--- In ibmpension@yahoogroups.com, ibmsr2d2 <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> As luck would have it, my manager on a one on one call last week
> brought up the fact that he would have to put me on a performance plan
> if I don't make exceed sales number in the first quarter. He's even
> forgotten that I'm doing other work outside of my mission that he
> agreed to (forcibly) which may give me some outside contracting
> opportunity.
>
> I acted disappointed and somewhat afraid, but this development I think
> was very good news for me personally. Getting 13 weeks severance and
> one year medical + CORBA and retiring at around the same time I
> planned for anyway is a hell of a lot better than nothing!
>
> Any downsides to taking the "performance related" severance and
> running out the door as fast as I can?
>
I went through exactly the same thing last year. While professional
decorum prevents me going on a rant about "how can you be a 2+ one year
and out the door a few months later", I saw this as an incredible
blessing. I am 56 and have been retired since 1/31/08. You will be
shocked to find the most efficient machine within IBM is the one the
escorts you to the door. In fairness to my manager, he encouraged me to
find something else, even bringing a job to me that I was more than
qualified for and at the same level (no cut in pay). But my heart was
no longer with the company I had joined in 1977 and my father had
worked for 41 years. The package made it a no brainer as that, plus my
pension, ought to produce income for a year that was roughly my salary.
I don't think packages are going to be around much longer, which also
factored into my decision. Think of the whole thing this way; you're
dating someone and it's a real pain and you'd like to break up, but the
act of breaking up would produce more crap than sticking around would,
so you stick around and endure. Then one day she (or he) comes to you
and says "I can't see you anymore." You're outraged! "How dare you."
But it's really what you wanted all along. Let me know if you'd like to
chat offline. I've seen this happen to most of my old team in 2007.