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Comment by pm90 | Hacker News Reader

Disclosure: I'm a developer at IBM, but not speaking in official capacity. The comment here is completely personal.

I went through this article and it seems like a lot of FUD. The line to note is:

> Though not every department at IBM will be asked to colocate, many will.

So yes, some departments have been "asked" to colocate. However, AFAIK nobody is being "forced". My team lead was asked to colocate but decided to stay where they are because of personal reasons (family).

Speaking generally, I've had incredibly flexible hours, more so than at any other place I've worked so far (and I have worked at some of the "hip" places).

Anyways, the headline itself seems truly sensationalist.

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So IBM employees who refuse the company's formal request to colocate shouldn't be nervous about their status in the medium to long-term future?

I agree. I think this is first step to separate out people who are unwilling to relocate. Next they will look at the work they are doing, if deemed non-critical I assume they will be first to go.

I mean, isn't that the case with any job? So sure, this might be an extra consideration when the time for layoffs comes around.

My intention was not saying that nothing changed; emphasis on colocation is definitely a real thing. But IBM is not "ending remote work", as the headline says (it should be changed to the actual article title, which is more reasonable). It is most certainly allowed.

True, it is with any job. I still think it will be good filter for people who think IBM job is critical for them and family vs family and location is critical than IBM job.

I agree IBM will most likely lose good remote workers but for company of IBM size individual super performers are not critical to their financial well being.

Definitely agree with the title change, thanks for your insight as an employee.

I also work for IBM, remotely. So far I've heard no hint of anything like this internally. My boss claims he's heard nothing about it.

Are there any technical IBM employees here who have been "forced" to relocate?

This post and all others I've seen are just rewrites of the original (unsourced) article last month in The Register (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/09/ibm_workfromhome_cu...) with no additional facts or updates.

I may be proven wrong, in which case I'll be looking for another job. But agreed, as far as I can see, at least regarding technical employees this is FUD.

My mom works for IBM (and has for ages) and it really seems like this is more a way for them to shed some workers without layoffs because the completely arbitrary nature of who is getting the ultimatum to move to the nearest office.

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