See You Next Tuesdays.

Is that they didn't do this before now.

I lasted 15 years at IBM before I'd had enough. It's a company that's lost its way and doesn't value its staff. It's the death of a thousand cuts. Bit by bit it just became a worse and worse place to work. This is just the latest nail in the coffin of a company I was once proud to say I worked for.

When I started work in the UK in the 80s all the big companies had social clubs. I mean buildings, with bars, squash, tennis and badminton courts, football and even cricket pitches, with teams in the local leagues. Membership cost very little and they were always busy. The company had an annual budget that you could bid for to buy kit for the club teams or pay travel costs for trips. Companies then seemed to exist as much for their employees and families as for making money. Now the clubs are all gone - sold for housing in my area - and companies are solely focused on making money. I don't think that table tennis and bean bags can make up for it.

I'm aware of at least two sites in a former nationalised industry that had 9-hole golf courses attached to them as part of their sports and social clubs.

Privatisation and subsequent carve up meant these were sold off, but at least one is still a functioning golf course.

"ut at least one is still a functioning golf course"

I'm sorry to hear that. Golf - a good walk ruined.

The IBM site I work at still has a 9 hole golf course attached!

Its mini golf. Used to be a 2nd 9 hole course, but they took it out to place emergency generators years ago, I think.

Can confirm Nortel Networks in Harlow had a social club, a proper canteen with edible food as well!

Perhaps this when they also had Personnel departments instead of "Human Resources"? IME, Personnel always seemed to care about the staff; the shift to HR was never a good sign...

I just assumed from the headline they were no longer allowed to use them to cull their pensioner population.

Health and Safety gone mad.

The great resignation is, not that employees choose to move, but rather, that organisations have resigned themselves to people moving rather than doing anything about it.

I personally think this is more or less the definition of insanity, when one's outfit's reputation derives mostly from experienced personnel and the value they add.

This is certainly not unique to IBM, the entire HR industry is waving white flags, and has been for a couple of years now. Fixing it isn't hard. Cut the ludicrous exec pay and rebalance the proportions going to staff (and/or staff numbers).

I could cite a certain FTSE100 company where I currently work, where approximately 1/5th of the annual personnel budget goes on Exec pay. 1/5th of the payroll going to less than 0.01% of the workforce! This information is openly available in the public domain.

If you aren't outraged by this, you're not human. Also, said company is going to hell in a handbasket unless things improve. I'll do what I can; but if it doesn't improve, I'll be off. Making the point about the great resignation indeed.

And that sums up the entire culture that has evolved over the last 10 to 15 years. Execs have more pay, perks and privileges than ever before whist at the same time constantly chipping away to reduce what the employees (the people that actually make the company what it is) have.

The push to WFH has increased the trend as companies now see those facilities used less and less so that they are now "not viable".

Clubs and so on are becoming whittled down and from what I see, tend to be focused on the activities the execs want.

One of my former employers used to say it was “reviewing” benefits to make sure they were still “competitive.” Little bastards with their little chisels, chipping away.

-> 1/5th of the annual personnel budget goes on Exec pay

Greed. What are they going to do with all this money? Build themselves a gold mausoleum when they shuffle off this mortal coil? More likely they will blow it on blow and broads.

politics of envy?

no idea which ftse 100 business you are moaning about but what if its highly profitable and has not many staff compared to execs? What if it has a high number of execs compared to others? That 1/5 of pay to execs could be anything, without proper numbers its just hyperbole.

i bet those execs are not compensated as much as those across the pond.

https://www.therichest.com/rich-powerful/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-212-million-compensation/

also i bet not as much as those from private companies and not from this betting business

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/18/uks-top-earning-ceo-of-bet365-denise-coates-bags-422-million-payday.html

If a business is able to make loads of profits and pay its people well i don't have an issue with that.

i have an issue when businesses make loads of profits and then go out of their way not pay their staff. its not the same as paying their execs 1/5 of the total payroll especially if non exec average pay is £50k plus!!!

It's not highly profitable. It is a steady dividend payer, but will never make a killing, because it's not allowed to.

The org has downsized significantly in the space of the last 4 years to satisfy some short-term cost considerations. It is reeling from the loss of that experience while simultaneously moaning about shortages of staff, people leaving, and the lack of STEM grads to recruit from. It has serious problems delivering on projects on shorter timescales; mostly because of the loss of skills.

I don't need to name the company, because I suspect this is actually applicable to multiple FTSE constituents.

Envy is not the problem. Seeing the long term viability of the business squandered, is. As a shareholder, and employee, I have a vested interest in the business doing well in the long run. What I see right now, it is in serious trouble. And I'm offloading shares, funnily enough. As noted above, if things do not improve, I am out.

If I were a pension fund manager doing my due diligence on what divvy shares to buy, I would be running a mile.

If the exec were earning their pay with their eye on the ball, I'd be OK. I see the ball not merely being dropped, but cut off and sliced, deep fried and served to unsuspecting investors.

Feel free to disagree but when shit starts breaking I can smile with a smug I told you so.

I think you may have inadvertently missed out a crucial piece of context to that "1/5" complaint as given by the OP. Specifically, the longer phrase was:

"1/5th of the payroll going to less than 0.01% of the workforce!"

The clubs are regionally split. In the UK, for example, there are 28 local organizations that have run short trips or national tournaments including corporate games or group runs.

You probably meant 28 local organisations