Everyone around me is on edge because the vast majority of us really need our jobs right now. Yet, we can’t influence the outcome, nor even predict what might happen, since cuts are driven solely by the bottom line, with no regard for the business beyond that. I’ve accepted that it’s all about the numbers. I know it doesn’t matter whether I’m a good performer or not. It definitely does wonders for morale.
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These people are fired for not wearing a white shirt and a tie. My question is, who work for a company this brain dead in the first place. Failed in minicomputers, failed in PC's, failed to make a cell phone, failed in silicon germanium. How did Apple, Microsoft, and other young companies grew like weeds. No white shirts and ties there.
IBM is FUBAR.
Unfortunately it’s true. You should have your resume updated and look for jobs. There are way better companies out there, trust your skills!
@dd These annual layoffs will continue to occur because it gooses the bottom line and results in IBM reporting continued financial success even though revenue barely budges. IBM management years ago hired McKinsey to evaluate their work force. McKinsey came back with the current strategy (layoff first world labor for lower cost labor elsewhere). Why? Because 98% of IBM’s needed labor is commodity and can be done where labor rates are lower and Internet abundant. IBM has centered this strategy mainly in India, because they have a very educated and capable workforce. (YES a country of 1.2 billion is easily capable of graduating several hundred thousand capable employees per year) So unless you have a highly skilled quite unique job, you are in the bullseye. Please note once all of the NA and Northern European labor is exhausted, then IBM will just shift to the next highest cost labor country and continue the outsourcing to lower cost labor countries. What will that look like? Ask yourself who will work for less than the current commodity labor? The most likely candidates will be found in African nations. (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, etc) Why hasn’t it happened already? The answer centers mostly around infrastructure (country investment) and an educated workforce capable of handling attrition (yes turnover is a problem when you don’t pay much) Will it happen? Definitely unless AI gets there first.
Soon you will have plenty of time away from IBM to relieve the tension.
'at the way the company he founded'
is it a company or a giant piggy bank now for the 'people' on the top
IBM US layoffs occurred today in the Marketing & Comms via a call with Jonathan Adaeshak. I'm still flummoxed that Jonathan hasn't been laid off himself. Also zero presence from Clay Cowan, new CMO, who joined IBM in November.
All impacted employees will be informed today (March 18th).
Forced return to office 3 days per week for all employees starts end of April. Must be within 60 miles of a strategic office location. This will encourage further workforce reductions, as intended.
Don't have any information about layoff packages being offered to employees but hopefully it's still respectable (3 months pay + 1 month to find another job internally).
This annual "spring cleaning" mass layoff trend and forced return to office bs needs to end. How will any employee feel secure in their jobs when layoffs are so frequent and broad?
And why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway. And as soon as the deliveries are made in the front door, you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn't matter. It's all profit. And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match.
T.J. Watson Sr. is turning over in his grave at the way the company he founded is being run now...
Yes, the economy is not in a good place for people getting laid off right now particularly with the Trump Government cuts and so many people out of work. The job cuts come from a tragic failure by Alvind and the Pipmunks Company to do the right things instead of blindly putting out headlines of fake achievements. And the crooks loot and continue to loot the company and get millions of dollars in bonuses and perks. At some point there is no more and the business will be sold off for pennies on the dollar. At some point the dividend will be cut, and the company will sink just like the Titanic. Actions have consequences. If you were planning for this layoff time and could see something like this happening in the future, maybe you planned well. If you didn't, it's not looking good for the future. There's the fable of the ant and the grasshopper that should be mentioned too. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.
Been in IBM 24 years, top talent etc, given marching orders in late Feb with a few weeks’ notice to work. Yes, it’s exhausting. But it’s kind of a relief when the inevitable happens. It’s scary in terms of what comes next, but exciting too. Spouse and I have been planning for this moment for years. The only things you can do are a) prepare, b) prepare and c) prepare. It’s gonna happen, maybe not this year, but one year. Just be ready when it does. And good luck to you all!
IBM executives and the BoD are the most unconscionable, morally corrupt, and putrid pieces of inhumanity.
IBM employees should unionize
Downvote me if you wish, but it is really up to the employees to manage their own futures. Yeah, so IBM su-ks as an employer...but everyone has known the score for decades! It's not like these mass firings came up out of nowhere. They happen every quarter, and every employee knows what's going on by now.
The employees need "their" ("our") jobs right now. Well, IBM needs cash. And they need time. They're out of cash, and they're almost out of time. But the employees already know that, or at least they should. And if they don't, then they are being very irresponsible with their own lives. You go to Las Vegas to gamble, not to your place of employment.
Are you on edge, afraid of getting canned? DON'T BE! Do what every supplier of products and services does to unreliable customers...they put them as either COD or at most Net/14 terms. As a provider of labor, you should be looking for your next employer RIGHT NOW. While you're doing that, you continue providing labor to IBM for as long as they are willing to pay you. When they stop paying you, the work stops.
IBM is an unreliable employer, so stop worrying about them as if they were reliable. They are not, and you'll get no love or satisfaction from them.
IBM is still in business?
It’s morally reprehensible. It’s a terrible company run by terrible genuinely terrible people.