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This isn't new. I worked at GM when they bought EDS. Chatting with some of the folks who were moved over to EDS (they took over all IT functions as I understood

This isn't new. I worked at GM when they bought EDS. Chatting with some of the folks who were moved over to EDS (they took over all IT functions as I understood it), they mentioned having to attend "training" every year and if you left within 2 years of that particular training, you were required to repay that training (which was several thousand dollars per year - in the mid 80s). I was outraged, but the guys I talked with seemed to be OK with it.

danjoredd 4y ago
What happens if you don't attend the training?
- Tangurena2 4y ago
  It was described as mandatory, although you had a choice of which courses you wanted to take. The impression I was left with was that they believed that the company would never fire them (this would have been true for GM, but not for EDS, for whom they now worked). The culture at GM was such that a lot of people were "lifers". The book "The Organization Man" [0] seemed to describe how many people lived/acted. EDS was founded by Ross Perot, who was a very charismatic person [1]. He was also a "love him or hate him - there's no in between" person. I admired his ability to stir up GM and I remember many of his antics that annoyed the pants off of the board at GM [2]. According to Perot, the culture at IBM was also full of "lifers" which led to his founding EDS. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organization_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organization_Man 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot > Perot joined the Boy Scouts of America and made Eagle Scout in 1942, after 13 months in the program. After 2 years as a scout, I was still a tenderfoot. :) 2 - He annoyed the board so much that they ended up paying him over $100M to go away (his shares were promised to be between $X & $Y, so they payed the difference between market and $X). I thought that he had a chance to make changes at GM and turn the company around. The execs were terribly insulated from reality, but they chose to live in their bubble rather than do the (painful) things that GM needed to do to survive.

danjoredd 4y ago

What happens if you don't attend the training?

Tangurena2 4y ago
It was described as mandatory, although you had a choice of which courses you wanted to take. The impression I was left with was that they believed that the company would never fire them (this would have been true for GM, but not for EDS, for whom they now worked). The culture at GM was such that a lot of people were "lifers". The book "The Organization Man" [0] seemed to describe how many people lived/acted. EDS was founded by Ross Perot, who was a very charismatic person [1]. He was also a "love him or hate him - there's no in between" person. I admired his ability to stir up GM and I remember many of his antics that annoyed the pants off of the board at GM [2]. According to Perot, the culture at IBM was also full of "lifers" which led to his founding EDS. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organization_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organization_Man 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot > Perot joined the Boy Scouts of America and made Eagle Scout in 1942, after 13 months in the program. After 2 years as a scout, I was still a tenderfoot. :) 2 - He annoyed the board so much that they ended up paying him over $100M to go away (his shares were promised to be between $X & $Y, so they payed the difference between market and $X). I thought that he had a chance to make changes at GM and turn the company around. The execs were terribly insulated from reality, but they chose to live in their bubble rather than do the (painful) things that GM needed to do to survive.