Has anyone been able to successfully reverse RA because manager gave false and misleading reasons for RA (non performances based) and instead onboarding a new replacement from a vendor he has known for a while. had several good performance reviews and emails before RA. I don’t get the motivation to do this as there were no complaints against my work . How likely is this to happen
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@a7 I can justify my cost provided i am allowed to perform my full role. Here i am told to do 50% of the work unrelated to my goals which have no visibility and have checkpoint every 2 weeks to ask and discuss and am told everything great .. keep doing what you are doing .. leave the metrics to me
IBM not only has become incompetent; it has become evil in the way it hires and fires and promotes. It truly is about who you know, getting the best accounts that would buy from Bozo the clown and most importantly if you are NOT a male, NOT experienced, NOT white, NOT over 35.
Unfortunately no. Even if the RA is not performance driven, the usual setup includes one or more “growth opportunities” and sometimes a “Low performance identification” . This is done with legal involvement to minimize the risk of a labor dispute (at least in Canada). I was a first line manager that was forced to do this several times, I did pushed back as much as I could, and as a result, I got exactly the same treatment: After 5 years of “exceeding expectations” especially on “business outcomes”, I got a BS growth opportunity and got RAed 1 month later. (March 2025). 7 months before my RA, I got one of those outstanding technical awards.
Managers are given a script to read during an RA to avoid legal issues.
Also, let me guess, your manager is Indian, the replacement is Indian, and you're not Indian.
Former RA here...the simple answer to your question is "NO!".
If you're willing to search through the archives of this forum, you can find many threads describing the RA process and how it works. The bottom line for you is that the "RA decision" was made with the approval of several different managers, and is driven by financial reasons (you cost too much for what you can provide the company).
Don't take it personally. It's easy to feel slighted when it happens, but mass firings (RAs) are how IBM has conducted its business for a long time. It doesn't matter what band you're in, what your job is, or even what your performance is like. If your number comes up, you're booted out the door and that's that.
By the way...I too had great performance reviews and e-mails before RA. Welcome to the club!