Can you say red tape? Ridiculous overhead involved in the most basic of business operations. Basic operations are outsourced, and this complicates things even further. Lawyers who do not understand technology have too much freedom to restrict everything from travel to research direction, to publication, and place unreasonable restrictions on all of those things and more. Senior management isn't doing its job, and hasn't provided coherent direction. They allowed the sales force to sell what couldn't be delivered. How many times in my career have I seen the same mistake? Hint: it's a good idea to consult with technical staff BEFORE pursuing the sale and signing the contract. Good technical people worth their salt will tell you what the risks are and what can be done to mitigate these risks. How do you enforce that? Easy. Sales staff should be rewarded on successful completion of contract, not just the close of the sale. That should mitigate some of the arrogance on the part of those in sales and contracts. Public business articles show many failures to deliver on contracts, contributing to poor reputation. A poor reputation contributes to fewer contracts in the future, and lower revenue. With respect to the direction of the company, senior management is lost and scrambling. There are lots of nice speeches, with all the best buzzwords. But sorry, the substance is not in the plan, and it's painfully clear that the senior management doesn't really know what all of those buzzwords mean, and doesn't know how to execute on them. Redirection takes more than articulating a handful of areas of emphasis. The boat is sinking. Time to get a new C suite for this company. Finally, and most concerning, is the way that the company treats its greatest asset, its people. This company has a history of cutting an entire project, and firing everyone associated with a project, without examining the individuals they are firing. Senior management will make these decisions without consulting the line managers who know the staff. ADVICE TO THOSE SEEKING POSTDOCS: insist upon severance pay if they terminate your contract prior to the term on your contract. Have it written into the contract before you sign. Insist on this. Make it enough to either sustain you through a search for a new job, and/or to break your lease. You will need it when IBM decides to downsize. Why? They consider postdocs to be a way of maintaining an "elastic workforce." The default contract is written so that they can show you the door with no notice (the typical 2-3 year "duration" in this "contract" is legally meaningless), and this can happen even if you are a star performer. They will cut your position before they cut a permanent staff position. You are vulnerable. Do you think it won't happen to you? It happened to me. And I was not a slacker. In 1.5 years, I was an author in 5 publications, wrote the technical content for a grant, delivered technical content for a contract, gave many public presentations, contributed to many existing projects, launched my own projects, and had external partnerships. Senior management did not consult my manager in the decision. I had to break a lease and move, and this alone cost about $10,000, not to mention the lost income of 1 year of potential earnings, and the time between jobs. That's not chump change. Management didn't care about me, and they won't care about you, either. Someone at C-suite level issued an order to downsize my department, and that was it. Then, management tried to hide when I tried to address things with them directly. If you are a postdoc just starting out, with no financial buffer, this could put you into debt very fast. Don't sign that default contract. Negotiate it to protect yourselves, or seek employment elsewhere. Got it? Spread the word, and protect yourselves. Universities, educate your graduates, and protect them from this please.
