Regular IBM employees, not contract employees, with 1 month notice to decide to move and 6 months working notice. No paid severance as you will be deemed to have resigned if you choose not to move to downtown Toronto (where WW staff are assigned). Unfortunately this is legal in Canada because they are giving working notice in lieu of paid severance. They are also manipulating the "duty to mitigate loses" by saying you are being offered employment.
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IBM is the best at pretending to things are great with employees.
So true
Coming to work to "stick it to IBM" would be a bonus, but the truth is: we almost never see them these days. I went to a competitor and then IBM just dropped out of the race. Sad.
I understand houses in that area are incredibly expensive!
For IBM Canada employees in Marketing who are located in Ontario, the only location is downtown Toronto at Queen and Spadina. There is no option to work at 3600 Markham. And the effective date is September 10.
Two years ago IBM Canada started to manage me out off my role after 30 years of service. Elimination of tele-commuting was the first insult. Then I started getting assignments more suited to a new graduate. And finally an insult we all got to share: For the third consecutive summer, all vacations in our development organization were cancelled. The responsible VP couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag. After a while, his pathetic accusations that development teams responsible for his mistakes wore thin.
Anyway, the IBM strategy worked! I voluntarily left to work for a competitor. My rationale was simple: any severance would be offset by being continuously employed at a higher salary. My strategy worked too.
I am now part of an organization that values employee contributions. I have the pleasure of working with people who inspire each other and get sh-- done. I knew IBM was out of touch. It is only after leaving did I finally realize how bad it was.
Coming to work to "stick it to IBM" would be a bonus, but the truth is: we almost never see them these days. I went to a competitor and then IBM just dropped out of the race. Sad.
@ynh contractors are expected to work in the office unless you've arraigned a different setup with the manager
What about contractors?
For the folks that do not have any background on the issue here is a few tidbits. IBM Canada announced the push for colocation – this follows the patterns observed in other geographies as well. Many believe that Bain Consulting sees this as the most effective way of reducing payroll, as people weed out themselves and there is no severance paid.
If you live within 80 km of the office, you have a deadline sometimes in September (I think it’s the 30th) to start working in the office – no more telecommuting for you. Your options will be DT Toronto / Markham, Ottawa and Montreal. If your commute is longer than 80km (49.71 miles – you are welcome) you have six months to move but they told us that this needs to be ‘discussed with the manager’…
Hope this helps..