Thread regarding IBM layoffs

This was posted on the FB page:

To those recently looking askance at the 20-40% number for layoffs as fanciful and delusional…

Whoever posted is being coy as the correct number is 30%, so they knew exactly what they were doing. And as this number seems to be all over this page I thought I would confirm it. This will come from all sales groups (predominantly) and will continue throughout 2018. So yes.. it is correct, the target layoff number is 30% for sellers as IBM moves towards a direct sales model. The first round is Q1. So if you’re an IBM seller, get your resume together.

I cannot speak to the terms of the layoff payments however as others have here. Some will receive better terms. Support will continue its march to low cost countries. All this was decided months ago. And if you’re in Development, don’t think you’re free and clear, as the focus will be on young hires because if you’re older you clearly are not plugged in enough. And for those saying execs never go, not true, close 100 have gone just in Cloud, or will be gone or re-leveled, (keep their titles for face saving so sometimes it’s hard to tell. VP’s have been releveled down to 10) IBM has consultants running around saying it is too top heavy so expect this to continue. IBM US only numbers have come down by thousands in just the past 9 months. This will drop by thousands more over the next 9 months.

good thread - thank you...

@1hhj agree with everything you say, it'll happen by the end of the year.

If you are in sales here in the States, you are pretty much gone.

I don’t disagree with anything said on the bullet point list EXCEPT for your time line. This will be over by year end 2018. IBM is already 50% millienial and they will easily move to 75% just via attrition without any new hiring. This is IBM being 5 years late to the cloud model. How many marketing/sales folks do you see from Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. How many Technical and services folks do you think it takes to support the FANG offerings. IBM wants to emulate their model, and they want it ASAP. I would say you will see 30% cuts by year end, and another 10-15% cuts via attrition This is IBM’s cloud on steroids.

-1ruk you go! Do as much damage as you can. Get the word out about what a horrible place IBM is to work. Everyone else get on glassdoor.com and submit an anonymous review. Keep it professional and they'll post it. Let's help this Titanic sink faster.

@SgPcIAj-1ruk What team are you on? Just wondering.

I do not think an off-shore DSM model will work. It has always been the people at IBM that held it all together because they cared about their colleagues and the company and had long term client relationships. Sadly, these days are gone. If Ginny and Bain believe this will work, I disagree. Customers do not even get an invoice they understand nevermind a self service model. AWS, Google, and Microsoft are just too efficient.

One thing with the Millennial stuff: I know for a fact, from an inside source, that my name was high on the candidate list back in February. I'm a developer in hybrid cloud who joined fresh out of college who now has about 2 years experience in this role. And I have skills in supposedly critical areas, with 4 Exceeds and 1 Achieves ratings on Checkpoint. It seems really bizarre to me that someone fitting my description would be on the candidate list if this is their goal, but maybe I'm just a naive 20 something and they have a good reason for it. My naive 20 something thought is that they wanted to get rid of age discrimination claims and threw darts at a name list to get a few random younger people as candidates. Whether I got thrown off the candidate list or not, I have no idea...I guess I'll find out soon enough.

One thing executives, in their ivory tower away from what the worker bees and younger people actually think and do, don't realize is how much Millennials use social media. They don't seem to realize how ---ing quickly we can and will get negative word out to everyone we know who would even consider a job at IBM. And ultimately, I think the ----ty way they treat people combined with their ignorance of how Millennials use social media will be their downfall. I know I for one will be strongly steering everyone I know away from IBM once I eventually leave (whether forced or voluntary).

@oeg - I am not @zdi but most of what she/he wrote is something that all of us know. I cannot say this for the Millennial statement and percentage targets, sounds accurate though.

Poster -zdi what are your sources? Sounds like you are speculating to me.

Get those managers talking while theyre s---ing up booze at the receptions at the conference this week!

You may continue this with a few bullets:

• More sales jobs moving to low-cost offshore.

• More sales jobs to be given to new hires, no experience folks.

• Nobody is safe, this is not only sales – everyone will be affected.

• If you are a higher up resource, they are coming after you too – it may be a bit gentler though (you’ll get a decent package) – Executives will be cut, gently though.

• Work will s---, no quality support will be given.

• Support jobs will continue to migrate to low-cost areas.

• Millennial will be 75% of the workforce within 36 months (Accenture is already there, they have a natural attrition though as people regularly bail on their own) – this will be a challenge for IBM as our career paths is not as attractive as the one offered by our competitors (e.g., Accenture folks cite burnout as a #1 reason for bailing, yet they overwhelmingly rate their experience as positive due to training, type of projects and mentoring they receive)

• Yes, it will s--- big time here at IBM (over next three years) - it'll get worse before it gets better