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One of the things I like about some tech companies is that they seem to care how employees feel about the company. I haven't gotten that impression from IBM in

by neilv 3y ago

One of the things I like about some tech companies is that they seem to care how employees feel about the company. I haven't gotten that impression from IBM in a long time, however.

ChuckMcM 3y ago
In my brief tenure at IBM after they acquired Blekko I quickly came to realize that the near death experience in the 90's fundamentally changed the company. It gave their Finance team an iron lock on all decisions and all of their decisions were based on 'how much will this cost?' and 'how much will this save?' It made corporate politics easier, if you pitched a project all you had to do was code the language that Finance wanted to hear and even if people didn't "want" it, it could get approved. Quite sad in a way.
namdnay 3y ago
I think that’s an indirect consequence of tech companies being profitable and operating in a tight labour market. As soon as investors worry, the whole care-bear thing goes out of the window, and it never even existed for those cleaning the offices
toast0 3y ago
I would rather honesty. I don't want to be told to bring my authentic self to work, when that's not really what they want. I'm also not a fan of the company providing food, laundry, transportation, travel arrangements, etc, etc, etc and claiming that they want to ease my life or whatever, when really they just want to make it harder to leave to another job.
- neilv 3y ago
  On those little lifestyle perquisites, those can be good for morale, and can also mean a person spends more time and attention working. Before dotcoms, I worked places that would pay for delivered dinner for anyone working late (otherwise, as soon as you leave the office, you call it a day, plus company is feeding you like parent, plus little social camaraderie break with other people working late), or would provide cab vouchers for people who worked late (no going home only because don't feel safe walking home after dark), etc. I don't think anyone has illusions about the motives there, and there's some alignment. The "make it harder to leave to another job" I dislike is things like stock options that must be exercised within 90 days of leaving, before the stock is liquid and before you know whether it'll be worth anything. Or health insurance situations for some people (improved since ACA). Or bonus or retirement contribution schedules that mean waiting until the end of the year (and with no guarantee there won't be layoffs shortly before, especially given that a sociopathic company has incentive not to pay). (One of the big reasons I didn't take a nice non-blockchain fintech job offer with FAANG-like TC level was because of all the complex structuring of the compensation, with several kinds of bonuses and shares and retirement contributions, which supposedly were all but guaranteed, but all on annual schedules, and the salary alone wasn't going to elevate my lifestyle from an early startup. Contrast with a company that routinely deposits so much money into your bank account that you don't much have to think about money -- that's a nice way to retain people and let them focus on the work.)

by neilv 3y ago

One of the things I like about some tech companies is that they seem to care how employees feel about the company. I haven't gotten that impression from IBM in a long time, however.

ChuckMcM 3y ago

In my brief tenure at IBM after they acquired Blekko I quickly came to realize that the near death experience in the 90's fundamentally changed the company. It gave their Finance team an iron lock on all decisions and all of their decisions were based on 'how much will this cost?' and 'how much will this save?' It made corporate politics easier, if you pitched a project all you had to do was code the language that Finance wanted to hear and even if people didn't "want" it, it could get approved. Quite sad in a way.

namdnay 3y ago

I think that’s an indirect consequence of tech companies being profitable and operating in a tight labour market. As soon as investors worry, the whole care-bear thing goes out of the window, and it never even existed for those cleaning the offices

toast0 3y ago

I would rather honesty. I don't want to be told to bring my authentic self to work, when that's not really what they want. I'm also not a fan of the company providing food, laundry, transportation, travel arrangements, etc, etc, etc and claiming that they want to ease my life or whatever, when really they just want to make it harder to leave to another job.

neilv 3y ago
On those little lifestyle perquisites, those can be good for morale, and can also mean a person spends more time and attention working. Before dotcoms, I worked places that would pay for delivered dinner for anyone working late (otherwise, as soon as you leave the office, you call it a day, plus company is feeding you like parent, plus little social camaraderie break with other people working late), or would provide cab vouchers for people who worked late (no going home only because don't feel safe walking home after dark), etc. I don't think anyone has illusions about the motives there, and there's some alignment. The "make it harder to leave to another job" I dislike is things like stock options that must be exercised within 90 days of leaving, before the stock is liquid and before you know whether it'll be worth anything. Or health insurance situations for some people (improved since ACA). Or bonus or retirement contribution schedules that mean waiting until the end of the year (and with no guarantee there won't be layoffs shortly before, especially given that a sociopathic company has incentive not to pay). (One of the big reasons I didn't take a nice non-blockchain fintech job offer with FAANG-like TC level was because of all the complex structuring of the compensation, with several kinds of bonuses and shares and retirement contributions, which supposedly were all but guaranteed, but all on annual schedules, and the salary alone wasn't going to elevate my lifestyle from an early startup. Contrast with a company that routinely deposits so much money into your bank account that you don't much have to think about money -- that's a nice way to retain people and let them focus on the work.)