[bsder]

IBM also created a lot of voluntary RIF (reduction in force) programs in the 1990's. The goal was to get rid of managers and deadwood.

Of course, the technical people were always the first to jump at the opportunity to take cash and leave. Often, they walked back in to IBM the next Monday as a contractor.

IBM upper management eventually figured out that the managers weren't going to move--even an extra year at a manager salary dwarfed the program payout--and the deadwood wasn't going to move--they knew they had no other options-- and killed the programs.