IBM is Quietly Axing Thousands of Jobs (theregister.com) 47
IBM has been laying off a substantial number of employees this week and is trying to keep it quiet, The Register reported Wednesday, citing its sources. From the report: One IBM employee told The Register that IBM Cloud experienced "a massive layoff" in the past few days that affected thousands of people. "Unlike traditional layoffs, this one was done in secret," the insider said. "My manager told me that they were required to sign an NDA not to talk about the specifics."
Multiple posts on layoff-focused message boards and corroborating accounts with other sources familiar with the IT giant's operations suggest the cuts are large. Asked to confirm the layoffs, an IBM spokesperson told The Register, "Early this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we still expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with."
Multiple posts on layoff-focused message boards and corroborating accounts with other sources familiar with the IT giant's operations suggest the cuts are large. Asked to confirm the layoffs, an IBM spokesperson told The Register, "Early this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we still expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with."
Interesting statement (Score:5, Interesting)
"We're reducing staff by a few percent but will have the same number of employees".
What?
Re:Interesting statement (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
This is normal for the large corporations. They regularly layoff and rehire in other areas as needs/skills are needed.
To lower chances of a layoff, see where the company is going and make yourself employable in that area. Companies are more inclined to keep an employee than spend months getting a hire.
Re: (Score:2)
Stability comes only in the form of my hobby - https://1xbet.ie/en [1xbet.ie] And I'm glad I have this hobby.
And I'm glad I block javascript.
Re:Interesting statement (Score:5, Insightful)
It is called offshoring. It seems that IBM wants to be another WITCH company like Tata, Accenture or WiPro. The AIX developers got shitcanned and that moved to India, pretty much most stuff that IBM does except for Red Hat, has been Bangalored. Red Hat is probably going to be up next on the "Americans dalit, fire them" list.
IBM has succumbed to the pressure of Wal Street. A WITCH company doesn't need to give a shit about anything R&D... just what gets them stuff in this quarter, which is perfect for thise investors. No worries about products or anything.
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I doubt they've moved IBM i or Z-series offshore.
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One interpretation is they hired heavily a year ago for AI and/or cloud R&D, but realize they missed those oligopoly trains, and so are now bailing.
Correction (Score:1)
Per: "hired heavily a year ago"
Should be: "earlier this year".
Otherwise, the math doesn't fit their "same level" statement.
Meet your new coworker, AI Joe! (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I means that for every US employee they're firing, they're replacing them with someone from a third-world country that costs 1/5th as much in salary costs.
I mean, come on... IBM has been doing this for the past 20 years. There is nothing new here.
Interesting idea (Score:3)
Re:Interesting idea (Score:5, Insightful)
So, you get laid off and sign a NDA not to discuss it. Presumably, if you refuse to sign, you do not get severance benefits. Does this mean that you cannot go to the unemployment office and request benefits or tell another employer that you used to work at IBM. I am not a lawyer, but this sounds very legally dubious.
I worked for a short time (a little under a year) at a large industrial multinational, when I left I had to sign a document that said that I may or may not have seen things that are covered under NDA, and that if I divulged anything about my pay, internal processes, or any of the things I knew that I might or might not know were under NDA that they would sue me. If I didn't sign they wouldn't pay me my last paycheck, wouldn't pay out my benefit accruals and a few other blatantly illegal things.
When I mentioned to the HR lady that these things were, indeed, blatantly illegal demands, she stated that I might win in court, but I would go broke before they did.
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They can't get blood from a stone.
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divulged anything about my pay? that is an labor l (Score:2)
divulged anything about my pay? that is an labor law violation as it's anti union!
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If I didn't sign they wouldn't pay me my last paycheck, wouldn't pay out my benefit accruals and a few other blatantly illegal things.
When I mentioned to the HR lady that these things were, indeed, blatantly illegal demands, she stated that I might win in court, but I would go broke before they did.
i guess you shrugged and then signed ... as "Jeremiah Johnson", right? right??
Re: (Score:2)
It is the job of government to punish wrong-doers, even the billionaires. Government turning a blind-eye to this thievery demonstrates that US corporatism is badly-disguised fascism. If your boss owns your pension, one is a serf with a pay-cheque.
Re: (Score:1)
Different states have different NDA laws, or at least different legal precedents. Red states tend to have "employer friendly" laws, meaning employees may have to STFU if they want severance pay.
Re:Interesting idea (Score:4, Interesting)
I got laid off from a mid-level position in a Fortune 500 company during the Great Financial Crisis (my whole team was cut).
I got a generous severance package (5 months) if I signed a document that said that I couldn't disparage the company or sue for wrongful termination.
Interesting, I was technically still employed by them while I was receiving my severance. So, I was getting my salary but couldn't get unemployment. If I got a new job it stopped.
When I finally found a new job (it was tough back then!) I had them put off the starting date to almost exactly 5 months of my layoff, so I didn't skip a beat (and I was technically never unemployed).
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So, you get laid off and sign a NDA not to discuss it. Presumably, if you refuse to sign, you do not get severance benefits.
I got laid off in February. Part of the conditions for receiving severance was signing an agreement to not sue the company (and probably not disparage them online, which is why I'm not naming names). The company is not obligated to provide any severance so it became a purely financial decision: how likely was I to sue for anything, what was the expected value of a suit, and how much was severance? I consulted with my brother-in-law labor lawyer and he advised the expected value of any suit was exactly $0 so
This is the real nature of work (Score:1)
Service jobs like.... well, any job requiring manual labor, not sitting at a desk all day would reduce their staff by 10%, 20%, regularly sometimes yearly. There is no such thing as job security in many cases and likely never existed.
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I KNEW I should've joined the union. (Score:3)
NDA (Score:2)
What happens when you refuse to sign the NDA? You don't get fired?
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I was confused by this too, but possibly it means the managers (who weren't being laid off) had to sign the NDAs.
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Just die already (Score:3, Insightful)
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Redhat was always a messy dog. IBM just messed it more. Not that Redhat didn't want to be messed by IBM.
Redhat? (Score:4, Interesting)
Last hurrah for Redhat? I suppose Redhat will feel the cleaver less than other parts, but will feel its gentle embrace none the less. Not going to lie: the Linux community outgrew Redhat long ago and now would be better off without it.
But (Score:2)
I thought layoffs were a good thing?
Throwing thousands of useless people with no skills out in the street is what investors like! Who do they think they are? Nobody owes you a living! Oh sure, you owe the bank a house for some reason but what were you expecting? Fairness?
Why keep it a secret? Tell the world what heroes you are! Have them fill those cardboard boxes and get the FUCK OUT! Go home and tell your family about the future divorce and bankruptcy and ruin. And get some marketable skills! Loser!
Knowing IBM, it's about skin color. (Score:1, Flamebait)
Cringely is Silent (Score:2)
I won't know what to think about a massive IBM layoff but it looks like Cringely is silent lately.
Watch this space.
https://www.cringely.com/ [cringely.com]
I still blame them for selling their laptops (Score:2)
Lost their mojo (Score:2)
Re: Lost their mojo (Score:2)
An NDA? (Score:3)
Why? To fly under the WARN act radar they'd have to dribble these layoffs over a period of months.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (the "WARN Act") is a U.S. labor law that protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of planned closings and mass layoffs of employees.
One exception at the federal level:
If 50 to 499 workers lose their jobs and that number is less than 33% of the employer's total, active workforce at a single employment site;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Adjustment_and_Retraining_Notification_Act_of_1988
In California, there is the California Warn Act which is even stricter:
In addition to the WARN Act, which is a federal law, several states have enacted similar acts that require advance notice or severance payments to employees facing job loss from a mass layoff or plant closing. For example, California requires advance notice for plant closings, layoffs, and relocations of 50 or more employees regardless of percentage of workforce, that is, without the federal "one-third" rule for mass layoffs of fewer than 500 employees.
So if IBM does any California Layoffs the cat will be out of the bag.
The Media does monitor WARN filings.
I suppose there is some delay from filing with the feds or the state before it shows up on the state, but is that really worth an NDA?
Also, what could they do to you if you refused to sign the NDA? The only thing I can think of that is legal is to take away your severance and any prepaid health insurance COBRA payments if you have any.
Re: (Score:1)
What big Corps would want to remain in California? "Business Friendly" it is not, even for a one-person business like my own where I sometimes have to travel to that State.
Even X (the clown show formerly known as Twitter) is moving out of San Francisco. Seriously.
The only big Corps that remain in California do so because they got to be there (with apologies to The Jackson 5) and probably aren't going anywhere else very soon.
if you are just an hourly commodity... (Score:1)
Mainframes (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Their POWER systems are still under active development.
Or is it Power, now? Anyway, Power 11 is coming down the line and the IBM i (AS400/OS400) worlds are still quite lively.
Beginning of the end for mainframes (Score:1)
No Funny here? (Score:2)
Also looking for actual insight about the balance of transient employees to long-term.
Meh. Slashdot.
But ... (Score:2)