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IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

theregister.com

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Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#141

Post by dboreham »

pjc50 wrote: post #123
Etheryte wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To play the devil's advocate, how do we know this carries over to business? If this was the case, it should have a track record at this point, since DEI has been a topic for a long time. Looking at comparable companies where one did do DEI and the other didn't, did one or the other have a statistically significant edge over the other? I have no idea, but I'm far from convinced purely from a reasoning stand point.

The current example is Target vs Costco. (Because of a black pastor-led boycott of Target for dropping their DEI policy)

Personal experience is that Costco foot traffic has been visibly increased in recent weeks. Our Costco has a few colorful members of staff, which I personally find makes my visits there more pleasant.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#142

Post by rayiner »

jmward01 wrote: post #100

The anit-DEI stuff is predicated on an idea that there is a clear known 'best fit' for a position and it shouldn't take into account X, whatever X is. The problem is always this, nobody actually knows what a best fit really is. Nature shows us that one trait leads to longer term survival, diversity. When you think you know the traits that pick most suitable and exclude other traits then you are getting rid of the cha…

No, the anti-DEI stuff is based on the principle that race is a superficial characteristic that doesn’t change how someone would do the job. So, ipso facto, diversity itself can’t improve the performance of a workforce.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#143

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

CharlesW wrote: post #35
angelgonzales wrote: post #16

Within the last half decade it appears like IBM overtly markets to whatever administration and party is in power, a few years ago they were marketing creepy vaccine passports [1]. [1] https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/vaccine-passport

Has IBM ever let moral or ethical standards get in the way of profit? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust "…Black outlined the key role of IBM's technology in the Holocaust genocide committed by the German Nazi regime, by facilitating the regime's generation and tabulation of punch cards for national census data, military logistics, ghetto statistics, train traffic management, and concentration camp c…

If you have to go back 80 years to find something to complain about, I'd say it's not worth complaining about.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#144

Post by [deleted] »

jmward01 wrote: post #100

The anit-DEI stuff is predicated on an idea that there is a clear known 'best fit' for a position and it shouldn't take into account X, whatever X is. The problem is always this, nobody actually knows what a best fit really is. Nature shows us that one trait leads to longer term survival, diversity. When you think you know the traits that pick most suitable and exclude other traits then you are getting rid of the cha…

[deleted]

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#145

Post by neuronexmachina »

trebligdivad wrote: post #118
repiret wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Veering off topic, but this letter is in a variable width font. Were there typewriters that could do that? Was this so widely distributed that it was typeset on a printing press? The letterhead and body text aren’t aligned, so if it did go through a press it took two passes. The signature is also in ink, so that’s either a third pass for color, or an actual signature, and the letter doesn’t have the notation to indic…

Well of course IBM made typewriters! It looks like the 'IBM Executive' landed in 1944 with the ability to do proportional spacing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Electric#Executive

Wow, TIL.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#146

Post by MyPasswordSucks »

daxelrod wrote: post #116
MyPasswordSucks wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> after covid is an illusion, there is no such thing as "after" for an ongoing pandemic.... The US death rate from Covid in Q4 2023 (so, pre-Trump II) is roughly the same as the US death rate from influenza. 14.9 or 16.8 deaths per 100,000 for Covid (first number is 12 months ending with Q4 2023, second number is the three month rolling window), 13.5 or 15.1 deaths per 100,000 for influenza. "After covid" is a perfec…

I don’t understand how that conclusion follows from that comparison. We also wouldn’t describe the current day as “after the flu”. Both are endemic.

The phrase you picked to describe them is "endemic", rather than "ongoing pandemics". There's a reason for that.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#147

Post by freedomben »

throwaway382736 wrote: post #69
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

I am curious if anyone can find the text for "IBM's Policy Letter #4" written by IBM's chairman in 1953, which is referenced in this article. I did some searching but all the links I found to the full text were broken. I ask because I think it shows what a Rorschach test the arguments over DEI have become. I at least found one quote from the Policy Letter #4 which stated "It is the policy of this organization to hire…

I've observed the people who are very anti-DEI will change their talking points when they are competing with Asians and Indians. Suddenly they start espousing DEI principles and emphasize how it's important to find a more "well rounded" individual.

I have observed this too, but I don't think it either affirms or refutes either position. Generally speaking, people are ultimately self-interested, and will make whichever argument advances their interests. Being objective about something where you have a conflict-of-interest is very difficult.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#148

Post by Anon1096 »

jmward01 wrote: post #100

The anit-DEI stuff is predicated on an idea that there is a clear known 'best fit' for a position and it shouldn't take into account X, whatever X is. The problem is always this, nobody actually knows what a best fit really is. Nature shows us that one trait leads to longer term survival, diversity. When you think you know the traits that pick most suitable and exclude other traits then you are getting rid of the cha…

The American conception of diversity that looks for race and gender ends up grouping 60% of the world together as "Asian". These are regions of the world with vast cultural differences (the obvious because South VS East Asia) and even within countries someone from Beijing is vastly different from someone from Xinjiang. It's extremely western-biased to look at what's going on in DEI efforts and think that it in any way represents actual diversity. It mostly means white women and educated black men get jobs while spewing the exact same thoughts as the HR department.

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#149

Post by infamouscow »

MPSFounder wrote: post #138
jmward01 wrote: post #100

The anit-DEI stuff is predicated on an idea that there is a clear known 'best fit' for a position and it shouldn't take into account X, whatever X is. The problem is always this, nobody actually knows what a best fit really is. Nature shows us that one trait leads to longer term survival, diversity. When you think you know the traits that pick most suitable and exclude other traits then you are getting rid of the cha…

Those that criticize DEI have no problem with Nepotism. Ivanka and Jared had white house positions, that paid them salaries and entitled them to secret service on trips to Israel and Saudi Arabia. That tells you all you need to know. I would not hire either of them as doormen in a new building development, but they ran the house on 1600 Pennsylvania. DEI really is poor nomenclature. I think all of us favor someone th…

[flagged]

Re: IBM orders US sales to locate near customers, RTO for cloud staff, DEI purge

#150

Post by dfxm12 »

givemeethekeys wrote: post #4

The general reasoning given by a lot of these companies is that WFH did not work. Same companies were telling is how well it worked and they had the numbers to back it up. I think they are looking for scapegoats for some cost cutting. Officially force people back and hopefully some will quit. In practice, many will continue to operate as before.

It is exactly it. It's a means to lay off a bunch of workers without having to go through the legal red tape of layoffs designed to protect workers, including the WARN act.
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