Thread regarding IBM layoffs

Any idea if RA will hit GTS (US) end of March?

Probably not too late to request it for the second wave.

Its happening in Systems Groups (US only) for sure and the other orgs (e.g. Watson Health).. btw –> its way too late to asked to be put on the list... legal reviews are done

@1awa, @1ycs is correct. Tell your mgr you are willing to take one for the team and volunteer to be one to go in the next round. This should put you on the RA list of candidates.

@ 1awa do not resign now. Do a bad job now then resign after layoffs if you don't get hit. It is not about the package, it is about someone else's job - if they lay you off, then you are saving someone else's job. Your job now is to do a bad job in order to save someone else's

Will there be RA's in Watson Health this March ?

I'm looking to announce my retirement after 38 years soon. Does anyone have a real idea if there will be an RA announced by end of March? I'd hate to miss a package. (haha)! I'm in GTS/TSS USA as a field SSR.
tks.

What’s ironic is that the RedHat model is smaller, higher quality, agile, local teams. That is completely at odds with IBM’s strategy of huge offshore factories. I don’t see Red Hat winning any time soon. If Krishna valued their culture, he would have implemented it within C&C.

Dtj The real wildcard in the manpower equation is India. IBM has approx 1/3 of their workforce there, and the odds of that getting hit is small. As such most of the other groups (NA, Europe, and Asia) will have to face the music. Could IBM reduce the the rightsizing and increase the realigning. Sure BUT it will net to the same amount of final IBM employees. IBM has to make structural changes that align with the purchase of Redhat and it’s go forward strategy. That means big changes and most likely a sunsetting of traditional IBM as time goes by. You would hope that Krishna could arrange a major spinoff to minimize impacted employees, but the play has been called, and the implementation is all that awaits

IBM should not renew a single lease of office space now that everyone is WFH.
Every $ helps

@svf -I don't disagree with you, but one thing to point out is that in the 1990's IBM had about 75% of their headcount in the United States
Now U.S. headcount is about 20% of total Workforce.
Labor costs have gone way down.
But, as others have posted, IBM spent most of their FCF on Share Buy Backs, to help increase bonus $$ for the 100+ Senior Execs....
And so it goes.

thanks for the analysis @svf

If you don’t think something big isn’t coming, you just are not paying attention. Let’s look at IBM’s last near death experience 1992-1995
1992 = 302k employees. 65 billion revenue. (near death)
1993 = 256k employees. 63 billion revenue. (Gerstner rightsizing via 60k layoffs)
1994 = 220k employees. 64 billion revenue. (Gerstner realigning via selling off unprofitable pieces)
1995 = 225k employees. 72 billion revenue. (IBM returning to growth)

Krishna is going to get one swing at this. He most likely will use the same play book. He needs to be big and bold. That’s the definition of restructuring. Redhat was phase 1

2019 = 352k employees. 77 billion revenue (near death but already executing new strategy)
2020 = 285k employees 76 billion revenue (Krishna rightsizing). 1st 1/2 number
2020 = 245k employees. 60 billion revenue (Krishna realigning via selloff) 2nd 1/2 number
2021 = 250k employees. 65 billion revenue (IBM returning to growth)

@jqn Yes Global Markets used to be S&D. 20% globally would easily avoid WARN because these people are aligned with clients, so they are spread out amongst different office locations. They will probably kick out one role globally and cascade to every account. My guess is that every account with more than 1 “Client Exec” will be let go.

Definitely happening for Watson Health next week, Up to 40%. Going to be big.

Facebook is real reputable source huh? Global markets is a concept, staff are not aligned to it. BS, fake news. Someone probably looked at a linked in profile of a VP and made up the BS. 20% would require WARN act. Go back in you hole fake need posters

Global Markets is what used to be S&D, right?
The "meta-bureaucracy" that arose to manage all of the other bureaucracies so that IBM didn't appear to be 17 different companies to customers.

Global Markets is very real and also very unnecessary for 80% of accounts. I was in process of being transferred to GM but it got cancelled due to funding pressures at the beginning of the year. Many of these people’s entire jobs revolve around Think and getting people to attend Think - it was to be expected to see some redundancies. It is a shame it has to hit now though. IBM ought to be ashamed of themselves for being so cruel to do this now, even for paper pushers who should have seen this coming.

to the person who wrote - no such thing as Global Markets -
From IBM Bpages -
Martin Schroeter
Senior Vice President Global Markets
IBM CHQ, Executive Offices

Martin Schroeter is Senior Vice President, IBM Global Markets, responsible for IBM’s revenue, profit, business development and client satisfaction worldwide as well as IBM’s Global Financing business, the world’s largest captive IT financier. Additionally, Martin is accountable for IBM’s marketing and communications functions which are responsible for building the company’s brand and reputation globally.

IBM sold off their cloud marketing. They're probably counting anyone who is transitioning or wasn't picked up by the new buyers.

Fake News. There is no such thing as Global Markets in IBM.

Global Markets man, the GM division. duh

Ummm. What is global markets?

This is heart breaking as it couldn't come at a worse time for the employees due to the impact of COVID-19 on hiring. Good luck to all impacted and there is a future after IBM. 🙏