IBM Offers To Move Laid Off Workers To India

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2005
2,146
26
91
Linkaroo

So, these large companies go before CONgress and whine that they can?t find enough skilled labor, and they need more work visas. I guess that?s true in a way. They can?t find enough Americans since they shipped your a$$ to India with your job.

Mighty nice of IBM to relocate your job and relocate you too.
My favorite part is , " ?It's more of a vehicle for people who want to expand their life experience by working somewhere else," said the spokesman. "A lot of people want to work in India."

Great idea. Let's expand the life of that IBM spokesman first...






IBM Offers To Move Laid Off Workers To India

Big Blue wants to help redundant U.S. employees relocate to developing markets, according to an internal document.

By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek
Feb. 2, 2009
URL: http://www.informationweek.com...ml?articleID=213000389

The climate is warm, there's no shortage of exotic food, and the cost of living is rock bottom. That's IBM's pitch to the laid-off American workers it's offering to place in India. The catch: Wages in the country are pennies-on-the-dollar compared to U.S. salaries.

Under a program called Project Match, IBM will help workers laid off from domestic sites obtain travel and visa assistance for countries in which Big Blue has openings. Mostly that's developing markets like India, China, and Brazil.

"IBM has established Project Match to help you locate potential job opportunities in growth markets where your skills are in demand," IBM says in an internal notice on the initiative. "Should you accept a position in one of these countries, IBM offers financial assistance to offset moving costs, provides immigration support, such as visa assistance, and other support to help ease the transition of an international move."

The document states that the program is limited to "satisfactory performers who have been notified of separation from IBM U.S. or Canada and are willing to work on local terms and conditions." The latter indicates that workers will be paid according to prevailing norms in the countries to which they relocate. In many cases, that could be substantially less than what they earned in North America.

IBM has laid off more than 4,000 workers in the United States since the beginning of January, according to an employee group. The company has confirmed layoffs but won't comment on specific numbers.

A spokesman for Alliance@IBM, a workers' group that's affiliated with the Communications Workers of America but which does not have official union status at IBM, slammed the program. "IBM is not only offshoring IBM U.S. jobs but they want employees to offshore themselves through Project Match," said the spokesman.

An IBM spokesman said the program shouldn't be seen in that light. "It's more of a vehicle for people who want to expand their life experience by working somewhere else," said the spokesman. "A lot of people want to work in India."

In addition to India, China, and Brazil, IBM is offering to relocate redundant U.S. workers to a number of other developing markets, including Mexico, the Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the notice, which was obtained Monday by InformationWeek.


 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
0
Err I never did understand the argument for "not enough skilled workers". It's basically the same economically ignorant misnomer as "Americans don't want those jobs".
Offer more money and you'll get more people...


On the topic on hand though, are they paying expat salary? Most multinationals have expat programs where you get paid US wages + some sort of comp for the trouble + housing + travel + ... It's a pretty awesome deal, my stepdad lived in Mexico and Czech Republic with great US comp.
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
Lol. Yeah I'm sure laid off workers are tripping over themselves to take a job for a fraction of the pay in a developing country.
 

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2005
2,146
26
91
Originally posted by: halik
Err I never did understand the argument for "not enough skilled workers". It's basically the same economically ignorant misnomer as "Americans don't want those jobs".
Offer more money and you'll get more people...


On the topic on hand though, are they paying expat salary? Most multinationals have expat programs where you get paid US wages + some sort of comp for the trouble + housing + travel + ... It's a pretty awesome deal, my stepdad lived in Mexico and Czech Republic with great US comp.

Of course not, " The document states that the program is limited to "satisfactory performers who have been notified of separation from IBM U.S. or Canada and are willing to work on local terms and conditions." The latter indicates that workers will be paid according to prevailing norms in the countries to which they relocate. In many cases, that could be substantially less than what they earned in North America."
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
0
Originally posted by: GeezerMan
Originally posted by: halik
Err I never did understand the argument for "not enough skilled workers". It's basically the same economically ignorant misnomer as "Americans don't want those jobs".
Offer more money and you'll get more people...


On the topic on hand though, are they paying expat salary? Most multinationals have expat programs where you get paid US wages + some sort of comp for the trouble + housing + travel + ... It's a pretty awesome deal, my stepdad lived in Mexico and Czech Republic with great US comp.

Of course not, " The document states that the program is limited to "satisfactory performers who have been notified of separation from IBM U.S. or Canada and are willing to work on local terms and conditions." The latter indicates that workers will be paid according to prevailing norms in the countries to which they relocate. In many cases, that could be substantially less than what they earned in North America."

Yeah I wasn't sure what "local terms and conditions" means. That's beyond idiotic, I can't imagine anyone taking a position in a country with proportional salary, simply because the quality of life is substantially diminished. Hell crap like ipod would be out of reach, simply because your wage converted to USD doesn't add up to anything.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
LOL, yeah a lot of people want to work in India at India wages. Who the fvck are they kidding, this actually just adds insult to injury, like being kicked out of a company as the manager of a department and told on the way out that you should call the local walmart because they're hiring night shift janitors.
 

Andrew1990

Banned
Mar 8, 2008
2,153
0
0
hmm, that doesnt sound like a bad idea actually. If they have to pay for the trip there and back, then you basically get a free vacation to India before you quit!

Also, I am sure you could slack of a little bit in India as like said before me, you are a highly skilled worker.....



Also, think of the women. :)
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
0
Originally posted by: Andrew1990
hmm, that doesnt sound like a bad idea actually. If they have to pay for the trip there and back, then you basically get a free vacation to India before you quit!

Also, I am sure you could slack of a little bit in India as like said before me, you are a highly skilled worker.....



Also, think of the women. :)

Dude that article said 'India' not 'Italy'
 

Aberforth

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2006
1,707
1
0
Originally posted by: Skoorb
LOL, yeah a lot of people want to work in India at India wages. Who the fvck are they kidding, this actually just adds insult to injury, like being kicked out of a company as the manager of a department and told on the way out that you should call the local walmart because they're hiring night shift janitors.

wtf are you talking...India is second fastest growing economy in Asia, wages are way too high for tech professionals especially in Bangalore.
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
I'm sure India's a decent place to live (at least in the larger cities), but come on, standard of living is not even comparable to the US.
 

Andrew1990

Banned
Mar 8, 2008
2,153
0
0
Originally posted by: frostedflakes
I'm sure India's a decent place to live (at least in the larger cities), but come on, standard of living is not even comparable to the US.

Well if you are single and young, it might be somewhat fun for a temp job for a year or two. I am sure the conditions there are not up to most of our standards but a single person should be able to manage.

Damn, I wish I worked for IBM right now. I would jump on this in a heart beat.



 

blinky8225

Senior member
Nov 23, 2004
564
0
0
Originally posted by: frostedflakes
I'm sure India's a decent place to live (at least in the larger cities), but come on, standard of living is not even comparable to the US.
Average standard of living maybe. I don't know how much IBM is paying, but it's pretty easy to live like a king. Servants and cooks are commonplace for even middle class families since labor is so cheap with an excess supply of people.
 

Sacrilege

Senior member
Sep 6, 2007
647
0
0
Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Originally posted by: frostedflakes
I'm sure India's a decent place to live (at least in the larger cities), but come on, standard of living is not even comparable to the US.

Well if you are single and young, it might be somewhat fun for a temp job for a year or two. I am sure the conditions there are not up to most of our standards but a single person should be able to manage.

Damn, I wish I worked for IBM right now. I would jump on this in a heart beat.

There's a very similar program to this, courtesy of Uncle Sam. It's called IRAQ. And Obamarama is going to expand participation in that other exotic locale AFGHANISTAN.
 

rchiu

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2002
3,846
0
0
You people need to get a clue. Indian wage for IT professional is awesome, maybe not as good as your average IT people in the US, but it is much better then the average local salary. And with that salary, you can live really well over there.

Go check out the living style of Indian IT professionals like the ones from Infosys, TATA consulting...etc. Just because average Indian salary is crap doesn't mean IT salary in India is crap.
 

alien42

Lifer
Nov 28, 2004
12,862
3,295
136
Originally posted by: GeezerMan
Linkaroo
So, these large companies go before CONgress and whine that they can?t find enough skilled labor, and they need more work visas.

i see no mention of that in the article :confused: did you forget a link?

as for the article, if i were a layed off IBM employee i would jump all over that. i guarantee they would pay enough to live very high on the hog in a developing nation.
 

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2005
2,146
26
91
Originally posted by: alien42
Originally posted by: GeezerMan
Linkaroo
So, these large companies go before CONgress and whine that they can?t find enough skilled labor, and they need more work visas.

i see no mention of that in the article :confused: did you forget a link?

as for the article, if i were a layed off IBM employee i would jump all over that. i guarantee they would pay enough to live very high on the hog in a developing nation.

Sorry, I thought that was common knowledge:
Link

Link2

Link3

Link4

 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
Thanks Obama. The infrastructure projects will definitely help these particular workers when they're living in India.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,172
14,602
146
Originally posted by: Hacp
Thanks Obama. The infrastructure projects will definitely help these particular workers when they're living in India.

I've said for years that ANY company that sends American jobs to a foreign country should lose any tax breaks they get PLUS be taxed heavily for their services/products.

Tonight, Obama said he wants to take care of the first part.

We'll see if it really happens.

If the company can't employ Americans, it's not an American company...and should be treated like any other foreign company.
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Speechless. I'm glad I own a liquor store and have $75,000 worth of booze to drink through this nightmare so long as bank doesn't come take stock from me as my US Customers are exported to work in India.
 
Dec 26, 2007
11,782
2
76
Originally posted by: Zebo
Speechless. I'm glad I own a liquor store and have $75,000 worth of booze to drink through this nightmare so long as bank doesn't come take stock from me as my US Customers are exported to work in India.

Guess we know where to come when the zombies/apocalypse/(insert political party of your choice) has their way/etc come. I'll bring some guns and ammo, so we will be set.
 

nobodyknows

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2008
5,474
0
0
Originally posted by: rchiu
You people need to get a clue. Indian wage for IT professional is awesome, maybe not as good as your average IT people in the US, but it is much better then the average local salary. And with that salary, you can live really well over there.

Go check out the living style of Indian IT professionals like the ones from Infosys, TATA consulting...etc. Just because average Indian salary is crap doesn't mean IT salary in India is crap.

IBM is moving jobs to India because it's cheaper for them. The standard of living could be better but once you move you're losing ground every day compared to your American counterpart so unless you plan on retiring there also I see this as a dumb idea.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
Originally posted by: rchiu
You people need to get a clue. Indian wage for IT professional is awesome, maybe not as good as your average IT people in the US, but it is much better then the average local salary. And with that salary, you can live really well over there.

Go check out the living style of Indian IT professionals like the ones from Infosys, TATA consulting...etc. Just because average Indian salary is crap doesn't mean IT salary in India is crap.
Yeah, that must be why they are clamoring to get to the US. Their wages suck ass. Sure they are good by Indian standards just as a pimp in Somalia makes more money than a beggar, but let's get real for a moment, please.
Guess we know where to come when the zombies/apocalypse/(insert political party of your choice) has their way/etc come. I'll bring some guns and ammo, so we will be set.
I'm coming along, too, but only if there's a roof we can go up on and paint SOS on the roof and then pick the zombies off from the ledge while drinking rum in lawn chairs.

 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,758
602
126
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: Andrew1990
hmm, that doesnt sound like a bad idea actually. If they have to pay for the trip there and back, then you basically get a free vacation to India before you quit!

Also, I am sure you could slack of a little bit in India as like said before me, you are a highly skilled worker.....



Also, think of the women. :)

Dude that article said 'India' not 'Italy'

A moustache is a moustache!