Thread regarding IBM layoffs

What is your plan once Tuesday rolls around?

A two part question ..

Part I
As with others, my last day is June 22. For those of us in the US, Monday is a holiday. Come Tues, what will you do?

1) Show up as usual? Join meetings? Inform your teams and peers? Offer to transition your work, knowledge, etc? Meet with your manager to address any questions?

2) Not show up? Not tell anyone? (f*** 'em all)

3) Other?

Does anyone know what's expected? Anyone's manager give a plan for how the next 30d should look?

I'm leaning towards #2 lol. I'm not only bummed about my own situation but so sympathetic with everybody who has posted here!! Let's help each other with this next question.

Part II - any advice or tips for next steps?

I will spend some time this weekend scrubbing my laptop, email. I'm planning to adjust my 401k contributions before the lump sum payment, adjust my withholdings, fwiw. Grab contact details for potential references. Obtain details on projects and accomplishments so I can add to my resume. Get copies of all of my performance reviews.

For anyone who has been through this before, or has helpful suggestions, what else should we consider doing? Thx

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| 6016 views | | 20 replies (last May 25, 2020) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+155MVX4Y

20 replies (most recent on top)

My manager is a pretty good guy, he told me that my "job" for the next 30 days is just to look for a new job. I was going to do that anyway, but nice to have the boss approval.

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Post ID: @3biy+155MVX4Y

I posted my 2017 departure letter on LinkedIn! Not from IBM but from EDB.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pierre-fricke-seizes-historic-opportunity-pierre-fricke/

My IBM dept was laid off entirely in Dec 1999 with 60 days notice. Was thrilled to get 6 months of pay for that! They had just cashed the pension out and I missed the 40 year old cutoff by 18 months.

Only two layoffs so far in 37 years in high tech ... but it can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone these days. Be prepared. For the over 50 crowd be prepared for up to 1 month per $10K / salary sought to get a new senior role within 10-20% of what you were making. Unless you get lucky (as I did in 2018).

IBM 1999-2000 and what I saw after in 2001-03 was my motivation to begin to monetize my hobby in 2003. www.buyvintagemoney.com . Was a godsend... in 2017-18 … 15 months between jobs.

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Post ID: @2jcd+155MVX4Y

Most good managers will tell RAed employees to transition activities quickly and then focus on themselves and what the RAed employee needs to do. There is verbiage in the package that says the package benefits can be withdrawn so I think it is important that you reach an agreement with your manager on what they think you need to do. My manager commented that maybe I should continue with a planned enablement session where I was presenting on June 4th. I almost laughed out loud. I have already transitioned or cancelled everything I was working on. Did a lot of it , via email, Thursday after being RAed at 8:30 AM. Then on Friday I notified other coworkers and started cancelling all meetings. Being methodical. By end of next week I intend on doing nothing more with IBM except use the resources I need to move on with life. Remember, this was not personal. There is nothing you did or didn’t do that caused this. There is absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about or beat yourself up over. Being upset at IBM is o.k. But, don’t burn bridges. Everyone that leaves IBM says they are happier. I know my health will improve. I am already starting to feel less stress. I hope we all end up thinking that this was a good thing. Good luck everyone.

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Post ID: @1iir+155MVX4Y

Priority #1 has to be yourself, going forward, as the company has made the decision that it no longer needs you – or perhaps more accurately, can no longer afford you, or does not want to invest in the part of the business you are in. It might be tempting to do a kind of slash'n'burn thing, sort of when a relationship goes bad, and you are hurt by that of course, but remember not to burn any bridges on the way out. So I would "show-up" at work (some sites are probably still in lock-down, so it might not be physically possible), and take the meeting with your manager (if one is offered, if not, check-in to see if they want or need anything, remembering they may also be themselves on "the list", and even if not, your presence may be over their objections). Most good managers will tell you to just take care of yourself, focus on finding your next job. I would sign-up for any courses or transition training being offered, placement services, etc. These may be not all that good, but the give you a list of things to do, and some structure, at the very least. They will also cover the basics, writing a decent resume, getting on LinkedIn, etc. And I would probably fairly soon into it let others you work with know you are leaving, maybe starting with close friends or your team (so they do not hear it from someone else, or have to guess it later on), then radiating out to others you work with or know. Rarely, but on more than one occasion I have seen, that has saved a job, it happens, but mainly the transition will not hurt as much if you can talk through it with others, staying or not. Occasionally there is IBM guidance on when to tell others (especially if they are external), I would stick with that until off-payroll (but not too much further, and in any case leave the Note (unread)). Start generating a list of contacts and so forth for when you are post-IBM. Work up an exit-letter, so people have contact info mostly, and try and keep it upbeat, not all changes are good things, but most good things start with a change. You will want to include an external e-mail address (copy yourself on the exit letter, you might ask for their external address). You can also post the exit-letter (or something longer/more directed) as a Blog, or (in shorter form) to Slack. It is a hard, hard thing to go through, impossible to get perfect really, but you want their memory of you to be not a blow-up at the end, but of all those good years you worked together, the things you accomplished, before you left. Post this at least a week ahead of leaving (factor in vacation, too), as if you post it last-day, you won't see a lot of the replies. We sometimes get measured and remembered for how we deal with tough times, and there are a lot of others in this same boat sailing away from IBM. But it is your soon to be ex-coworkers, at IBM, partners and clients, that will often be the ones that help you find that next job. The person that writes a recommendation, the client or co-worker that somewhere down the road, perhaps when the economy recovers, remembers your name, that you were a class act when you worked with them.

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Post ID: @1pze+155MVX4Y

show up. do what you need to do. Smile. Focus on you. I blame myself for not knowing the IT language that management and Congress have mandated... Hindi

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Post ID: @1qty+155MVX4Y

"show up, be professional" lol yeah right
Sure thing, its no matter that managers friends & family always get to keep their jobs right?
Just a coincidence I guess.

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Post ID: @xon+155MVX4Y

Option 3 for me. Show up and do my core job because NOT doing that only hurts my teammates whose fault this is not. While I’m working though I will be job hunting outside of ibm and if I get interviews before 30 days are up, I take those days off.

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Post ID: @tyl+155MVX4Y

@OP+155MVX4Y: Option 2 is the only option, do not even think of Option 1. Even if you show up with good faith, the management in your department has simply made you damaged goods even though it is possible that you are a good performer and got affected.

IBM has opted Employment at will approach, so you too don't spend even a single minute on IBM. Let the dumb manager figure out the transition items [if he has not done this before cutting you, let him figure out]. Your going to work or working remotely will not fetch you anything. IBM has let you go, you too let IBM go. Your loyalty is towards yourself and your family and Not IBM.

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Post ID: @yty+155MVX4Y

How to focus on yourself and job search, but not burn bridges? Not be unprofessional? If your manager wants you to finish projects, provide training and documentation, how do you say no? It's true, they can't hold your job or performance over your head anymore but you also never know if you will work with these people again or need their help in the future.

Asking because I'm DONE and have zero interest in working on anything now, but don't want to burn bridges. Unfortunately due to my work and makeup of my team, I doubt I will be told to just hang out and do my own thing until 6/22.

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Post ID: @hcm+155MVX4Y

I've been laid off in the past. It's time to focus on you and not the company/management that just let you go. Let them worry about the smoking hole left behind, and focus on you getting another job. There is little to no value showing up at any IBM office. However, do not burn any bridges - IT is an incredibly small world and you are bound to bump into someone who knows someone, etc. Keep it professional but you are priority #1

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Post ID: @qeh+155MVX4Y

@klz+155MVX4Y a suggestion, don't use the time ahead to keep working and benefit IBM. Focus on yourself and your next steps. it may be difficult to watch the teams flounder without your knowledge and contribution. Somebody should have thought of that before you were put on the RA list.

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Post ID: @rfp+155MVX4Y

To the Manager who got laid off this time, if you were the Manager through 10 RA's, 5 in 7 years at IBM, could you please describe what did you contribute or deliver? You still continued working and would have still continued this time if you were not affected, so your hating it does not matter to the individual contributers in your team.

If you knew you were laying off good people, then its almost like committing a crime. Why did not you muster enough courage to stand up to your Director? There would be a Senior Director above the Director and then Junior VP –> VP —> Senior VP –> Executive VP —> GM —> CEO.

I bet half of these folks in the hierarchy are simply warming their chair and not contributing anything positive, but will lay off individual contributors who toil and do their job.

Why would you recommend employees you laid off to show up? As a manager, you need to be aware who is working on what feature and what transition is needed. You need to create a transition list and not the employee. You are expected to track the work progress and be on top of it .
If you are not aware and want your employees to prepare a transition list, then what were you doing in first place? It is 100% your responsibility to keep track of the work progress for your Direct Reports. Employee will not take any new work or may not show up at all. Employment is at will and employee may chose to not show up at all. If you were not keeping track all these days, then you were sleeping and deserved to be cut.

I am simply giving you an honest feedback that an individual contributor would provide his boss.
We do not need to have a hierarchy of Managers/Directors. I have no sympathy is some Manager/Director/VP got laid off as seldom do they contribute positively to the growth of the company.

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Post ID: @quu+155MVX4Y

Ideally, I will be allowed time to get my things together and look for a job.

Realistically, I will work up to the last minute because no one else does my job. So work on a bunch of deadlines and document processes so someone (a cheap contractor?) can keep things rolling when I'm gone.

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Post ID: @klz+155MVX4Y

My manager will schedule a meeting with me to discuss turn over and how I want to handle transfer of work. I also want to retrieve my desk items and was told I would have to make an appointment to do that. Since yesterday, I have been updating my resume, set up a Linkedin page, sent myself contact info, reference documents, project examples, checkpoint and mylearning. I plan to take a couple more classes. Also signed up for Right Management but have not heard back from them yet (they must be pretty busy!). The only work I intend to do is work for ME and look for another job! I feel positive at the moment but ask me a month from now. I wish I knew the names of others who got the cut so we could talk. That would be helpful. With everyone working from home some folks don't know about this yet. The discussion items here are helping me.

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Post ID: @wcu+155MVX4Y

My manager told me he does not expect me to attend his staff meetings or other meetings.
He told me I should focus on finding my next job.

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Post ID: @fmk+155MVX4Y

I've been a manager through 10 RAs, 5 in 7 years at IBM. As a manager, I hated it. I never bought the stated justification and knew I was laying off good people. This is my first time being on the receiving end. I have always wondered when I would make the list.

Based on my experience, my advice is as follows:

  • Show up. Be professional.
  • First thing is to create a transition list and give that to your manager. The manager can determine who, if anyone, should take that work and provide direction on how to do that. Don't let it slide. You should try to have everything transitioned within the first week or so and than be available for questions. Do not take any new work. If you have a good manager, they will be pushing for the same thing.
  • Plan for your departure/future. This should be your priority. Resume building, exit processing, look at training on Your Learning, while it's available.
  • Attend those things that are required. Many things we do are not really required.
  • If you want to share the news with anyone, do so. If you don't, don't. As part of the manager training, they are told to contact the employees who are not impacted, and tell them there was a resource action and they were not impacted, nothing else. This is not something IBM wants to talk about. Word gets around eventually, it really comes down to if you want to discuss it.

While you may have animosity toward the IBM company and the culture created, there are a lot of good people at IBM. Many of which will end up elsewhere because of an RA or choice. You may work with or even interview with some of these people in the future and the impression that you want to leave them with is that you are a professional.

For what it's worth.

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Post ID: @tiz+155MVX4Y

I got hit in 2014. Once informed, I left and didn't return until my exit interview 30 days later to sign the paperwork, get my severance check, and hand in my laptop. In the meantime, I spent my days updating my LinkedIn account and applying for new jobs online - all on IBM's dime and even on their laptop. I asked my manager at the time what was expected of me, and his response was that they did not expect me to come in every day and go to meetings.
I scrubbed my laptop and forwarded any contacts to my personal email account. I made sure I went through all of my files to see what was relevant for my resume and I also grabbed pdf copies of all my reviews.
Thankfully I was only out of work for 6 weeks, and the severance actually helped my savings in the long run. And in the new job I found, there is actually morale and not just beaten down people keeping their head down trying to avoid the next RA.
All I can say is there are companies out there hiring. I've conducted 8 interviews this week alone looking for generalist analog/digital design engineers with lab experience.
Good Luck!

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Post ID: @aah+155MVX4Y

I personally will show up to work as normal. However, there are subject matters which I am the sole person to know about that I may not bring up nor transfer over since it may take some time to do and I do not have much time. My squad will have the learn the hard way that their current project will hit a major roadblock soon and they will have a hard time figuring out what is wrong without me. Too bad I guess.

All in all, use the next 30 days to think about yourself and plan for what's ahead and leave IBM in the past where it belongs.

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Post ID: @vge+155MVX4Y

Have the convo with your manager. I too had that talk yesterday. My manager said I can take a few days to process, then my jobs is to find a new job.

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Post ID: @obh+155MVX4Y

I will advice you to lean towards #1 instead of #2. This will be good for you overall. Don't repay perceived wrong with wrong. repay it with good, there is strength in this option.

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Post ID: @qed+155MVX4Y

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