‘Let’s make the dinobabies extinct’: IBM emails reveal that execs forced out older staff to make way for younger staff to boost number of ‘digital natives’
- Hundreds of former IBM employees are suing for age discrimination
- A company executive allegedly referred to older employees as ‘dinobabies’ that should be an ‘extinct species’ in an email quoted in court filings
- Another said the company’s ‘dated maternal workforce’ was something that ‘must change’ , writing that they were ‘Not digital natives. A real threat for us’
- A spokesperson denied that IBM engaged in mass age discrimination, noting that 37 percent of the company’s new hired since 2010 were over the age of 40
- The median age of the company’s employees was 48 in 2020, the company said in a statement, unchanged since 2010
- But IBM had fired as many as 100,000 older employees in 2019, according to a court deposition from Alan Wild, former vice president of human resources
- Between 2013 and 2018, according to ProPublica, older employees accounted for 60 percent of job cuts
IBM faces an age discrimination lawsuit for forcing out hundreds of older employees, referring to them as ‘dinobabies’ who should be an ‘extinct species’ in favor of younger ‘digital natives,’ according to court documents.
A court filing by attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who is representing hundreds of former IBM employees for ‘age animus from IBM’s highest ranks,’ claims that unnamed executives were aware of a ‘companywide plan to oust older employees in order to make room for younger employees.’
‘IBM has engaged in egregious age discrimination,’ Liss-Riordan said in an interview Friday. ‘IBM has tried to use arbitration clauses to shield that evidence from the public and other employees who are trying to build their cases of discrimination.’
IBM faces an age discrimination lawsuit for forcing out hundreds of older employees, referring to them as ‘dinobabies’ who should be an ‘extinct species’ in favor of younger ‘digital natives’
A court filing by attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan (pictured), who is representing hundreds of former IBM employees for ‘age animus from IBM’s highest ranks,’ claims that unnamed executives were aware of a ‘companywide plan to oust older employees in order to make room for younger employees’
Although this case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last July, the company has faced a range of similar lawsuits in recent years.
In an undated email chain quoted in the filing, first reported on by Bloomberg, a top IBM executive – whose name was redacted – allegedly detailed a plan to ‘accelerate change by inviting the “dinobabies” (new species) to leave’ to make room for younger employees.
In another, another unnamed executive said IBM’s ‘dated maternal workforce’ was something that ‘must change’ at the company, writing ‘they really don’t understand social or engagement. Not digital natives. A real threat for us,’ according to the filing.
Another unnamed executive, according to court documents, expressed ‘frustration that IBM’s proportion of millennial employees is much lower than at a competitor firm.’
IBM chief human resources officer Nickle LaMoreaux said in the email denied that the company systemically discriminated against older employees, and said that it terminated the employees filing the class-action lawsuit because of changing business conditions.
The blue-chip technology company employed 346,000 as of 2020, according to Statistica.
In an undated email, another unnamed executive said IBM’s ‘dated maternal workforce’ was something that ‘must change’ at the company, writing ‘they really don’t understand social or engagement. Not digital natives. A real threat for us,’ according to the filing
In 2020, the statement noted, the median age of IBM’s US workforce was 48, unchanged since 2010. LaMoreaux also noted that 37 percent of the company’s new hires since 2010 were over the age of 40.
The language cited in court filings, the spokesperson wrote, is ‘not who were are’ and ‘is not consistent with the respect IBM has for its employees and as the facts clearly show, it does not reflect company practices or policies.’
IBM had fired as many as 100,000 older employees in an effort to show millennials that the company was a ‘cool, trendy organization’ rather than ‘an old fuddy-duddy organization,’ according to a court deposition in 2019 from Alan Wild, former vice president of human resources, reported by Bloomberg.
Between 2013 and 2018, according to ProPublica, older employees accounted for 60 percent of job cuts.