvious capability to set off a firestorm.
Post #394,965 by drook 9/23/14 7:59:12 PM Reply	I read it as 10% off total pay While you spend part of your workweek on learning and development activities, you will receive 90% of your current base salary. The "while" doesn't refer to the part of each week that they're doing learning and development. The "while" refers to the duration of their employment during which they are spending part of each week on learning and development. -- Drew
Post #394,966 by boxley 9/23/14 8:38:27 PM Reply	one reason I like contracting, pay me, I work an hour pay me for one Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 59 years. meep
Post #394,970 by pwhysall 9/23/14 10:11:56 PM Reply	yeah, this
Post #394,975 by crazy 9/24/14 1:38:17 AM Reply	like I said, maybe I misread it I'd get clarification before exploding. But if you are right (and upon further thought I agree with you), yeah, I'd be pissed. On the other hand, it seems there is a time limit for the training period so at least there is a goal end site in mind. On the other other hand, I bet those that do poorly in training are fired. On the other other other hand, this is probably good for the clients. Most software consultants from the "big" companies are filler, to simply satisfy the body commitment from the contract, and I have very little faith in their abilities.
Post #395,012 by scoenye 9/24/14 9:39:41 PM Reply	Some see a stock price manipulation exercise Apparently, IBM promised $20 earnings per share in 2015 and is now hard at work to reach that goal by all means possible.
Post #394,915 by pwhysall 9/23/14 1:23:27 AM 9/23/14 1:26:50 AM Reply	What's that? A large corporation? And it's stocked with grasping chiselling shits who will do anything to cut the wage bill? What about the managers of these people, who have clearly failed in their performance management and skills assessment duties? I bet they're not getting a 10% pay cut! Or is this another of those "we get paid the big bucks to make hard decisions (hard for you, not for us) and manage risk (risk for you, not for us)" things? The right thing would be for IBM to man the fuck up and admit "our training and development policy was clearly a load of horseshit, we've hired someone competent to implement a new one, and whilst it obviously sucks to be us, we're spending money on fixing it by training people." Edited by pwhysall Sept. 23, 2014, 01:26:50 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #394,924 by Ashton 9/23/14 5:18:21 AM Reply	You do not (fully) comprehend Murican double-speak: They would be laughed out of the Bellona Club. Responsibility is a shibboleth of The (disingenuous) Right--it is not ever Practised-by those who employ the word. Good thought, though.
Post #394,935 by a6l6e6x 9/23/14 9:58:56 AM Reply	That's a far cry from what IBM used to be. In the early 1970's I was given 2 half-days (i.e. a paid day a week), bused (or mileage paid) from Kingston, NY to Troy, NY, to go to RPI with tuition paid for to get a Masters in Computer Science. They even paid for the graduation gown! That's when companies invested in their people. Today it's about exploitation and discarding. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #394,951 by Ashton 9/23/14 5:10:04 PM Reply	RPI doing eVehicle batteries now, among other things. Engineering Longer-Lived Batteries for Electric Vehicles and Other High-Power Applications. Good stuff on the physical stresses on electrode materials; seems a real Big problem. Every cycle Moves things. Neat looking campus.. I too know a family wherein the Mater was a main honcho in the US -vs- IBM mainframe ownership interlude way-back. Obviously she was paid accordingly, applying that financial moxie to parlay. A brilliant one, now lapsing into that great-grey-Beyond, attended by a daughter --returning the support of all kinds, which she had had. (An onerous task, that.) Yep we were (at least) America ... back before the Reagan-befogging and ethics-ectomies began in (dis-) Earnest. As ye sow.. ad infinitum. (I remain mystified that, in this Whole fucking-Country: all-along.. so few.. ever noticed/measured!) the Coefficient-of-Friction on that greed-lubricated slope, heading for -[1/0] now. Many had the degrees/putative Certifications to Think (well-paid) to a Purpose. And yet.. Rmoney may well be a contestant, (if) come 2016. As in Penny Lane ... Very.. Strange.

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