IBM ends inventor reward program, cancels points for patents
www.theregister.com
Big Blue staffers aren't pleased to lose out on potential bonuses

IBM scraps rewards program for staff inventions, wipes away cash points | Big Blue staffers aren’t pleased to lose out on potential bonuses::Big Blue staffers aren’t pleased to lose out on potential bonuses

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.worldEnglish
    961·
    10 months ago

    Nothing like informing your employees that hard work won’t be rewarded. Wise business decision

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.worldEnglish
      40·
      10 months ago

      It’s even more insane when you find out that IBM has a history of forcing their employees to sign contracts that state that anything that their employees work on at home in their own free time, is the property of IBM

      • Alchalide@lemmy.worldEnglish
        28·
        10 months ago

        A company where I applied wanted me to do that as well. I was going to be a truck driver…

        • jaybone@lemmy.worldEnglish
          101·
          10 months ago

          No it’s not.

          If this were such a common practice there would hardly be any US contributors to open source projects.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
            8·
            10 months ago

            The legal practice is common. Enforcement is significantly more challenging (particularly when you’re working under an online alias in a niche space).

        • andrew@lemmy.stuart.funEnglish
          5·
          10 months ago

          IP assignment is extremely common, but there are almost always exceptions that you still own the IP if it’s your own time, your own equipment, and not directly related to what you do for your employer.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      10 months ago

      If hard work was rewarded, the richest people in the world would be African miners, Chinese manufacturing workers, and Indian telemarketers.

      Besides, why do we need a bunch of enthusiastic PhD candidates with decades of experience developing, testing, and refining novel applications of technology? We’ve got AI! AI will do everything for us, starting tomorrow and onwards until forever!