IBM Fired 100,000 Older Employees In Order To Appear Cool To Millenials

[Palumboism]

IBM Fired 100,000 Older Employees To Look "Cool, Trendy", Claims Lawsuit

San Francisco:

In a startling revelation, a senior IBM employee has deposed in an on-going age discrimination lawsuit that the company has fired as many as 100,000 employees in the last few years in an effort to look "cool" and "trendy" for millennials like Amazon and Google.

According to The Registrar, in the lawsuit hearing in the case filed by lawyers on behalf of ex-IBM salesman Jonathan Langley, a one-time HR vice president Alan Wild reportedly testified "that 50,000 to 100,000 Big Blue staff have been axed in the past five or so years".

Young people replaced the axed staff at IBM to look young, as is the case with several tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook, among others.

Langley, 61, sued IBM last year for "unfairly ditching older capable staff to replace them with so-called early professional hires".

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ibm-fired-100-000-older-employees-to-look-cool-trendy-claims-lawsuit-2079029

[Mothballs]

Or maybe IBM is an outdated dinosaur that hasn’t created anything innovative in 20+ years and needs to lay-off useless overpaid employees with outdated skills in order to survive.

[Hypertrophy]

Or maybe IBM is an outdated dinosaur that hasn’t created anything innovative in 20+ years and needs to lay-off useless overpaid employees with outdated skills in order to survive.

I worked briefly for IBM out of college. They have some of the smartest people in the world- especially at Yorktown Heights. The top management of the company is at fault. 

[Mothballs]

I worked briefly for IBM out of college. They have some of the smartest people in the world- especially at Yorktown Heights. The top management of the company is at fault.  

Isn’t AOC from Yorktown Heights? And Valentino? Which one are you?

[Mitch]

Or maybe IBM is an outdated dinosaur that hasn’t created anything innovative in 20+ years and needs to lay-off useless overpaid employees with outdated skills in order to survive.

you obviously don't know what you're talking about. They still are numero uno in RD worldwide.

[IroNat]

You're fired!  Collect your things.

[Mothballs]

you obviously don't know what you're talking about. They still are numero uno in RD worldwide.

People don’t care about R&D. Why would any millennial choose to work for IBM over FB or Google? What has IBM stock done in the past 5-7 years?

[Megalodon]

IBM certainly appears cool now but what are companies going to do in 10 years and after when reversing the aging process hits its stride and eventually 70 year-olds look like they're 30...

[20inch calves]

IBM is still around?

[WoogsRaven]

the stock price dropped nearly 5 dollars a share this morning after this came out in the news.

The stock hasn't done anything the last 5-7 years except decrease. Stills pays a high yield dividend to share holders. They acquired Red Hat recently to compete among the leaders in cloud technology so there's hope for the stock in the future.

[WoogsRaven]

How ironic....as I typed that last post, IBM stock has swung nearly 6 dollars in value since the market open.

[Palumboism]

IBM is still around?

From 1945 to 1985 IBM was the most important company in Technology.  They built the first commercial computer in 1952, the IBM 701.  Other important inventions by IBM include:
1956 IBM Magnetic Hard Drive
1957 Fortran IBM
1966 DRAM IBM
1971 IBM Flopy Disk

This year IBM purchase Red Hat for $34 Billion.

I agree IBM seems irrelevant today, but as other posters have mentioned it's because of the incompetent management.  

[Slapper]

No, they got fired because IBM went from leading the world in all things technology to now basically making juiced up servers.

I blame IBM's HR for being completely INCOMPETENT beyond belief (IBM's CEO should've revamped their hiring personnel many decades ago). They are literally getting SHELLACKED by operations being run from garages. UN-ACCEPTABLE.

Don't get me wrong, IBM is running a very nice quantum computing group (staffed from around the world,) but it took major internal fights for them to get to that point. They will get back to being a front runner soon.

IBM is a prime example of a generation that will just not go away until they take the company under with them.

[tres_taco_combo]

interesting thread.

[BBSSchlemiel]

I am guilty of wishing my place of work would get rid of all its boomer employees! I wish most boomers would simply stop working altogether!

[Slapper]

I am guilty of wishing my place of work would get rid of all its boomer employees! I wish most boomers would simply stop working altogether!

They are doing ALL Americans a disservice by 1) we're all tools, 2) we're going to work past 65 and 3) sticking around past 65, even though they are technology incompetent, is a good thing.

THREE very bad things to pass on to future generations.

Come to think of it, BB are America's best and worst thing. They were cool back in the 60s.

They're like your 65-year old uncle frequenting the local clubs. Creepy as fuck.

[Slapper]

We're supposed to know how to run C++ and SQL statements and they can barely attach a file to an email (meanwhile they're the managing directors).

Nothing to see.

Carry on.

[BBSSchlemiel]

They are doing ALL Americans a disservice by 1) we're all tools, 2) we're going to work past 65 and 3) sticking around past 65, even though they are technology incompetent, is a good thing.

THREE very bad things to pass on to future generations.

Come to think of it, BB are America's best and worst thing. They were cool back in the 60s.

They're like your 65-year old uncle frequenting the local clubs. Creepy as fuck.

Exactly! Their time is up! Their attitudes and their sense of entitlement. Did you ever notice many strut around like they run the joints they work at?

[Slapper]

Exactly! Their time is up! Their attitudes and their sense of entitlement. Did you ever notice many strut around like they run the joints they work at?

Well, they DO run the joints! The main problem is that they're not equipped to run the joint.

The most irritating thing is that neither you nor I can do ANYTHING about it. I can't just walk into their offices and tell them that project x and project y are a waste of time because there's already technology built for that.

I would get fired for that.

[Palumboism]

No, they got fired because IBM went from leading the world in all things technology to now basically making juiced up servers.

I blame IBM's HR for being completely INCOMPETENT beyond belief (IBM's CEO should've revamped their hiring personnel many decades ago). They are literally getting SHELLACKED by operations being run from garages. UN-ACCEPTABLE.

Don't get me wrong, IBM is running a very nice quantum computing group (staffed from around the world,) but it took major internal fights for them to get to that point. They will get back to being a front runner soon.

IBM is a prime example of a generation that will just not go away until they take the company under with them.

Tech is a young mans game.  You're over the hill at 38.

Median age of employees by company:

Facebook  28
Google   30
Apple   31
Microsoft  33
IBM  38

https://www.businessinsider.com/median-tech-employee-age-chart-2017-8

[Sissysquats]

 It saves IBM money too. The new hires will come on at a lower pay rate. This has been going on for decades. Give the boot to older folks making more to, short term, lower wages

[Slapper]

But guys, you're missing the point. It's not about IBM only, it's about a generation of individuals that are ill-equipped to lead a technology team.

Imagine we're in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. Imagine that all the managing directors in all the companies engaged in harnessing the new technological advancements are only experienced in horse and carriage kind of shit.

Now, step back, think about it. What do you think is going to happen to the companies that insist on letting inadequate individuals lead technology teams?

Wanna know how they got around it (with the help of every human resources office out there)? They created a new layer of employees called "SMEs" (subject matter experts). The decision-making process was effectively shifted from the managerial ranks to the SMEs, and the managers now get to the decide what the best option is based on the information they were fed (this is the modern version of "leading"). I KID YOU NOT.

If a mistake is made, the blame is always passed onto the SME.

[IroNat]

This is why most innovation comes from smaller organizations.

[Palumboism]

IBM has 160,000 Indian employees and only 100,000 in American employees.  Of IBM's 398,000 total employees, 200,000 are under the age of 38.


Ginni Rometty has really picked up the pace on firing Americans.

[Slapper]

IBM has 160,000 Indian employees and only 100,000 in American employees.  Of IBM's 398,000 total employees, 200,000 are under the age of 38.


Ginni Rometty has really picked up the pace on firing Americans.

That's because, when you have such a FUCKING EXORBITANTLY BAD managerial layer, the only way out of the pickle is by laying people off and hiring cheap obedient employees. Americans are critical thinkers and know when shit is up. Indians are sheep, in a Clotaire Rapaille-an sense. So it's no surprise that the most productive and inventive employees eventually leave these firms. Slowly but surely, these managers become more and more entrenched into their positions and they start hiring loyal employees. Eventually, laying them off becomes an impossible task because they've been at top salary for so many years that it's cheaper to keep them. What you can only pray happens is that the firm gives them an option to retire at 65 but... these fuckers don't want to retire because they make a lot more money just showing up.

It's a vicious circle for which there's not way out of unless you take the "fuck it" route.