Someone should fix summary to say “employs over 300,000” has been well under 400,000 for some time and is might fall below 300,000 in the next couple years.
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IBM, 2018 10K Filing, December 2018
Employees and Related Workforce
For the year ended December 31: 2018
IBM/wholly owned subsidiaries 350,600
Less-than-wholly owned subsidiaries 9,400
Complementary 21,000
As a globally integrated enterprise, the company operates in
more than 175 countries and is continuing to shift its business
to the higher value segments of enterprise IT. The company
continues to remix its skills and people needs to match the best
opportunities in the marketplace.
Perhaps we should look to IBM’s past to figure our where they are heading
In 1992-1994 Timeframe IBM was forced to change leadership, and go to market strategy
1992 = 301k headcount
1993 = 256k
1994 = 220k
2018 = 356k
2019 = 302k (if we use the 15% cut 1993 example)
2020 = 259k (if we use the 14% cut 1994 example). NOTE 12k RH needs to be added for 271k
Europe, USA, and Australia have taken the major hits in the last 5 years. That’s where your older talent was located, and IBM found a way to cut head counts by 60%. IBM India was the major benefactor due to a lower wage rate, and much improved bandwidth. I would estimate Europe and the USA head count in the 55-65k head range each with IBM India in the 130k head count range. The official worldwide total for IBM Dec of 2018 was 356k. If the rumors of GTS and GBS services being rightsized are true, and factoring in the on boarding of 12k worth of RH employees, I would expect IBM to be looking at 275-300 k worldwide after all is said and done.
Should list the USA numbers separately. Thats where the numbers drop...
Everyone suffers but low cost headcount gains in Asia are masking the sharp drops in the USA