Thread regarding IBM layoffs

Wow @Hopeforchange 2 years later GBS is even worse. We are bleeding good people, some even leaving as quickly as a few months after starting. Upper management fat continues to thicken. In my org we just had another layer of management placed in between me and the GM. College grads sit on the bench because nobody will give them a chance to learn when they can get someone in India to do the work at $15/hour. Work thrown offshore in droves. CICs the only places who get training budget. Sad state of affairs.

Our clients aren’t blameless in this though - in their race to the bottom, they see us as a cheap offshore resource provider. If we don’t cost compete, TCS, Wipro, Infosys will. So what is worse really?

Believe it Dave. I have been here long enough to see it all happen.

These comments in no way represent the IBM I used to work for and I started in 1966 and worked there for 38 years ending my career in Tucson. I did not experience any of the issues expressed in the comments. I have a hard time believing this has happened.

Hi

I am currently with IBM GBS and here is the sad part -- we have too much of upper management that does no contribution to opening up markets nor develop skills typically they belong to an era where the market was not that fast paced .. so we are loosing the market fast since customers have become more smart in their choices and they need people to deliver and not just create worksheets .. now that revenues are dwindling the deals have to be signed in desperation and since that had to be done the cost of resources has to go down -- so the next step is to get college graduates to work on projects and have no concern on the experience that is required to deliver complex projects which is going to further distance clients away from us

It is a vicious circle and the resolution to an issue is not adding more high paid partners that have no portfolio to deliver It is a simple math Consulting is a skill based trade and that is precisely what IBM does not invest in .. the focus is to have more soft skills based training instead since upper management has never understood that clients now need a team that can deliver and not just create worksheets and status reports -- projects cannot be run the way they used to 20 years back and it is but obvious that we are kissing ground -- but the irony is that the leadership continues to self glorify itself with no regard to what the market is telling us -- I just hope we don't repeat the Nokia story but we are fast going down that road It's a classic case of how a mismanaged practice was killed due to incapable leadership

I was told by three managers at IBM that the field sales layoffs beginning in October of 2016 continuing into March of 2017 were generated by WATSON (the AI) . Those impacted weren't able to Open Door their termination nor were their first or second line managers able to intercede. The question people should be asking is, "How was Watson trained?" Were classes protected? Were age, s-x, race, start date, etc. used for training? If not specifically used, were these fields masked from the AI? How was the AI prevented from being biased? What test did they use on the resulting data to determine if there was bias? Those that understand machine learning will recognize the potential for bias based on the training dataset. What safeguards did IBM apply to prevent unintentional bias, specifically age discrimination? S-x? Race?

The current CEO hasn't delivered in 20+ quarters, yet received a big boost in Compensation few months back, while the rest of the company employees have suffered. If the employees, didn't deliver what was expected in a few quarters, they would be Fired, so why is the CEO still around. Wall Street is waiting for some good news from IBM and getting a new CEO is Job 1 for everyone!!

Just told all contractors who were ex-IBMers, at least in GBS, will be let go at the end of September (next week). Protect yourself!

I was pressurized by HR and my Manager to move from GBS to GTS and then finally told that GTS is also downsizing.. . Yes, I was not on bench when I was laid off. I was billable and had excellent client backing . Sadly, IBM GBS has not much positions to support the career Growth of many employees. Managers are scared and not allowing ther reportees to Grow as they will be replaced with smart people.

Recently all of IBM employees received cut in pay bit CEO got massive increase (millions). My husband had his pay cut by over 10k a year ($5 an hour). They were told you either take it or your contract is terminated effective immediately. Outrageous!!

Recently all of IBM employees received cut in pay bit CEO got massive increase (millions). My husband had his pay cut by over 10k a year ($5 an hour). They were told you either take it or your contract is terminated effective immediately. Outrageous!!

If you are not happy at IBM with the low pay, lack of recognition/promotion and/or working conditions, then leave if you have the technical skills currently in demand to do so. I did and couldn't be happier or feel more free! Eventually upper management will notice that the people leaving are the most in demand. The company clearly does not value it employees. I, along with nearly everybody else there are just disposable resources ready to be RA'd. Well, I did my own Resource Action of one!

Worked there about two years ago. It was a nightmare. I was expected to buy everything myself - pens, mice, monitors, etc. Bosses wants me to learn everything in a few weeks, but Workers assigned to train you, refuse to give any real training during that time and tell you to study non-work related programming languages for future jobs. They tell you not to worry, but complain to management about you behind your back.

There's also almost no documentation, extremely poor programming style with almost no comments (comments and documenting things are frowned upon). Spaghetti code was common place with minimal factoring done.

Java methods were often 5-10 pages long each with no comments. To understand the code for a single Java method, I typically had to it print out the 5-10 pages, tape the pages together, and use a pen to figure out all the nested if statements. Most of the people who know the systems have been laid off or transferred. Assembler code was easier to maintain than their Java code. They had people doing nothing and playing video games. The maintenance department was extremely slow. It took them 6 months to fix the office's HVAC system (no air conditioning during summer and heating during the first month of winter. )

Worked there about two years ago. It was a nightmare. I was expected to buy everything myself - pens, mice, monitors, etc. Bosses wants you to learn everything in a few weeks, but Workers assigned to train you, refuse to give any real training during that time and tell you to study non-work related programming languages for future jobs. They tell you not to worry, but complain to management about you behind your back.

There's also no documentation, extremely poor programming style with almost no comments (comments and documenting things are frowned upon). Spaghetti code was common place with minimal factoring done.

Java methods were often 5-10 pages long each with no comments. To understand the code for a single Java method, I typically had to it print out the 5-10 pages, tape the pages together, and use a pen to figure out all the nested if statements. Most of the people who know the systems have been laid off or transferred. Assembler code was easier to maintain than their Java code. They had a lot of people doing nothing for months and playing video games. The maintenance department was extremely slow. It took them 6 months to fix the office's HVAC system (no air conditioning during summer and heating during the first month of winter. )

IBM is keeping employees in remote positions, even on teams where there is relocation. The employees asked to relocate usually decline and then leave on their own. The ones that agree to relocate are targeted and fired.

I've started a similar thread about 2018 resource action at IBM here @OLbfSBK or here

https://www.thelayoff.com/t/OLbfSBK

1/3 of IBM Watson media was laid off 4 days ago. 20 something permanent employees.. the weather company has laid off 30 engineers as well.

RA for me yesterday due to business conditions. Small division within Watson Health.

What about IBM contractor layoffs for 2017? What are the updates?

GBS, West - 4 managers RAd, on the bench

I am a former IBM'r (for a brief time) and was recruited by IBM based on my cutting edge experience. During my initial training, I saw people quit saying "This is a scam!" I have never seen worse executive management decisions in my life and I've been around a while. Highly skilled, highly productive people are cut by the thousands and yet, do-nothing upper management with insane salaries get to keep their jobs and particularly if they are 2nd or 3rd generation IBM'rs. It's rife with nepotism and politics especially if you are anywhere near NY. Warren Buffet usually doesn't invest in businesses he doesn't understand. How can he understand this one, when no one at IBM understands it, not even the CEO? I would only buy IBM AFTER it crashes well below $100 per share AND completely new management comes in and layers of management especially at the top are jettisoned. I've also done my own intelligence research and have been following the Resource Actions to estimate true head counts. IBM stopped reporting official head counts because they want to give false perceptions about it's condition. The same thing is true about how IBM creates and destroys business units - it's an accounting shell game. And they don't care who gets hurt or caught in the middle of any of it. Many customers are leaving IBM, and many don't want to! But IBM is doing things that make it bad for all but the very largest customers. I estimate that IBM employees globally is well under 350,000 this first half of 2017, and by the end of the year I expect the actual number will be under 300,000 globally. I would give this a + or - 10% accuracy because... they have all sorts of games, like interns, government subsidized jobs in some countries, contractors who are temporary, short term extensions for people who are being RA's or are at or near retirement, etc... They also post many jobs that never get filled or frequently get put on hold and/or get cancelled. So when Ginny says to Trump "We are hiring 25,000 people this year" she doesn't say she's also letting 50,000 people go, and that half of the 25,000 will be low paid and/or temporary, etc... It's about the NET result. And the NET result is that IBM's revenues are falling, IBM's profits are falling, IBM is losing market share to competition, IBM is losing more USA employees than anywhere else, and IBM's headcount is not only falling it's going to lower skilled, less experienced and lower paid workers. Further the ratio of USA to non-USA employees is rising every quarter. I dont' know what the actual targets are but it can be compared to the top competitors who actually do have high revenue growth and high profitability. Look at TCS and other large tech giants that are staffed mainly outside of the USA. IBM is on course to match those ratios or at least close the gap a great deal. As of 2016 I estimated that this ratio at IBM was 1 USA employee to 5 non-USA employees. For 2017 I estimate that it will go to 1 : 6 or 1 : 7 By 2020 I expect IBM to be at 1 : 10 that's IF IBM still exists as IBM. It could face an HP type of breakup, especially if Buffet lets Ginny take it into a complete nosedive. Contrast these ratios against the more aggressive ratios of the competition of more like 1 : 20 Even at the present rate of purging people in the USA it still means 2/3 of the USA employees will need to go to reach that kind of ratio. 10 years maybe... which is way too long to to be good for shareholders. And it's really bad for customers because IBM cuts the people who service the customers first! The executive management just can't figure out how to pare down management or it's own executive bloat. Quite literally I have been on calls with over a dozen management and executive people all crowing about how some 1 low paid off shore engineer must get something done. That one guy has to make up for all of their salaries... that's a very flawed business model that is not sustainable. Eventually, through attrition (like retirements, deaths, etc) or shear frustration some of those people will leave and will not be replaced. Instead contractors will fill gaps, college interns or lower paid college hires who are starry eyed and fed a bunch of lies will fill some roles for a while. But ultimately, between 2018 and 2020 look for a very different IBM with only about 30,000 USA employees and 300,000 total. That's IF it isn't broken up! Of those, roughly half will be management, executives, HR, marketing, sales, PR, or other non-technical roles. So I project only 15,000 serious technical jobs in the USA and of that almost 1/3 going to less experienced college grads, interns, etc... In that scenario IBM does not look good as a future employer for an experienced US technical worker. More evidence of this is to look at IBM's acquisitions. Companies that IBM has been acquiring tend to have extremely low USA worker counts, with ratios often well past the 1 : 20 And so then by 2025 to 2027 only about 15,000 employees in the USA... only about 7,500 actual hands on Tech! I predict the total head count will loom around 300,000 while that ratio churns, unless there is a breakup. If there is a break up, I would see it mostly going along Business Unit lines. I could see several business units being merged or just eliminated. And so in that break up scenario I would expect to see this USA head count reduction to accelerate. Maybe down to 15,000 USA employees by 2020. DELL is now nearly the size of IBM which is a rather amazing demonstration of how bad IBM's management has been compared to competition. I would expect either IBM's remaining Hardware (Mainframes, R&D) and STG to be picked up by DELL. IBM's Cloud unit, which is where nearly all of it's software has moved, could spin off into it's own entity or be acquired by those heated competitors... MSFT, AMZN, DELL or even APPL (who has more cash lying around than anyone). IBM's Watson unit might also make a good spinoff, but again those AI competitors might be willing to bite, but not at IBM's current valuations... no way it's worth that. I suspect some part of IBM may remain and be called IBM... but that will be some tiny fragment of a once great giant, that was destroyed by greed, arrogance and ignorance.

More rumors are flying that poor performing software brands are going to make more layoffs in second half. 80% of the reps in one unit are on Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) until June 30. None of them will be able to meet their PIP goals according to them. They will probably be out end of June. There will only be a few reps left after this. Where does that leave the technical sellers who support the reps who are gone? More layoffs for sure. Other groups will be affected as well due to the ripple effect.

Main reasons for poor performing brands: competition (i.e. Microsoft, Oracle) is eating up IBM's install base. Customers' lack of confidence in IBM. Customers are throwing out all installed IBM software and bringing in competition.

I was laid off on May 31st. My manager said June 2nd was my last day. Really? you tell me 2 days before that I am off. Was part of IBM GBS consulting which is struggling to make profits. IBM is not able to sign client deals and thats a direct impact on our utilization. I lost so many months because IBM wasnt signing any deals ! I was laid off inspite of excellent project assessments and being billable and not on bench. Yes, I was not on bench when I was laid off. I was billable. Sadly, IBM GBS has been reduced to a company where employees are doing crappy work just to be utilized.

What does gearboxed mean?

Yes, part of a five year old acquisition, we have been "gearboxed".. They claim its not RA, they are giving everybody a fair chance to pick another job within or outside

S Alliance(s) Team; Academic Initiative (University Team(s)); whatever is left out of SWG Tech Sales...

60K views on this thread, nice... so much for 'no more ra's'

Yep, 30-40% of a major section in IBM got "gearboxed" across the board two days ago. They're being told explicitly that these aren't layoffs in that HR will be helping all find jobs in the more "growing" parts of IBM, but moral has been pretty low in the office the past couple days. I know that US, Europe, Ireland, and South America are all affected. Apparently this might not have hit China as hard, due to them having a large RA early this year.

There has been a worldwide action in IBM yesterday and today. People in North America, EMEA and Asian countries have been let go or told to find alternate jobs within IBM. It was a shocking news to people this morning across the globe.

@3Tofk - sorry for your troubles, I was let go in Dec 2016 too... FYI - you cannot post names on this site ... They delete all messages you posted once they ban you... Posting names, personally identifiable info, slander, bad language, etc. will get your post deleted and your IP banned - just read the rules they have somewhere in the footer...

Whatever the above article states is true, IBM is not announcing that they are laying off the employees. But they are doing it very silently.

Myself Ajay, I have been working with IBM for 3 Years. HR called me for discussion 1 week back, Started validating my previous company Payslips, Offer Letters. Even she took my laptop and started checking my personal emails and social networking sites. She said one of the document I have submitted was fake (Unfortunately, that is offer letter issued by Top Indian MNC). She asked me prove it's genuineness by showing her bank statement, but unfortunately i didn't have any details with me. But I told her if she can give me time, definitely i can contact bank. She didn't agreed for that. She started threating me saying that if i am not agreeing that it is fake, I may get termination letter. Finally, they forced me to resign with 2 days’ notice period.

And also more importantly she checked the following in the order (Total time they took was around 180 Minutes, 2 HR)

1) They checked my Payslips (From Starting Company)

2) My Educational Documents (They checked Percentages too), Fun part is, after having 9 Years of IT experience.

3) She checked my Personal Folders containing Resumes and other Stuff

4) She tried to find all possible ways to screw me up under BCG.

She was tired, and told me. Ajay, don't keep your employment at risk. Try to understand us and separate from company ASAP with good terms. Now I am searching for Job, EMI's (30,000) are pending for next month. Cannot ask money from home, don't know what to do.

Thank God, she didn't asked me prove whether I am male or female (I am not yet married, otherwise, that opportunity would have gone for me).

Following points needs to be clear

1) If my documents are fake why they have released my offer letter 3 Years Back

2) If my documents are fake why they have confirmed my probationary period completed

Samething happened to my friends working in IBM. As per me the count is now, 5 Employees. If any one needs HR name let me know. I can post here with their social network links.

Massive number of Lay Off happening. 21 resources have been sacked in POSH in 2017. IBM is doing whatever they like. we need to regroup for our own benefits.

You nailed it, @3Qhpg. This deserves its own thread, so I copied it here @NjABlp6

What good is a manager who justifies their salary by cost-savings thanks to RA?

Some of the earlier commenters have pointed to incompetence of line management as one reason for IBM woes. Given sizable population of line managers, it is long overdue for top brass to sit up and take notice of just some of the many games some IBM line managers play to save their jobs:

• repackaging employee achievement as their own

• subverting careers to avoid a threat

• understating performance for comical reasons

• demoralizing experienced folks into leaving by having them report to noobs

This would not happen if line managers were good at creating opportunity or selling IBM products.

Wrong time for IBM to be taking a chance with "managers" who are killing chances by pushing talent under the bus. One of those casualties could be IBMs much awaited moonshot

Please root out the self-serving dead weights.

Warren Buffett has sold his shares. he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't have good insight and insider information on how this organization is being run. They won't reach their revenue goals and everyone knows it. They are trying to offset the loss with layoffs and that is not a business model anybody wants to invest in. Quite possibly the most unethical company ever. Both upper and middle management need to be removed. Extreme overhead at this company. Beware anybody who thinking about joining this company.

Who and what decides a Employee under RA??

No need to beat oneself up over this. Once or twice a year a few mid-level managers huddle in a performance review of their reports. The aggressive ones get to keep their employees. The weak ones see the writing on the wall. There is no audit save for a perfunctory signature from one level up. This behavior is survival instinct typical of four-legged creatures and, sadly for IBM, is arguably not merit-based.

So how can IBM benefit from tough-talking but otherwise non-producing employees?

Perhaps that is what this writer is suggesting:

IBM's incoming Lou Gerstner should cut a layer or two of non-technical middle management

A CEO that redefined the business on the advice of a team that lives in an ivory tower should ask that team to justify its existence with killer apps in 2017, or make room for a team that can.

IBM has been laying off on a regular basis for last couple of years...its a low key affair so that no one gets to know, nothing comes in press reports....

sub contractor PM notified today will last day. No notice or transition. T&T, Account Team, and Project teams all were unaware (as was I, of course). Told it was a "Contract Cost Takeout" by my contract firm.

Subcontractor resources immediately removed from active engagements Monday. No clue how pervasive. Customers were not advised no were IBM account teams it appears

Ginni Ginni Who can we turn to ?

You sold us out just to make money for you .

Hope you love your life and hope it all comes back to you!

I too work in a NA Center supporting Technical Accounts. Contractors were RA'd this week. Our Center is hiring like crazy. I'm talking over 100 this year. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing? Should the folks that they are hiring be scared?