> And for x years after leaving the company belonged to them

This is the even more crazy part. They continue to own you after no longer paying you.

It's the same thing, really. They pay you for eight hours but continue to own you for the next 16 hours. They pay you for two years but continue to own you for the next two years after they no longer pay you.

Yes. I had one company try to get me to sign a non-compete that would have ensured I couldn't get a job in my field for two years unless I moved across the country. I countered that I would sign that, if and only if (a) I was paid a two-year salary equivalent bonus on hiring, and (b) my offer was tripled since they expected to own everything I created 24/7. They backed down from requiring the noncompete.

Actually how does this work? If you work for another company later they own what you create then?

Lets be clear here. You were not held at gunpoint to sign this. The worst case is "dont work at IBM".

That's not a fair argument.

If there were many companies offering the same pay, with a higher ratio of offerings to applicants than yes that would be applicable.

I'd your trying to say that they can sign away their rights than that is a different argument.

Pay and rights arnt/shouldnt be interchangeable, I'll work for you for X money but there isn't an amount that will make me give uo my rights.

Why? Well someone else will undercut that , and then they will be undercut and you eventually end up with no rights.

True but it becomes more of an issue once it evolves to be an industry standard. You're not forced to work for IBM but you're pretty much forced to work somewhere.

On the other hand, IBM owes you 6000+ hours of overtime per year. And a good chunk of that is double overtime, and probably triple overtime.