IBM Offers To Move Laid Off Workers To India: "The climate is warm, no shortage of exotic food"

[kpete]

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
February 2, 2009 12:36 PM


The climate is warm, there's no shortage of exotic food, and the cost of living is rock bottom. That's IBM (NYSE: 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.

more at:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/outsourc...

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Tell me this is a joke...a sick joke.

[Xipe Totec]

2. No need for H1-B visas anymore...

Unless you're an American, in which case you'll need an Indian work permit instead...

[OregonBlue]

3. Oh my god, now they want to outsource the population.

[MADem]

4. This is the future. I'm not surprised it has come to this.

Gee, wonder how many will take the jobs? It's an opportunity to travel and see a new country for a young kid, but you're not going to save much. Maybe not so swift for a family....

I can hear the Indians griping "They're all over here, with their visas and so forth, taking OUR jobs...and they're impossible to understand with those obnoxious American accents! And the food they eat....and their habits....and customs!!!!"

Sounds like SITCOM potential...or at the very least, a Harold and Kumar movie!

[mmonk]

5. Why not move IBM to India and have them outsource to employ US workers?

[rosesaylavee]

6. thanks Big Blue - if there is any way I can repay the favor,

rest assured I will. Wish there was a way to boycott you.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OregonBlue]

8. Let's all send it to Keith O.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. If they insist on insourcing, then maybe our public schools should

get some of their hi-tech teachers to come here on those Visas. In ten years, there won't be any reason to hire outside the US.

[Dervill Crow]

10. Please, tell me this is from The Onion.

This is absolutely horrifying.

[Touchdown]

11. Sure! Nothing to worry about. Even that nuclear standoff with Pakistan

[SpiralHawk]

12. ...and you'd be far, far away from the plague of Republicon Homelanderism

and its Death WISH for America to FAIL.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. The USMC outsourced me to Japan. I loved it.

And, Taiwan. Not so much as Japan, but it was interesting.