Tom Watson Sr.'s Gift of Retirement to IBM's Employees

How Thomas J. Watson Sr. Helped Fund the IBM Employees' Retirement Plan

When I started my research on Tom Watson and IBM in 2011, I saw this entry in the IBM Annual Reports: "The Watson Fund for Supplementing the IBM Retirement Plan." Of course, I thought it was money set aside for Tom Watson's retirement. Isn't that what most 21st Century Chief Executives would have done?

Through on-going research, ​I learned that this fund was set up by Tom Watson for the benefit of his employees. ​This is an amazing, forgotten slice of IBM history about how IBM's Retirement Plan was started and supplemented over time …

… with Tom Watson Sr.'s generosity.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of how IBM's corner office has changed in this new century. That which one exemplary 20th Century chief executive made possible for his employees, three 21st Century chief executives—two men and one woman—have exploited to pump up profits and earnings per share for personal gain. This is not a problem with the system of capitalism. It is a problem with the internal moral character of IBM's leadership.

Peter E. Greulich

Select the image or link below to read about "The Founding of IBM's Retirement Plan."

The Founding of IBM's Retirement Plan