The problem was their justification. It went something along the lines of "Employees are often thinking about their personal lives while at work, so they should also be thinking about their work life while at home."
I'm sure the intentions were good, but the presentation was terrible. Also, it was only one of many factors, but its a catchy line so I chose to call that one out.
Other include:
* Far worse benefits package and no attempt/willingness to make us whole in that regard
* About half the team was told they would no longer be eligible for raises because their salaries were above the top of their IBM pay band
* Several people lost large amounts of 401k matching because they missed their partial vesting date for that year (some by a few weeks) because the transition was done as being fired and then hired again
* Likewise we were not eligible to start contributing to the IBM 401k for some amount of time
* The IP agreement was Draconian (and we aren't in a state with nice moonlighting laws)
* They took away our office's coffee budget, which seems small and petty but it was a damned nice thing to have
* Two of the worst performers were promoted to be engineering managers because they didn't know what else to do with them....
I was only there for a few months after the merger. Talking to some who lasted longer made me very happy to have left. In all about 3/4 of the engineering team was gone within 9 months.