After Employee Reviews at IBM Staff Expects Another Large Wave of PIPs and "RAs" (Layoffs)
3 hours ago by Greg Ip: (WSJ)
Just over a day ago about dinobabies: (IBM's term)
And "IBM lies with language."
Only hours earlier: (there are posts like this one all the time)
In recent hours: (IBM insiders)
From what we can see in the "public Web" (posts that anybody can access), IBM still has layoffs going on. They're sometimes called "silent layoffs" or "forever layoffs" that IBM isn't legally required to disclose (because they're gradual and spread out over time, states, and sites).
From what workers said last month one can deduce that reviews (like appraisals) are being completed right about now and IBM will soon classify many people as "must go", either based on perceived performance or something else (like quotas). We suppose some whistleblowers will speak out when that happens.
From comments seen in recent hours (archived above as many get deleted or "moderated" out of existence"), the "quota system" plays a bigger role. In other words, even top performers can be labelled "low performers" (their peers do not agree) and then dismissed via PIPs or some other means.
This means the incentive to "work hard!" (for job security) is a somewhat outdated notion. We saw the same being observed (in public) about Microsoft. There's a very weak correlation between one's value to the company and survivability, more so when one's salary is "expensive" or profile (age, gender etc.) does not fit the desirable balances. This lack of correlation leads to uncertainty and such uncertainty begets anxiety.
Anxious people will never be productive; their potential is being artificially constrained. They become preoccupied with metrics that make them look productive (even when it's merely time-wasting, just measurable nonsense). █
Image source: The Eridanus, River, Whale, Sculptor