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Highlights—August 27, 2011

• Washington Post with Bloomberg: Corporations pushing for job-creation tax breaks shield U.S.-vs.-abroad hiring data. By Jia Lynn Yang. Excerpts: Some of the country’s best-known multinational corporations closely guard a number they don’t want anyone to know: the breakdown between their jobs here and abroad. So secretive are these companies that they hand the figure over to government statisticians on the condition that officials will release only an aggregate number. The latest data show that multinationals cut 2.9 million jobs in the United States and added 2.4 million overseas between 2000 and 2009.

  Some of the same companies that do not report their jobs breakdown, including Apple and Pfizer, are pushing lawmakers to cut their tax bills in the name of job creation in the United States. But experts say that without details on which companies are contributing to job growth and which are not, policymakers risk flying blind as they try to jump-start the hiring of American workers.

  “It’s an important piece of information that the American people should have,” said Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. “Should you listen to the kind of advice these companies have about how to grow the economy when their record and their model indicates they’ve cut jobs? . . . Or should we talk to people who actually do create jobs in the United States?”

  But many firms, including some whose executives have counseled Obama on the economy, do not put their number of U.S. workers in their annual reports. IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano has met a number of times with the president, most recently in July at a lunch with other executives to talk about jobs and the economy. IBM stopped giving its U.S. head count in 2009.

  Data from before 2009 showed IBM rapidly shifting workers to India. Dave Finegold, dean of the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, estimates that 2009, when the company stopped sharing its U.S. employment figure, also marked the first time the company had more employees in India than the United States. Finegold based his number on reports from the media, third-party groups and former employees who have tried to track the number.

  “IBM can do as it wishes, and the rest of us have to guess,” said Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, a group trying to unionize IBM workers. ...

  For chief executives of multinational companies who are used to answering only to their shareholders, the country’s jobs crisis has uncomfortably switched the political spotlight onto their decisions about who they employ and where. It has also thrown into relief the fact that when U.S. multinationals chase profits and hire workers anywhere in the world, they become less tied to any one country, including this one.

• Forbes: $1 million may not be enough for retirement. A quick primer on how you should look at saving for your Golden Years. By Emily Lambert. Excerpts: So here’s a sign of the times: $1 million isn’t enough to retire on anymore. To be clear, here’s what we mean by $1 million: We’re including what you have in any savings and retirement accounts, including tax-deferred plans like 401(k) and IRAs. You’ll still have to pay taxes when you withdraw money from those. We’re also including the present value of any pension accounts and Social Security payouts. ...

  A famous financial planner’s rule of thumb is that you can spend 4 percent of your initial savings per year, adjusted for inflation, and it will last for 30 years. If you have $500,000 saved, 4 percent of that is $20,000 per year. Can you live on $20,000 per year, plus whatever you’re going to get from Social Security and a pension (the $20,000 and — for now — Social Security)? If you can’t, then you’d better start saving more or thinking about when and how you plan to retire. ...

  And if you have a pension, that could help a lot. Rachel Sanborn, a fee-only planner in New Hampshire, recently worked with two clients who had $500,000 in savings accounts between them. She found herself surprised to see that they could retire with just that, but they can because they have two pensions — one client was a teacher, the other a state employee. ...

  The bad news is that people are spending more in retirement on health care, utility bills, and particularly on mortgages. “The real reason why $1 million is not enough, sadly, is because a lot of people still have mortgages coming into retirement these days,” says Eileen Freiburger, a fee-only planner in Manhattan Beach, Calif. “I would never let a person retire if they haven’t learned to live within a certain dollar amount,” she says.

• Yahoo! IBM Employee Issues message board: "Management Survey" by "In Focus". Full excerpt: Usually in July, I used to take a survey on how my manager was "doing". I did not see one yet this year. Question: Did I miss an email? How about a Pulse Survey? Those were random and I have not taken one of those in years.
• Yahoo! IBM Employee Issues message board: "Re: Management Survey" by "sby_willie". Full excerpt: Three things might have happened why you don't see these surveys:
  1. IBM management no longer cares about employee surveys. Employee morale, opinion, and comments do not do anything for profits, stock price, and EPS estimates. If it did then the Management survey, Pulse survey, etc. would still be done.
  2. The HR employees who did the surveys have reduced headcount or were RAed so they can't do the surveys.
  3. IBM is currently reworking the surveys to make them a better indicator to collect more meaningful data for today's global workforce and the surveys are not ready yet.
• Yahoo! IBM Employee Issues message board: "Re: Management Survey" by "leftymcgee". Full excerpt: Yep, sby_willie #1 and 2 are correct. BTW, You'd be surprised how many HR partners resign.
• Yahoo! IBM Employee Issues message board: "Re: Management Survey" by "teamb562". Full excerpt: This may be a stupid question but....What is an HR partner? Why are they resigning?
• Yahoo! IBM Employee Issues message board: "Re: Management Survey" by "workforlife". Full excerpt: An HR partner is simply a contracted HR company that runs some of our HR services. The key is that they work for the benefit of the company and are not here to help the employees.
• National Journal: Rep. Coffman Seeks End to Congressional Retirement Benefits. By Emily Long. Excerpts: A Republican lawmaker wants members of Congress to give up their pension plans. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., this fall will introduce a bill that would end the defined benefit portion of the congressional retirement plan. Currently, lawmakers who have been in Congress at least five years receive annual benefits equal to 1.7 percent of their salary for every year served up to 20 years, and 1 percent for each additional year. Members contribute 1.3 percent of their paychecks to the pension plan and also are eligible for Social Security and a 401(k)-type account.

  Under the legislation, lawmakers still would receive any retirement benefits already accrued and could continue to contribute to Social Security and the 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan. Members of Congress typically become eligible for retirement annuities at an earlier age and with fewer years of service than most government employees, but they also pay more of their salary for retirement benefits.

• Yahoo! IBM Pension and Retirement Issues message board: "Re: 'Rep. Coffman Seeks End to Congressional Retirement Benefits'" by Don Shuper. Full excerpt: I humbly suggest everyone get behind him and suggest that ALL congress be transferred to the great cash balance plan using the same calculations and methodology used to reward the long serving IBM employees. After all, the judicial branch already approved that technique/calculation, and later legislation gave every " company" involved a free pass for future conversions of that kind.

  Something about " representing the people, and working FOR the people" So Surely they would have no objection to drinking their own ur****(bathwater) ??? "Cash Balance for Congress" has a certain ring to it !

• Yahoo! IBM Pension and Retirement Issues message board: "Re: "Rep. Coffman Seeks End to Congressional Retirement Benefits"" by "fhawontcutit". Full excerpt: Cash balance plans are defined benefit plans. If Congress transferred to a cash balance plan, it would still have a defined benefit plan. The defined benefit plan would not end.

  Rep. Coffman's bill would end the defined benefit portion of the congressional retirement plan. I don't see how Rep. Coffman's bill would allow a switch to a cash balance plan, since a cash balance plan is a defined benefit plan.

  I think we need to watch this one. Personally, I think it's an initial attempt to go after federal employees' pensions. Even if the bill is only for Congressional pensions, the next step will be to go after federal employees' pensions.

  A classic case of the "Shock Doctrine" -- take a crisis and use it to do something you've always wanted to do but couldn't get away with it otherwise. They can use the federal debt "crisis" to get rid of federal employees' defined benefit pensions.

  Watch and see -- it's the same thing they are doing with Social Security and Medicare. They couldn't get by with cutting/privatizing Social Security and Medicare in the past. Now they will use the debt "crisis" to go after Social Security and Medicare.

  IMO, it's all part of a planned attempt to totally eliminate defined benefit pensions -- switch everyone to a 401(k) -- so Wall Street can make more $$$$.

  You pick off one group at time -- a classic divide and conquer. That way the people who are already screwed (or never had a DB pension to begin with) have no sympathy for the next set of screwees. I got screwed so I don't really care if you get screwed, too. Or, I never had a defined benefit pension, so I don't care when others lose theirs.

  I recently made a post about military DB pensions under consideration to be cut. It's another step. IMO, Rep. Coffman's bill is just another step in the "plan". Federal employees' DB pensions will be next on the chopping block.

• Yahoo! IBM Pension and Retirement Issues message board: "Re: "Rep. Coffman Seeks End to Congressional Retirement Benefits"" by "thirtyyearibmer". Full excerpt: Let's not forget Senator Bernie Sanders study back in the early days of the IBM conversion. He took a look at the effect of doing to Congress what was done to IBMers. Does anyone really think that Congress would implement a plan with such an effect?

  I just have to use, as an example, a former congressman now a convicted felon, from my own home state:

  "If Tom DeLay (R-TX), had a cash balance pension plan instead of a traditional defined benefit pension plan his pension benefits would be reduced by $357,057 or 58.7% under a cash balance conversion -- from $608,143 under the current traditional defined benefit pension plan to $251,086 under the cash balance plan."

  The last question - will these congressman have a choice?

  Gerstner could have avoided 90% of the controversy by just offering a choice. If he had, I would not have a pension check coming in right now because I was all ready to "cash out" until this board and the people on it educated me. I think because of the controversy, a lot more people made more informed decisions.

  So if we really want Congress to understand - they get no choice. Cheers, Pete.

• Glassdoor IBM reviews. Selected reviews follow:
  • IBM Anonymous: (Past Employee - 2011) “Worked with several smart individuals but always felt IBM was too busy trying to cut costs by reducing headcount” Pros: Work from home and intelligent and competent colleagues. Cons: Never felt safe from layoffs
  • IBM Anonymous in Southbury, CT: (Current Employee) “Challenging, tiring.” Pros: There are plenty of projects and challenges to grow skills if you desire. These challenges will help build real experience on work far larger and more complex than at IT shops in smaller firms. Cons: - Expect a 60+ hour week, consistently, to stay at the head of the pack. - Cost is king. This is a financial shop that happens to write software. Understand that, and anticipate how cost will impact 1 year and 5 year plans, to get ahead.
  • IBM Anonymous in New York, NY: (Current Employee) “Micro managed by Shareholders, Extremely Virtual, too big to fail.” Pros: Good brand to keep you afloat in bad economy. Not sure IBMer means anything with 400K employees. Cons: It's a jungle inside. Everything is virtual. Like a website. Partners are gods--very unapproachable. 100% of GBS is travel based. Travel/expense policy sucks. IBMers have lost their class. Sole aim make wealthy shareholder happy. With 95% utilization requirement, only thing you can take is 3 days and federal/state holidays. Extremely limited salary increase. Promotion means nothing with limited salary increase. Advice to Senior Management: Shareholders will not stop at another 100$ in stock value. IBMers are falling apart with all the pressure from utilization, expense, limited salary growth, suck it all up attitude. IBM needs to invest time and resources in it real stakeholders that's the employees.
  • IBM Financial Analyst in Bratislava (Slovakia): (Past Employee - 2011) “A waste of time.” Pros: Young & dynamic team. Old renowned company to put on your resume. Cons: Low chances of promotion. Work-life balance is not respected - there is no personal life. Biased decisions on evaluating employees. Almost no employee benefits. HR false marketing (promises that to not become true after employment). Advice to Senior Management: Think more about your employees as they are not only numbers on your list of bar codes.
  • IBM Project Executive in Bangalore (India): (Current Employee) “Bad, pretty bad.” Pros: 1. You learn the art & science of project and program management. 2. You learn to navigate a very large organization, the art of politics. 3. Customers tend to value you and you can (in some cases) bring real value to the customer. 4. IBM's education systems are amongst the best anywhere.

    Cons: 1. Managers and processes are designed for themselves, not for the people. 2. GBS is not a place for much innovation. ISL may be better. 3. There are minimal processes in place. It is pretty chaotic.

    Advice to Senior Management: 1. IBM is actually pretty chaotic. Leadership has to understand the core philosophy behind having processes. Process systems are actually pretty spotty. 2. Like delivery has responsibilities, KRAs, the support systems should have similar expectations. These are missing. 3. Please stop thinking IBM is the beginning and the end of the IT world and the rest of the world is a small pond. It's the other way, there are best practices out there that will make IBM at least 15 times more effective. Stop being arrogant, please be humble and open to the outside. No, INFY & Wipro are not "those other pure play" people. They are beating the pants off you in a lot of places.

  • IBM Anonymous in Bangalore (India): (Current Employee) “Worst of the worst.” Pros: 1. Brand name on your CV. 2. Work from home option - to a selected few. Cons: 1. Zero compensation growth. 2. Zero promotions - the people who suck-up to the managers are the ones who grow in this company. 3. Discrimination in multiple ways towards employees. 4. High performance ignored. 5. Very bad internal politics. 6. Bad food in all Indian offices. 7. Very slow network - speed of <5 kbps. 8. Bad transportation facilities. 9. Resistance to reimbursement - employees pay from their own pocket for most things. 10. No free tea/coffee, stationary. 11. No annual days/company outings or functions. 12. Slow and bureaucratic IT/technical support and administrative services. Advice to Senior Management: A major overhaul in company policies needed - to lower the high attrition rate in India
  • IBM Technical Support Specialist in Dubuque, IA: (Current Employee) “Get some experience then move on.” Pros: Good benefits package (4 weeks of vacation to start, basic health care and dental for employee paid, 5% full match on 401K after 1 year) Reasonably laid back work environment IBM looks good on my resume. Cons: Communication to me from my manager is really lacking. I came to the company with 4 years of IT experience and was made to take an entry level job with a salary in the low 30s. Several other people with less experience that have come in after me are making more than I am to start. The management on our team is so disconnected there are 3-4 people that literally do almost nothing all day, every day while several of us run like crazy to get things done. IBM is not in a "promotion or raise mode" at the moment so I'm doing work that is in a higher band but not being paid for it. This has gone on in this position for many months. Advice to Senior Management: If there is no opportunity for serious raises and promotions for an employee with good performance reviews after almost two years why would I stick around?
  • IBM Senior I/T Specialist in Ottawa, ON (Canada): (Current Employee) “Good place to start but look for other opportunities after about 5 years.” Pros: Good starting salary. Lots of opportunities to work in different practices and technologies.

    Cons:

    • Poor pay increases (even top performers barely keep up with inflation)
    • Poor bonus structures ( <5% for even top performers)
    • Ever decreasing benefits (pension plan used to be a DBPP, now it is a matching DCPP)
    • Pressure from management to work longer hours
    • Poor work life balance
    • Little recognition for those who do their job well but just do their job (not top performers)
    • Employees who put family life first can expect to receive no pay increases or bonuses (single parents can pretty much forget any raises because they just don't have the extra time to put in to the company)
    • Training budgets get cut every year
    • Very stressful work environment
    • After about 5 years you will find that your pay is near the bottom of the industry pay scale for your position. And that is where it will stay if you stay with IBM.
    • Key note: Execs pay increases do not reflect employee pay increases. In fact, as a percentage of base salary, execs total compensation increases grossly out pace employee total compensation increases; including the top performers.
    • The company puts no value in technical skills. In fact the company has a policy that treats technical people as commodities, not employees. This commoditization of technical skills is what is driving the off shoring of so many technical positions.
    • The only skills that are valued in North America are the "high value" skills. (Project Management, IT Architect, Business Analyst). The Programmers, DBA, Technical admins, and testers of the world are seen as disposable.

    Advice to Senior Management: Your company is only as strong as your employees. Start treating your employees with respect and actually giving them pay increases and bonuses that actually recognize the effort that these people put in. Change the performance review process to rate people on what they achieve, not how their achievements stack up against everyone else. IBM claims to be a top leader company. Start paying like a top leader company. At least pay at the 50% percentile. The company is starting to see brain and talent drain. When the flood gates open this will only serve to hurt the company.

  • IBM Anonymous: (Current Employee) “Used to be a great place to work.” Pros: Opportunities to work with people from all around the world. Flexible. Travel. People. Bleeding edge. Good experience for future work. Cons: You can be the best employee but if you are in the US you could be outsourced tomorrow. Advice to Senior Management: Respect the employees you have in the US and realize you aren't saving any money by outsourcing the work.
  • IBM Managing Consultant in Armonk, NY: (Current Employee) “Iconic American Giant with diverse career opportunities if you can make your voice heard.” Pros: Not much gives more satisfaction than knowing that you are working for a iconic American Corporation that has so many innovations under it's belly it's hard to list them all. The diversity and size of the company makes for great career opportunities if you can make yourself heard. Whether its different products, markets or professions, IBM can offer almost everything. Maybe not the best place for any particular job but if your going for diversity and general management, it's a great place to be. Cons: There's plenty of competition and as large companies go, plenty of processes and bureaucracy as well. If you can get a strong executive team to drive your career, you can go places. If you don't get support you'll be left in the dust. Compensation is average and the company is leveraging it's reputation and the market conditions to pay below market. Advice to Senior Management: Employee appreciation has certainly suffered with the extreme focus on earnings growth. While there are still great benefits (monetary and otherwise) to work for IBM, many perceive the company to be on a rather unappreciative trajectory towards its employees.
  • IBM Managing Consultant in Chicago, IL: (Current Employee) “Very good at professional experience, dissatisfied at growth level” Pros: - One of the best technology consulting firm; - See respect for you in other eyes; - Good professional experience; - A lots of resources to leverage. Cons: - Personal growth is quite sticky; - Personal favoritism for promotion; - Frustration at salary review and bonus review; - Quite tight handed with compensation; - Opportunities are quite biased. Advice to Senior Management: - Judge candidates for their given tasks, not what should do. - Help individuals to grow, which reflect in IBM growth.
  • IBM Software Sales Specialist in Detroit, MI: (Current Employee) “Declining income, impossible quotas.” Pros: Respected brand, good benefits, decent job security, great people. Cons: Sales quotas are impossible to achieve. There's no clear career path. You have to do your own internal networking to move up. Being a solid performer isn't enough to get ahead. Advice to Senior Management: Salespeople need reasonable goals to be motivated, and need to know that they have the opportunity to increase their income.
  • IBM Associate Partner in Herndon, VA: (Current Employee) “It has been very frustrating working at IBM Global Business Services because it is devoid of true leadership.” Pros: Great clients and interesting work. Cons: No leadership; partisanship/favoritism is rife; limited opportunities for training; people managers are not true managers - mere administrators; employees are treated like criminals relative to the travel and expense process; horrible travel policies; WAY TOO MUCH bureaucracy and administrative overhead. Advice to Senior Management: Value your employees and listen when they tell you something
  • IBM Research Staff Member in San Jose, CA: (Current Employee) “This is a fun and challenging place to work, with excellent colleagues.” Pros: We have a corporate culture with high standards for honesty and integrity. We have a wide range of interesting projects on which people can work. We have excellent colleagues that cooperate freely. Cons: Corporate bureaucracy and the centralization ("Globalization") of business processes make it more difficult and time consuming to get those many little things done that distract us form the real work. Usability of business process tools is poor.
  • IBM IT Specialist: (Past Employee - 2011) “If you have no family and want to travel then it works for you.” Pros: Compensation was appropriate for the position. Follow IBM procedures and processes and expenses are paid as reported in a timely fashion. If one so chooses you can climb the corporate ladder.

    Cons: Having a home life the travelling got old fast especially when you were not compensated for any of the travel time unless you work. IBM uses total hours worked 'ulitization' percent as part of performance evaluation. If you fall below utilization target, you pay the price at performance review time. You surpass your utilization target and nothing too the good comes of it.

    Constant battle between those watching expenses at client site and yourself to be able to work the 'average' number of hours needed per week to meet your utilization target. Once you complete an assignment at client, IBM provides you with tools to find a new assignment but you must find your own assignment. IBM assigns a 'resource development manager' (RDM) who is suppose to help you find a new assignment. Have consistently heard that RDM's are worthless and provide little actual support (that was the case for me). I found a new assignment and was at client site 1 day when I was informed by IBM that I was identified as a 'resource action' as part of their annual purge process and to be laid off in 30 days. No reason given as to how or why I was chosen.

    IBM does not address the 'human cost' factor in its business model

    Advice to Senior Management: Strengthen the IBM Marketplace process by making the RDM more accountable in terms of supplying help for those looking for new assignments. Make those people that one sends marketplace inquiries to responsible by requiring that they at least acknowledge that they received your inquiry. I sent out 5 - 6 inquiries about open positions and hear not a word from any one of them.

  • IBM Software Engineer in Canton, OH: (Current Employee) “IBM Job Review.” Pros: Good people, healthy environment, cool technologies. Cons: Low salary, low employee satisfaction. Advice to Senior Management: Do better at managing people and recognizing talent. Invest better in real innovation.
  • IBM Anonymous: (Past Employee - 2010) “Educational yet stressful.” Pros: Great intellectual capital, team mates and flexible work structure. There's also a great opportunity for personal growth. Good benefit package as well. Cons: Too often IBM management is forced to lay off resources for financial purposes. The layoff process, which is guided by legal, is so impersonal. Advice to Senior Management: Go back to the "blue suit" days where employees mattered. Treat employees with respect and let them know they are significant and are contributors to the success of the organization.
  • IBM Employee in Somers, NY: (Current Employee) “I, like many others continue to remain optimistic and forge onward.” Pros: Even in the economy of today, IBM has continued to provide pretty favorable benefit plan options. Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans are all still offered which in today's economy is very much needed and welcomed. Cons: IBM continues to layoff employees practically monthly under the guise of the phrase "Resource Action" and the directive or reason most often given is " re-engineer and move your work to an offshore location". If work were to remain in the US would not that help with the issue of unemployment in the United States? Advice to Senior Management: This Is Not the direction that IBM was established upon 100 years ago. The direction and choices made on challenges of today are not the expectation of IBM as a leading company but instead more often than not remind one of a follower.
  • IBM Managing Consultant in Raleigh, NC: (Current Employee) “Work alongside some of the smartest people on the planet, for one of the largest companies on the planet.” Pros: IBM recruits and hires some of the smartest people you'll ever work with. It provides services for large, well-known clients. If you like business travel, it's a great place to work. Cons: Salaries are lower than competitors, which drives a high turnover rate -- a certain percentage of the people you're working with today won't be here a year from now. Additionally, outsourcing efforts have resulted in regular layoffs -- most of IBM's tenured employees work in constant fear of being laid off without notice.