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• New York Times: Massachusetts Set to Offer Universal Health Insurance. By Pam Belluck. Excerpts: Massachusetts is poised to become the first state to provide nearly universal health care coverage after the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill today that Gov. Mitt Romney says he will sign.
  The bill does what health experts say no other state has yet been able to do: provide a mechanism for all of its citizens to obtain health insurance. It accomplishes that in a way that experts say combines several different methods and proposals from across the political spectrum, apportioning the cost among businesses, individuals and the government. [...]
  Individuals who can afford private insurance will be penalized on their state income taxes if they do not buy it. Government subsidies to private insurance plans will enable more of the working poor to be able to afford insurance and will expand the number of children who are eligible for free coverage. And businesses with more than 10 workers that do not provide insurance will be assessed a fee of up to $295 per employee per year. [...]
  In particular, Mr. Romney pushed the idea of the "individual mandate," requiring people who can afford health insurance to buy it, in the same way that drivers are required to have auto insurance. The bill makes it possible for employers to enable many of those people to use pretax dollars, saving them 25 percent or more.
  One element that Mr. Romney and some legislators did not want was the fee for employers who do not provide health insurance. For several months the bill seemed stalled because the state House and Senate leaders could not agree on the issue of charging businesses or on how much to charge them. One proposal of an $800-per-employee charge was reduced to a maximum of $295 that will be reduced as more and more people become insured, Mr. Travaglini said.

• "advice?" by "eng909". Full excerpt: I am an entry level new hire who joined BCS in November of last year. Lately I have become more and more concerned about my career progression. My issue is as follows: I came into this practice with a fairly in depth grasp of several deployable skills, which I had hoped to sharpen through addition practical application(WebSphere, J2EE), and perhaps in the process pickup new ones. The resource deployment process however, appears to be one of "first and quickest fit", where there is not much correlation between the project role and your skills inventory/career track. For instance, I was staffed into my current role because I spoke a foreign language, although in a somewhat fragmentary fashion. The job requires no functional/technical expertise, and as opposed to learning new skills, my existing ones have atrophied due to lack of use. I have tried to demonstrate my additional competencies in order to obtain an expanded role on the project, but my project manager aggressively attempts to prevent the flow of my time onto other focus areas, which while I understand is a natural reaction on her part to preserve the health of her project, it pigeonholes me into a fairly trivial role.
  So my concern is this, if we are not able to get onto project roles where we can expand/establish our skill sets, and there is not much formal training available, where is the career progression? Is this a perpetual burn cycle where entry level hires are placed into entry level roles, and mid career professionals are placed into skilled roles, and each are then locked into that level and worked until they burn out or realize that their natural intuition about career progression isn't really in effect here?
  This is only my first project, and I hope that I'm merely overreacting, and what my PDM said is true and not some standard company spill, that this is just to get my feet wet, and other projects will be different. I'm not so sure though. Any practical feedback? I have been told that additional certifications would help, which I'm currently pursuing. What are you guys thoughts? Whoa long rant. ok back to work!
• "You're too smart to stay here" by "Dose of reality". Full excerpt: Your post belies perception and analytical skills that tells me that you don't belong here. The truth of the matter is that our approach to staff management is strictly focused on the expedience of meeting project needs. That applies to staff assignment, skill development, compensation, and as you observed, tactical project management. Your needs are not even considered in the equation.
  There is nothing that you can do to change that, short of finding one of the rare partners that understands what needs to be done to build a practice - build up the individuals in the practice.
  The easier answer is to find a firm that consistently manages its resources in this manner.
  My advice to you is the same as to anyone else that works here under the current regime and culture. Execute an exit strategy ASAP
• "Dose is right" by "mogrits". Full excerpt: You're obviously too intelligent to work at the Blue Pig. Move on as quickly as you can. There has been no career enhancements available at IBM for the last several years and I don't see that changing, EVER.
• "An additional point" by "Dose of reality". Full excerpt: Another aspect about SO (strategic outsourcing) that I find distasteful from the perspective of a consultant is that they always seem to be playing defense. They oversimplify the technology and backfill the client business processes to fit it, and then make the processes restrictive to keep execution costs down. Then they back it up with volumes of contractual limitations to keep the clients in line. They are the antithesis of customer service. It is indeed "on demand", but IBM is the party that is allowed to do the demanding.
• "Ah yes" by "Frank_Reality". Full excerpt: Ah yes, the old "out of scope" tactic customers here. SO also uses a "scorched earth" strategy which quickly eliminates the client's staff such that the customer no longer has a viable option of bringing the work back. Meanwhile, the account managers can't understand why customer satisfaction is so low.
• In a series of seven posts, "DM Bingham" provides a very interesting history of IBM Global Service's Strategic Outsourcing organization:
  • SO - the early years
  • SO - 2001
  • SO - 2002
  • SO - 2003
  • SO - 2004 Excerpt: In late 2003, the SO Management had decided that their current business could not support the staffing then on board. The 20 % headcount reduction was applied to most areas including the Delivery proposal development organization. In January, the Sprint Deal was announced with great fanfare; Palmisano gave himself a $ 5 M bonus and awarded $ 1 M to Zapfel. This news, followed as it was by Joyce's sleight of hand Variable Pay reductions, demoralized the troops and still does today. JJ invented a new performance measurement called GIM, whose exact calculation has never been made public, to reduce bonus payments. This trick is still in place today. No one knows how to tailor their behavior to meet it and everyone fails to achieve it.
  • SO - 2005
  • SO - 2006
Editor's note: "DM Bingham's" history evoked a lengthy discussion on Vault. To read the entire thread, go to the main IGS board, then look for the topic "Strategic Outsourcing group..." in the left-hand column. (You may need to change the drop-down menu at the top of the left-hand column to display 50 items).
• "Near term future of SO - my guess" by "DM Bingham". Full excerpt: Our win rate in 2005 for Deals worth more than $100 M stayed about the same as in 2004. Which was < 20 %. Since the same morons are running things as did last year and since there was a concerted effort to screw all the worker bees out of their compensation and since no magic bullets have been molded to change the paradigm in which we work, I'd say that 2005, 2007 is all same. At best we'll see only break even performance with significant contract wins at least balanced if not more so by contract cancellations.
• "A year late and $20,000 short" by "Dose of reality". Full excerpt: We definitely have a whipsaw approach to compensation and resource management. Back when the industry was down, other firms were giving modest bonuses, and we stiffed everyone. Now that that the industry is up, we are giving small - modest bonuses, and the rest of the industry is giving free agency salary bumps and attention-grabbing bonuses.
  To make matters worse, this increase in the compensation advantage of the competition is set against a backdrop of a lot of PO'd staff who have spent a few years working at high utilization levels without having received any reward. This is the "overhang" that I talked about over a year ago. Momentum is a powerful force in the employment market, but IBM HR has always been in denial about it. They can't look past next week when it comes to setting policy. Congratulations on your new job!
• "You're very welcome!" by "Dose of reality". Excerpts: I like your description of HR - "self-perpetuating business". They are really nothing more than an extension of finance. There is a competition between the two groups to see who can come up with the next great cost cutting initiative. They have abandoned their role as ombudsman for the needs of staff; that is if they ever performed that role to begin with.
  There is a reason why companies are comprised of a variety of functional disciplines. They are supposed to provide checks and balances for each other. Here, we have unfettered sales guys that climb over each other to maximize revenue without regard for overall corporate profits, HR, finance, and procurement that are all looking for the next great cost cutting opportunity with no regard for the operational ramifications, a marketing empire that still thinks they need to create brand awareness and wastes hundreds of millions to do it, R&D who are incentivized to just sit back and churn out patents that nobody needs, legal that plays defense and cleans up the messes, and a few vision-challenged executives that are incapable of anything except spin.
  The really sad thing is that there is still a lot of potential in the company. We are just not structured for corporate success. It is a disjointed feudal system, and the king is just happy to milk his position for as long as he can get away with it! Enough philosophical ranting…. Best of Luck to You!
• "Is anyone here impacted by this?" posted by "loyal lemming". Full excerpt: 4 April 2006. In the spirit of straight talk, I wanted to let you know about an action we are taking across IBM A/NZ (Australia/New Zealand) this quarter to maintain the competitiveness of our business.
  As a large solutions and services business operating in a globally competitive market, we need to continuously rebalance the skills of our workforce to remain competitive and meet the changing needs of our clients. A detailed review of how our skill sets and capabilities align to market demand has indicated that we need to take action to re-align and rebalance a number of areas of our business. We are working to help affected employees to find other roles within IBM, however we expect there will be redundancies.
  We are communicating directly with all affected employees and they are being supported by their People Managers, Resource Managers and HR Managers. In addition, they have access to the services of an outplacement company and the Employee Assistance Program. If you have any concerns or questions at this time, please speak to your Sector or Service Leader.
  In addition to constantly balancing available skills with market demand, our business success also depends on us better leveraging IBM's Global Solutions Delivery model. This will affect some roles within the Package Delivery Organisation, and this team is being briefed about this.
  Overall, less than 3% of IBM A/NZ's workforce will be impacted. It is never easy to deliver news like this. Please support your affected friends and colleagues during this difficult time.
  Regards, Ian Ball, Managing Partner, Australia/New Zealand IBM Business Consulting Services
• "Larry, Larry, Larry......be leary........." by "deep_eye". Excerpt: No one is being rude to you, you are missing the point. The travel policies in BCS/IBM are draconian to say the least. They are just barely adequate - if you were a citizen of the former Soviet Union - I am deadly serious. You will take the most asinine flight patterns and layovers to save IBM literally pennies. Ditto the hotels and meal allowances (which I assume, are based on 1970s forecasts for food and lodging). Re Dose's point - the fine print is a tangential non-issue. If your career decision rests on which organization has the better travel policy, I do indeed feel sorry for you. (Editor's note: This post is the continuation of a thread on IBM's travel policy. Other posts in this thread are available in the Vault section of last week's highlights.)
• "Putting 2 and 2 together" by "Dose of reality". Full excerpt: There is a reason why the travel policy and other administrative documents are posted on a controlled-access site, and not on IBM.com. They are not considered public domain.
  Good luck trying to get any information from your hiring manager. The recruiting strategy here is to keep you in the dark. The only hard documentation you will get prior to joining will be materials that were developed for recruiting purposes. The travel policy is based on restrictions that control staff spend. It just doesn't play well as a recruiting brochure!
  Howard already gave you all the information you need to know in the second post in this thread. If you have spent any time reading this board, you would know what the general culture is like. From there it isn't too much of a leap of faith to deduce that the travel policy will not be employee-friendly. Like you said, it is a big part of the economics in this industry.

• This just in: Effective April 3rd, CSO in RTP and Atlanta hit with "redeployment". Jobs being sent to Brazil. Employees NOT receiving severance pay and will have to train Brazilian replacements. Affects all brands and bands from National Missions, Maintenance and National Services Support Organization. Please send Alliance@IBM any documentation and number of employees affected to endicottalliance@stny.rr.com from your home computer (IBM is blocking e-mail sent to and from us from inside IBM).
• **Attention!** Anyone that is part of the Qualxserv transition, we need your name. An SSR is in the process of speaking with an attorney about filing a class action suit on behalf of all 300, full time employees. The 100 supplemental employees may be included as well. If anyone has a complete list of SSR's being sold to Qualxserv please send to endicottalliance@stny.rr.com Also contact us if you are interested in a potential suit.
• From the Job Cuts Status & Comments page:
  • Comment 4/04/06: Farewell IBM...given this company so many good years, and fell into this "redeployment" action (aka "resource action"...by not calling it "resource action", IBM has found a loophole NOT to pay affected employees severance...what a great company IBM has become...IBM has hit NSSO, National Missions, Maintenance in RTP, NC (all CSOs)...and they will not stop, this is the beginning of the end, whomever is left, those people are going to begin training Brazil to do their jobs, how sorry of a company IBM has become. Hey CSO, wake up and stand up, this legal way of power checking your employees by telling them "find another job in 3 months" and not offering severance, is a simple benefit to IBM, we (the ones affected) get to help you make your numbers for second quarter and train some brazilians, then, we get the door and nothing else...thanks for nothing. I can't give numbers, however, it was a large number of employees who took this cheap shot by IBM. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/05/06: Another 55 IBM'ers gone with IBM's selling of their Surfaid department in Dallas to Coremetrics: http://www.coremetrics.com/news/media/2006/pr06_04_03_surfaid.html. Supposedly all 55 will keep their job at Coremetrics. http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3595991 -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/05/06: IBM continues to sell out US employees once again! Effective 4/3, the CSO in Atlanta and RTP have been hit with a "redeployment" of selected employees. I am unsure of the exact total. This action affected all brands and band levels, from National Missions, Maintenance, to National Services Support Organization (NSSO). I was told this was not a "resource action", but a "redeployment" and that IBM had "defined the word redeployment". Do they think we're stupid? This redeployment will continue through out the year. Personally I disagree with IBM's choice. As unemployment continues, who will have the funds to patron IBM? Then what? Move the jobs back to the US? Geez, that really makes a lot of sense. I wonder how the power people sleep at night and live with themselves? They've sold their souls to the devil. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/05/06: CSO's take a stand, do NOT train your Brazilian replacements. Go about your new job of seeking new employment before IBM has the last laugh on you. Meanwhile join A@I and work towards a common goal, contracts with a company whose word can Not be trusted. CSO's in Brazil word to the wise: Organize and seek contracts with con-company IBM.. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/05/06: I just read your web page article on 'work to rule'. I've got an idea for you. If you work at a site that is ISO certified, then you can use the 'work to rule' very effectively. I know from my IBM work experience that ISO documents are IGNORED once the outside auditors do their walk through audits. I also know that if everyone followed the ISO documents to the letter, that things would slow down VERY quickly. I've seen some of the ISO documents in the past, that have been written and became immediately out of date. That's because everyone wanted to take 'shortcuts' so that they could work faster. Enforcement would mean doing extra things that really don't have any 'value add'. I've seen many engineers get frustrated because they had to write procedures that conformed to ISO rules and documents. The frustration was the extra 'process' requirements that were part of ISO but not conducive to productivity. Hey, it's an idea...-ISO God-
  • Comment 4/06/06: NSSO/CSO....cheap cheap powershot, if you can't read between the lines, let me help....this is the start of what is to come, if you survived this first bout of layoffs....OOOPS, I meant..REDEPLOYMENT (give me break!), your day is soon to come, stand up and be heard NOW. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/07/06: Attention all EUS techs, ad hoc or dedicated to deskside accounts. The writing is on the wall. You are next for Qualxserve by years end if not before. This is coming from a very reliable source in upper management, that is one of the few left who have morals, or care about their employees. Wake up folks!! Talk to your colleagues. Tell them about the Alliance. Stand up and be proud, don't lie down and let this happen. Just like when they spun this unit off as TSS, they eventually brought it back. But this time there wont be anything left to bring back. -Anonymous-
• From the General Visitor's Comment page:
  • Comment 4/04/06: I urge each of you to consider the position you are in. With most of us that are left after each of these resource actions, less and less of us are able to talk to our old colleagues let alone a group of them. IBM has used divide and conquer and its worked very well. If Big Blue means that much to you, stand up, join the Alliance, voice your opinion, and be HEARD.
    In so many situations very few long timers are left. The new ones coming in from contract have no idea as to what is coming, nor are they of the same opinion you are. This alliance will NEVER work unless we can find a way to get around the resourcing and divide and conquer method IBM is using. Also, if you think for a minute that the company is going to stand by you through thick and thin, re think that. I was told that I had to leave town for a commitment, and my job would be on the line if I didn't go. I was home to close on my house and dang near lost a lot of money because of their stunts.
    Build a network around you, use it, and think of each day that you come into work could be your last. Build your skills, and get ready folks. Break Fix was first for Qualxserv, any SSR whether it be ad hoc or steady state DSS work is next. IBM does not want to be in the services business, yet its amazing how much rev we generate for them. Raise your hand if you got less than half on last years variable pay, AND got dinged on your PBC rating for stupid stuff. This came from a very reliable source, but all managers were told they had to give a certain number 2's and 3's and to look for any angle to use so that they could meet their "quota". On top of the fact that variable was only targeted at 6% this year, most of us got less than 3%. The only ones who skated on this one to a degree were contract rebadges if their old managers came with them, otherwise they got shafted too. Am I the only one who is really pissed about what Big Blue claims and then does? Am I the only one who knew what working for IBM used to mean? -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/05/06: I've heard, in the past, and now recently that people in the southern states of the USA, like North Carolina have been told that unions are illegal in their state. Just for all of your information; unions are LEGAL in EVERY state of these United States of America! I refer you to the Wagner act of 1938, also called the National Labor Relations Act. Notice the word 'National'. It means the whole USA. You all need to wake up from the sleep you've been put to. You need to know that you CAN join a union and you can stand up for your rights as an American worker. Get it through your heads, will ya? -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/06/06: Wonder if this will be the next IBM Management quality statement: I've done my duty to do my best, to steal from others and cheat the rest. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/07/06: Since I really had no option, but to take early retirement in 1987 there has been one cost of living adjustment to my pension. When I retired I was informed that my health care coverage would continue at no cost. Several years later IBM deducted such care from my pension to the point that it took away 30% of my pension. And this happened when Lou G was being paid $100 million and setting himself up to reap millions when he retired at the age of 60. All I can say now is that I hope a majority of IBMers see why they should be fully supportive of Alliance@IBM's efforts. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/07/06: IBM management is the worst I have ever experienced. They harassed and intimidated me for years. I finally got forced out (i.e. laid off, fired, screwed, however you want to define it) and quickly got a job with another company. I then discovered how "normal" managers behave. What a relief. IBM's downfall will be the result of the evil, backstabbing, cold, calculating managers they produce. Support the Alliance and help form a union to bring some sane management back into IBM that respects the employees doing the real work. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/07/06: For the life of me I don't understand why anyone cares about IBM beyond the receipt of money paid for work performed. The entity referred to as IBM does not care about you, never did and never will. I became an IBMer following an outsource and it has been the most miserable experience of my life. I've only stayed as long as I have because at my age finding new employment is tough and I figure I can handle it until IBM lets me go or I can "retire". -Anonymous-
  • Comment 4/08/06: I overheard my third line saying he had 5 houses on the East and West coasts in some of the most expensive areas in the US. Another told me that he had more wealth than he ever dreamed of. Pretty cold in a time of continuous layoffs for cost savings. We don’t work for a technology company but a support structure for the pay, perqs and power of our leaders. -Anonymous-
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