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Hertz Had Sheriffs On Hand the Day It Cut IT (computerworld.com)
dcblogs writes: About 300 Hertz IT employees, most located in Oklahoma City, are being impacted [by] a decision to expand its outsourcing to IBM. About 75 will be hired by IBM and those workers [are expected] to receive offers this week while others are facing layoffs. The news was a shock for IT employees. There was "anger, resentment," especially by employees who "sacrificed that work/life balance to keep things going here," said one employee. Hertz took precautions. On the day that IT employees learned that their work was shifting to IBM, employees noticed Oklahoma sheriff patrol vehicles in the building's parking lot. They believed plainclothes officers were inside the building.
"We consider the safety and security of our people whenever there are circumstances or events that could increase the risk of a disturbance or some form of workplace violence," said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman. "Knowing that this was a difficult announcement, we had additional security on hand," said Masterson. "Going forward, Hertz IT resources will be focused on development of future products and services for customers," he said. The majority of services will be cloud-based. According to the Computerworld article, along with severance pay, benefits also include three months of outplacement assistance. IT employees can receive up to $4,000 toward retraining or skill certification, said Masterson. IBM India Private Limited, a IBM subsidiary, has filed paper for H-1B visa workers for Hertz Technology offices.
"We consider the safety and security of our people whenever there are circumstances or events that could increase the risk of a disturbance or some form of workplace violence," said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman. "Knowing that this was a difficult announcement, we had additional security on hand," said Masterson. "Going forward, Hertz IT resources will be focused on development of future products and services for customers," he said. The majority of services will be cloud-based. According to the Computerworld article, along with severance pay, benefits also include three months of outplacement assistance. IT employees can receive up to $4,000 toward retraining or skill certification, said Masterson. IBM India Private Limited, a IBM subsidiary, has filed paper for H-1B visa workers for Hertz Technology offices.
Outsource to IBM? They'll regret that decision very soon. Really. Very, very soon.
There was a paper filed for H-1B? More domestic employees being replaced by a program that is only supposed to be used if there are no domestic employees available?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Maybe use Uber or Lyft instead of renting a Hertz car?
I'm guessing that the CEO of Hertz has no technical knowledge, and no interest in knowing anything about technology. So, to him, someone who supports Hertz technology is just a rent-a-car, just an appliance. Don't think! Get the cheapest!
I doubt he understands the long-term social and technical effects. It seems that his actions make Hertz a place of hurts.
Company A fires one IT worker and hire a H1B, it is illegal. And the company can be prosecuted. Company fires *all* its workers and outsources the department to Company B, it is legal business decision.
Corporations are people! But all it takes is some 100$ filing fee and you have a brand new people with all the rights and privileges from freedom of thought, expression and religion. It is nearly impossible for an real Indian people to get work permit to work in the USA. All that H1B lottery and paper work, and work permits... But it takes no effort for a corporate Indian people to work in the USA!
So company A creates a not-really-companyA in India and brings real Indian people employed by corporate Indian people to serve corporate American people. Real American people get royally screwed. Real Indian people get some bones. Corporate Indian people get a huge slice of the pie because the profits are parked abroad to skirt taxes. Corporate American people get a slice just big enough to pay the CEOs and the cronies large bonuses and pay.
OK, OK go ahead and vote for more tax cuts for the rich, to vote for more abortion restrictions, vote for unlimited mining on public lands, vote to relax envrionmental laws, and then sit in a corner and wonder why the American government always screws you.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
No, if you're going to screw IT workers, you cut off their computer access suddenly and without warning, then have them escorted out of the building before they can damage or release any of the data they have access to, or even worse, change the admin passwords. Yes, real dickish behavior, but if you had a fiduciary responsibility to protect the shareholders, not the employees, you'd do the same thing.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I do work for an outsourcing company, won't say which, but your I don't think you comments about dangers of outsourcing quality are accurate right now.
Not IBM, but some outsourcing companies have learned to provide very good quality services, and do anything, from providing more staff, to taking over all IT from a company.
I wouldn't outsource my core business IT if I were a CIO/CEO, but I know why old fashioned companies would do it. You may pay less, but you can at the same time get way better results. Outsourcing companies scale up and down a lot more easily, they bring experience from other industries, you get some free consulting, and you even get to "fire" employees for any reason, no question asked, no sheriffs to call.
...that comment about "work/life balance" sacrificed. There was a great article recently about how one-sided the employee/corporate relationship really is. One side of the relationship has emotions; the other's basically a machine, a mechanism devised by stockholders to increase their investment - when it screws up and has an emotion because one of the parts (your boss) has one, that is corrected ASAP. So it's this relationship between human and machine that *cannot* give anything back, emotionally.
On the human side, people have the emotion of pride; virtually everybody is proud of their "work ethic" and most people describe themselves as "giving 100%" or "giving 110%", that extra ten percent coming out of your personal life, the time you owe to family, friends, and yourself. You have emotions where people become attached to "the team" and don't want to "let down the side" and again, make personal sacrifices not compensated for by pay, because it "just feels good" to help out a team member with a sick kid or de-stress your boss at "crunch time".
NONE of this spirit of teamwork and sacrifice applies to the other side of the relationship. All those emotional, devoted-to-work, sacrificing employees are sacrificed for in turn when their utility falls below zero.
It all represents an ongoing wage theft, in effect: employers routinely profit from the emotional investment, pride, and devotion of employees but don't return it, the way that somebody sacrificing for a primitive tribe would be taken care of in turn by that tribe if they fell sick. Smaller businesses run by owners can react like a normal human group, with a two-way emotional bond. But a modern corporation with absentee owners and professional managers is just a machine that automatically wins these situations because it is never there for the employees that were there for it.
especially by employees who "sacrificed that work/life balance to keep things going here,"
That's why you never, ever do that - especially not for a salary. Let some other sucker work there and ruin his life.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
The 300 includes IT layoffs in other locations nationally. The 230 was for Okla. Hertz increased the number.
In case anyone was wondering where all those Trump voters are coming from, it's from scenes like this.