Work and Human Resources at IBM

The main articles are:

• IBM
• IBM Russia
• IBM financials
• Acquisitions and divestment of IBM assets

2024: The start of the next mass layoffs

On March 12, 2024, IBM Corporation announced a reduction in the number of personnel in its marketing and communications divisions. This is necessary to optimize the structure in a changing market environment.

The next mass layoffs were announced by IBM Communications Director Jonathan Adashek. How many employees are planned to be reduced is not specified as of the specified date. This measure is part of a large-scale program aimed at improving the efficiency of activities and integrating artificial intelligence into business processes. In August 2023, IBM announced its intention to replace approximately 8,000 jobs with AI-based systems. This will make it possible to significantly reduce costs and speed up the execution of routine tasks. At the same time, in December 2023, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told CNBC that the company is improving the qualifications of all its employees in the field of AI.

IBM announces headcount reduction

IBM considers AI as one of the key areas of business development. In May 2023, the corporation introduced WatsonX, a platform for developing, training, configuring and implementing AI models. In addition, IBM announced the formation of the Enterprise AI Venture Fund, which invests in startups that develop AI solutions for corporate users.

At the same time, IBM faces serious competition from corporations such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon in the AI market. It is noted that IBM has repeatedly been criticized for its sluggishness in terms of introducing and monetizing AI tools. Now the company is taking active measures to correct the situation and strengthen the situation in the relevant segment of the IT market.^[1]

2023

Dismissal of 8 thousand employees and replacement of them with artificial intelligence

In early May 2023, it became known that IBM was getting rid of about 8 thousand employees, replacing them with automated systems based on artificial intelligence.

The upcoming changes were announced by IBM Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna. According to him, the company in the coming years intends to suspend the recruitment of employees in positions that can be replaced by AI tools. We are talking, in particular, about employees of back offices, for example, human resources departments. The main task of such departments is to work with documents, which can be partially automated. According to Krishna, employees of back offices within IBM who do not directly interact with clients account for approximately 26 thousand positions. It is specified that approximately 7,800 jobs at IBM can be replaced by artificial intelligence and automation.

I do not exclude the possibility that 30% of them will be replaced by artificial intelligence and automation over a five-year period, - said the head of IBM.

This means that approximately 7,800 current specialists of the corporation may be left without work. Some of the positions will be closed as a result of employees retiring naturally or resignations of their own accord.

Krishna's plan marks one of the largest personnel strategies implemented in light of the rapid development of AI technologies. According to the head of IBM, the most routine tasks, such as sending standard letters or notifications to employees, are likely to be fully automated: generative AI will help to solve them. Subsequently, artificial intelligence will be entrusted with certain tasks of human resources departments. At the same time, it is expected that by the end of 2024, new measures to improve the productivity and efficiency of personnel will save $2 billion a year. Ошибка цитирования Отсутствует закрывающий тег </ref>

IBM moved Unix OS development to India

In mid-January 2023, it became known that IBM had decided to move software development for some projects completely to India. This is done, in particular, in order to change the structure of its own working composition. Read more here.

2022

The company is forcing employees who do not want to move to another office to quit

The move requirement has become a common tactic at IBM to avoid staff cuts. As it turned out at the end of August 2022, the company actually forces employees to quit in order to avoid relocation to another office.

What is happening at IBM was reported by The Register, which talked with a person directly familiar with the described situation.

In January 2022, IBM announced the sale of its Watson Health division to investment firm Francisco Partners. At the same time, the employees remaining after the transaction were assured that they would not be fired, but redistributed within IBM.

IBM even came up with a special term for the procedure - the Redistribution Initiative (RI). Apparently, so that there is no confusion with the previously introduced concept of Resource Actions (RA) - a euphemism, by which IBM meant abbreviations.

According to the interlocutor of the publication, in the period from March 10 to May 30, the company, using the term RI, convinced employees that they were not being fired, but were going to be transferred to another division of IBM.

However, in reality, only a few of those who did not move to Merative (as Watson Health is now called) did remain at IBM. Almost all personnel who fell under the RI program were offered relocation by the company, and in some cases it was about an international move. In fact, IBM failed to fire employees who could not leave the place and change their house. The Register insider is convinced that the initiative announced by IBM was a ruse, and that no personnel redistribution was actually planned.

It is noteworthy that similar tactics are also mentioned in a recent lawsuit against IBM over age discrimination. The corporation was accused of using the relocation requirement to squeeze out employees over the age of 40.

Understanding the situation with Watson Health staff, The Register journalists found that at least 50 of the unit's approximately 2,000 employees lost their jobs in connection with its sale. The average age of IBM staff affected by the deal is 48, and more than 80% of them are over 40.^[2]

IBM employee killed himself after being fired

On August 15, 2022, IBM settled an age discrimination case brought by the widow of a sales executive who killed himself after being fired from an IT company. Read more here.

IBM management calls age workers dinosaurs who should "die out"

On February 13, 2022, it was revealed that internal emails show IBM executives calling older IBM "dinosaurs" and discussing plans to turn them into an "extinct species," according to a lawsuit filed alleging continued age discrimination against the company.

The documents were presented to the court as evidence of IBM's efforts to "push older employees out of their workforce" and replace them with millennial workers, the plaintiff claims. It's the latest development in a legal fight that first began in 2018, when former employees sued IBM after the company laid off tens of thousands of workers over the age of 40.

One senior executive, whose name was removed from the legal action, said IBM had "outdated maternal staff."

That's what needs to change, "the email said. - They really don't understand what social activity or engagement is. These are not digital natives. This is a real threat to us.

The message exchange is "extremely incriminating" and "reflects the age hostility of the highest ranks of IBM," claimant Shannon Liss-Riordan wrote.

Liss-Riordan is a prominent labor lawyer who has represented workers in cases against Google, Amazon and Liss-Riordan.

IBM spokesman Chris Mumma told Insider that the company has "never resorted to systematic age discrimination" and "IBM is laying off employees because of changing business conditions, not because of their age." In 2020, the average age of IBM employees in the United States was 48, which corresponds to the level of a decade ago, he added.

Some of the language in the reported emails between former IBM executives falls short of the respect IBM shows its employees, IBM said in a statement.[3]

2021

IBM obliges all employees to get vaccinated

In early October 2021, IBM informed American employees that they must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8, 2021, otherwise they face unpaid suspension from work. The company noted that it must comply with President Joe Biden's requirement to vaccinate government contractors.

Unlike some companies, such as United Airlines, IBM's vaccination policy is not limited to laying off unvaccinated employees. But those who refuse vaccination will not be paid a salary after December 8, 2021, until they are vaccinated.

As a federal contractor, IBM is obliged to comply with this state mandate. In light of this requirement, the policies of many of our customers and partners, and the availability of the vaccine across the country, we will now require all American IBM employees to be fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021, to work for our company and beyond, "the memo sent to employees said.

Employees excluded from the payroll for not being vaccinated will still be eligible for IBM 401 (k) program, IBM spokesman Amanda Karl said. As of October 8, 2021, this program at IBM covers at least 6% of an employee's salary, for example, if an employee earns $150 thousand a year and contributes 6% of his salary to his IBM 401 (k), he contributes $9 thousand, and IBM also contributes $9 thousand.

Another IBM spokesperson, in a statement, said the company is willing to consider religious and medical exemptions for employees who cannot get vaccinated. The company previously said it would only allow fully vaccinated U.S. employees to return to offices, however the new policy requires all employees in the country, including those working from home, to be vaccinated.^[4]

Dissolution of IBM blockchain unit team due to failed tasks

In early February 2021, it became known that IBM almost completely dissolved the blockchain technology team, as most of the tasks were failed. CoinDesk sources familiar with the situation at IBM claim that the company will no longer have a blockchain team. Read more here.

2020

Cutting 10,000 jobs in Europe

At the end of November 2020, it became known that IBM plans to cut about 10 thousand jobs in Europe. The company does this in order to reduce costs in its slow-moving service division and prepare the business for a large-scale restructuring.

Bloomberg The agency, citing sources familiar with the situation at IBM, reports that large-scale cuts will affect about 20% of staff in the European region. The most affected Great Britain and, Germany as well as planned layoffs of employees in,, and To Poland. Slovakia Italy Belgium

Our personnel decisions are made to provide the best support for our customers in mastering an open hybrid cloud platform and artificial intelligence capabilities, IBM noted. - We also continue to invest a significant portion of our resources in training and skills development for IBM employees to best meet the needs of our customers.

IBM's IT infrastructure operations, such as client data center management and traditional IT hardware installation, operation, and repair support, will be the hardest hit.

In October 2020, IBM said it planned to form IBM's new NewCo framework to develop hybrid cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which the company hopes will bring revenue growth back to it.

We are taking structural measures to simplify and optimize our business, "explained IBM Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh.

IBM was already cutting jobs in early 2020, though the exact number of employees laid off is unknown. The company traditionally refuses to disclose accurate data on job cuts for decades, with perhaps one exception in 1993, when CEO Lou Gerstner officially announced 60,000 layoffs, Bloomberg notes.^[5]

IBM Brings Eruption to Transgender Woman for Firing

In mid-November 2020, it became known that IBM apologized to transgender woman Lynn Conway, who was fired 52 years ago because of her gender identity. Read more here.^[6]

IBM laying off 2,300 IBM

At the end of October 2020, it became known about the reduction of 2,300 jobs IBM during the fourth quarter. We are talking about the dismissal of company employees Germany as part of the restructuring of the American IT giant

IBM expects to conduct a personnel purge through a voluntary dismissal program, but if necessary, the corporation will resort to coercive measures at the end of 2020, the Handelsblatt newspaper reports, citing a statement from the German trade union Ver.di. The latter asks IBM to help employees with professional development to update their skills and promote rapid employment after dismissal.

IBM told Handelsblatt that measures are being taken by affected personnel to provide customers with the best support in using an open hybrid cloud platform and artificial intelligence capabilities. The company added that IBM intends to invest heavily in the training and development of its employees.

According to Handelsblatt, IBM intends to allocate an infrastructure management service business with its 90,000 employees, 4,600 customers and $19 billion in sales. The division is under pressure due to the trend towards cloud computing. The newspaper reported that under restructuring, IBM will focus on cloud computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computers, and the previously acquired Red Hat company plays a special role in its future.

IBM plans to complete the separation of the business into a separate company by the end of 2021. By this time, shareholders will IBM be given a tax-free share. At the same time, new layoffs in the company are not excluded.^[7]

Why IBM almost never reveals the size of layoffs, sowing panic among employees

In early June 2020, Bloomberg released material in which it draws attention to the fact that IBM almost always does not disclose the scale of the latest job cuts. As a result, panic has risen among employees, and speculation about the dismissal of several thousand employees has appeared on the market.

IBM Corporation has been refusing to provide information on these indicators for many decades, with one exception when the CEO announced the dismissal of 60,000 employees in 1993. When Arvind Krishna took over as chief in April 2020, IBM employees hoped the new CEO would take advantage of the company's reorganization and make its personnel policy more transparent.

However, IBM spokesman Ed said the company would not disclose the total number of layoffs for competitive reasons.

"IBM's performance in a highly competitive market requires flexibility and all of our staffing decisions are made in the long-term interests of our business. Given the unique situation, IBM offers subsidized health insurance to all affected US employees until June 2021, he said.

Many disagree with this tactic. "It's a mistake to think that you can fire thousands of people and refuse to answer questions," said Ronn Torossian, CEO of communications company 5WPR. "Questions are asked not only by the media, but also by investors, remaining employees and customers."

Employee layoffs are a sensitive topic, especially for IBM. The company employs about 350,000 people around the world, but in the US, the number of employees is falling inexorably, while in countries Asia and Eastern, Europe where the labor force is cheaper, these figures are growing. The company has been repeatedly criticized, but prefers to continue to hide information about the cuts, fearing even more outrage.^[8]

In the absence of official information about the scale of the layoffs, alarming rumors spread among IBM employees. On online forums and in closed groups, former and current employees of the company began to share what they managed to find out. So, in one of the discussions, people wrote that allegedly in North Carolina, someone from the management informed the staff about the reduction of 20 thousand people. Others argued that the current personnel purge is the largest in a decade.

First job cuts after CEO change

On May 21, 2020, it became known about IBM's decision to cut jobs due to the economic crisis and the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the first layoffs after the change of the general director of the corporation.

The company commented that IBM does business in a highly competitive environment, and the downsizing will be done to preserve the ability to maneuver in that environment.

This decision was made in the long-term interests of our company, - is contained in its statement.

The company did not disclose the extent of the cuts. A source familiar with the company's plans told the Wall Street Journal they are expected to affect several thousand people. IBM had approximately 352,600 employees as of December 2019.

The layoffs will affect several divisions of the corporation, including Global Technology Services, which offers IT outsourcing, as well as a group developing artificial intelligence for the Watson supercomputer.

The corporation added that all employees dismissed in the United States will receive compensation, which will be paid until June 2021.

The downsizing is the first major measure by new chief executive Arvind Krishna, who took office in January 2020. However, IBM's problems are not limited to the coronavirus - the company's shares have not shown growth for about 10 years, and revenue has been declining for several years in a row.

According to observers, IBM - mainly specializing in the production of servers and software for enterprises - cannot quickly respond to the reorientation of the market towards cloud services, which are offered by current market favorites such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

IBM is in a difficult position, since what it has focused on in the past does not bring enough today, "commented Holger Mueller, an analyst at Constellation Research.[9]

2019

Dismissal of up to 100 thousand people in several years

At the end of July 2019, it became known that over the previous few years, IBM laid off from 50 thousand to 100 thousand employees. The company updated staff to be attractive to young professionals. Alan Wild, former vice president of personnel at IBM, said this at a court hearing on a class action lawsuit on age discrimination within the American tech giant.

According to Wild, IBM had problems attracting professionals, so the company decided to show the younger generation that it was "an unstoppable and unsteady organization," and a "cool trend" company like Amazon and Google. To do this, IBM began to lay off age employees.

IBM confirmed the large-scale departure of employees within several years, but stressed that the company is actively recruiting other specialists.

Over the past five years, we have reinvented IBM to offer our customers more valuable opportunities. The company hires 50,000 workers every year, Bloomberg quoted IBM as saying.

According to the news agency, for almost seven years IBM tried to stop the drop in revenue, so the company laid off thousands of people in the United States, Canada and other countries with high salaries in order to reduce costs and retrain staff for cloud and mobile technologies, which the corporation mastered belatedly.

By the end of 2018, IBM 's headcount had reached its lowest level in six years, with 350,600 employees at the time, down 19% from 2013.^[10]

Amid the high turnover of personnel, IBM began to receive numerous lawsuits from former employees accusing the company of age discrimination. So, a class action was filed from elderly employees in Manhattan, as well as a number of personal civil lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Texas.

Dismissal of 1,700 people

On June 6, 2019, it became known about mass layoffs at IBM. About 1,700 employees fell under the reduction.

As CNBC reports with reference to its informants, IBM will liquidate about 0.5% of the state. The number of employees of the corporation by the end of March 2019 totaled 340 thousand people.

IBM itself reported that the cuts affected a "small percentage" of jobs. The company did not name the exact figure.

According to CNBC, the reduction in staff is caused by business optimization amid the acquisition of Red Hat for $34 billion and IBM's focus on new sources of growth.

We continue to move people on our team so that we can target the most important segments of the IT market. At the same time, we continue to actively hire new employees in critical areas that benefit our customers and IBM, a company spokesman told the channel.

Indeed, IBM is not only laying off, but also recruiting staff. For example, by June 6, 2019, IBM's website listed more than 7,700 open jobs.

IBM's workforce will increase substantially after the acquisition of Red Hat closed, which had 13,360 employees by early June 2019.

In April 2019, the IBM announced the closure of its enterprise in Singapore, in connection with which about 600 people were laid off. 

A plant called Singapore Technology Park, which IBM opened in 2010, was then considered one of the world's most technologically advanced production facilities. Mainframe IBM Z was produced there, and after closing, their production was transferred to a factory in New York.

Singaporean workers, who have now fallen under the reduction, were notified of this in early March 2019. They will be paid compensation in the amount of one month's salary.^[11]

2018

IBM stopped requiring higher education in hiring

In August 2018, the major recruiting agency Glassdoor presented the results of a study in which it named large companies that stopped requiring higher education when hiring. Among such corporations are Apple, IBM and Google. Read more here.

Discrimination against age-related employees

In March 2018, it became known about age discrimination in IBM, despite the law in force for more than 50 years in the United States protecting such employees.

According to The Verge, ProPublica  and Mother Jones published the results of an investigation that showed that over the previous five years, IBM fired about 20 thousand American workers aged 40 and over. About 60% of IBM's reduced staff over five years was for those who were 40 years old or more. Moreover, the real figure of reductions is "almost certainly higher," journalists say.

According to them, among the staff who fell under age discrimination there were many IBM veterans who worked at the corporation for several decades. "Less experienced and low-paid" successors were taken to the places of middle-aged specialists. Or the duties of the dismissed people were transferred to employees of foreign divisions.

The report compiled as a result of the investigation contains questionnaires filled out by more than 1,100 former IBM employees who shared their experience in the company, gave interviews, shared official documents, etc.

The decline in headcount over the age of 40 coincided with the transformation of IBM's business, with the company focusing on cloud services and data analytics technologies. As part of the transformation, the IT giant wanted to achieve a more "suitable composition of age workers" and "increase the percentage of young professionals," according to the presentation, which IBM executives revealed to reporters, including the vice president of human resources departments.

IBM was reportedly pushing employees to lay off of their own accord so as not to worsen public statistics on the cuts. Deceptive moves were also taken: employees, whose departure from the company was determined, received offers to write applications for transfer to other divisions, and the leaders of the latter received recommendations not to take them to themselves.

Even if someone managed to move to new departments, it became much harder to work there, they were paid less and reduced all kinds of benefits. Employees were forced to sign a document in which they agree that severance pay can only be obtained through arbitration, admitting that IBM mistakenly violated age discrimination laws.

IBM did not give older employees legally required information that would help them understand that they were victims of age discrimination. In addition, they were recommended to sign a waiver of the right to trial in the future, the report says.

Ex- IBM workers said that suddenly the leaders began to conduct a much tougher audit of the assessment of labor efficiency. Some employees were left with no choice but to sign an early retirement agreement with compensation - otherwise they could be fired one day. Many who left IBM then found it difficult to find a new place of work.

It's hard when you've worked in one place your whole life. Once you reach a certain age, your job applications remain unanswered, "said former IBM senior manager Brian Paulson, who was unexpectedly fired after 18 years with the company.

Since 1967, the United States has had a law protecting workers over the age of 40 from age discrimination in "hiring, promotion, dismissal, compensation, or employment rules and conditions." However, this does not prevent corporations from implementing "vicious" practices, especially in the last 20 years, according to ProPublica  and Mother Jones.^[12]

Downsizing in IT Services

In January 2018, it became known about a significant reduction in personnel in the division of global IT services IBM. At the same time, employees will not be fired, but moved to other structures of the company. Read more here.

2017

Increased adoption payments by same-sex partners

On October 25, 2017, IBM announced an increase in corporate costs for employees on maternity leave. One of the points of the new program was a fourfold increase in the amount of compensation for same-sex parents.

The length of paid parental leave for mothers working for the company has been raised from 14 to 20 weeks, according to an IBM blog post. The calculation was made based on the fact that after the birth act, the woman loses her normal ability to work for about eight weeks.

From 6 to 12 weeks, IBM increased the paid parental decree for fathers, same-sex civil partners and foster parents.

In addition, the corporation promises to reimburse surrogacy or adoption costs in the amount of up to $20 thousand, including for homosexual partners. Previously, this amount was $5 thousand.

The revision of family policy at IBM was explained by several reasons. Firstly,  according to Pew Research Center estimates, the number of American households where both parents are employed has grown from 31% in 1970 to 46% in 2015, and secondly, according to the Center for American Progress, in 2015, 65% of mothers in the United States were the only, main or second breadwinner in the family. In addition, fathers play an increasing role in raising children and more and more often children are brought by same-sex couples.

IBM employees who became parents after November 2016 will be able to take advantage of the innovations.

Those IBM employees whose children need special support and care will be able to count on cash payments from the employer in the amount of up to $50 thousand. Reimbursement covers any services required for children with mental and physical disabilities in development.

In addition, IBM retained a milk delivery program for children whose breastfeeding mothers were forced to go on a business trip.

As the situation with working parents changes, it becomes clear that there is no single approach to solving the problems faced by parents who combine family and work outside the home every day, "said Barbara Brickmeier, IBM vice president for benefits.

As edition TechCrunch, IBM notes, this is a non-single IT company that provides financial support for parental leave. So, Facebook offers four months of paid vacation for all new parents (no matter how they become them), Netflix - 12 months.

American laws do not imply maternity leave with maintenance. Workers can only leave for 12 weeks at their own expense, and if these are women with full employment in medium and large companies. However, some firms, particularly in the high-tech sector, are increasingly using paid decrees as a way to attract and retain staff. Thanks to their efforts, 12% of Americans have access to paid maternity leave, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (as of 2017).

In the non-profit organization PL + US, which advocates the introduction of child care benefits, one in four women in the United States returns to work 10 days after the birth of a child, and only 6% of the population with a small  income have access to paid decrees.

Large American companies often pay maternity leave only for employees in higher-paid positions: the likelihood of receiving paid parental leave is twice as high for people earning $75,000 a year, according to PL +^[13]

The company's staff in India has become larger than in the United States

At the end of September 2017, it is known that the staff of IBM Corporation consists of about a third of the inhabitants of India. According to CNBC, in the homeland of chess and yoga, the American IT giant has about 130 thousand employees - more than in any other country.^[14]

For IBM, which has already suffered for 21 consecutive quarters due to lower revenue, attracting employees from India is a key component of the company's strategy to reduce costs. However, Blue Giant is by no means the only American company using foreign countries as a "forge of personnel." The staff of other technology corporations from, USA among other Oracle Dell things, is also dominated by employees living outside their country. It is the preference for one certain that looks unusual: in states India, IBM employs more people than even in its homeland, in the United States.

According to the publication, since 2007, the staff of the Indian division of IBM has almost doubled. At the same time, the number of employees in the United States during the same period decreased as a result of reductions and sales of assets. IBM itself does not disclose information about the exact number of employees, but according to third-party observers, the corporation's American business today employs significantly less than 100 thousand people, although in 2007 about 130 thousand US residents worked there. Data from the American recruiting portal Glassdoor indicate that, depending on the position held, salaries for Indian employees make up from half to a fifth of the salaries paid to Americans.

University of Massachusetts in Lowell economics professor William Lazonick, who studies business globalization, notes that IBM and other tech giants have benefited significantly thanks to the cheap, but at the same time technically qualified and English-speaking workforce from India.

Not in IBM it was invented, but IBM would be a completely different company if it were not for India, - said the specialist.

According to the head of IBM India, Vanitha Narayanan, who worked for IBM in the USA and China for 12 years before moving to the country in 2009, its division is literally IBM Corporation in miniature.

In an interview with the agency, Narayanan also noted that the choice for India did not fall at all by chance. The decision on where to concentrate their labor resources was made on the basis of in which country there are sufficient qualified personnel, as well as taking into account the budgets of clients, the top manager explained.

IBM, which opened its first Indian offices in Mumbai and Delhi in 1951, today spread across the country and has offices in Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Most of IBM's staff in India is employed in the corporation's core business of providing computer and IT services to large companies such as AT&T, Airbus and Shell. IBM's Indian employees provide consulting services, develop software and monitor the cloud services of many banks, telephone companies and government organizations around the world. They are also engaged in advanced research in the field of visual search technologies, artificial intelligence and machine vision. One of the Indian groups even developed a cognitive mobile application for developing children's speech for the creators of the Sesame Street children's television show.

Reduced number of trips

In June 2017, it became known that IBM management requires employees to agree on absolutely all business trips. The company saves, but this does not prevent top managers from using helicopters in work visits.

The Register received at its disposal a copy of a letter distributed to IBM representative offices in England and Ireland. The report says that all people working in the IT Services division of Global Technology Services must approve any business trips (regardless of the amount of expenses required and the reason for a business trip) with the head of the Tosca Colangeli office.

Previously, IBM reduced the number of employee meetings with customers on their property, limiting the cost of each such trip to £75 (almost $100).

Financial departments are instructed to refuse those who have already received approval to allocate funds for business trips, regardless of the value of the business project. To receive a positive response, the project manager must write a statement by e-mail to Tosca personally, the letter to IBM employees says.

Insider sources The Register confirmed the refusal on the already approved applications.

Apparently, we will have to return from trips that cost money. Now it has become almost impossible to get approval, unless you fight for it, "said an interlocutor working at IBM.

In a separate message to staff, IBM said employees who went to visit customers will be insured with IBM Life Assurance.

IBM is cutting costs amid falling sales for 20 quarters in a row. However, it seems that the savings do not apply to the senior management of the company. In May 2017, IBM President and CEO Ginni Rometty flew to the British Research Laboratory in Hursley by helicopter (see video above).^[15]

Eliminating remote work in favor of office work

In March 2017, it became known about the change of course of IBM in the field of labor organization. If earlier the company willingly offered employees remote work, then preferences changed in favor of offices.

According to Quartz, about 2,600 employees of IBM's marketing department in the United States, as well as part of employees working in IT, procurement and projects based on Watson, are informed about the need to work in offices in one of six American cities: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, San Francisco, New York or Raleigh.

The remote staff received appropriate notifications back in early February 2017. If these employees refuse to move to the designated city, they will have to leave IBM.

An IBM spokesman told Business Insider that the company decided to send many teams of marketers to offices at once, since these are the requirements of the modern market. At the same time, other departments are transferred to the office mode of operation gradually.

Marketing is no longer a cascading workflow where work is transferred from one person to another. This is a cyclical process in which the consequences of changes in campaigns can be understood in live communication, and the response to them will occur in real time, IBM said.

According to IBM Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Peluso, for some IBM employees, the transition from unattached to office work will be difficult. One IBM worker admitted to Quartz that morale at the company was in decline after announcing the need to visit the office.

IBM is increasing the staff of office workers after many years of development of remote work. In the period from 1995 to 2009, the company reduced the area of ​ ​ office space by 7.2 million square meters, which allowed the IT giant to save more than $100 million. By 2017, about one in four working Americans are taking advantage of remote labor opportunities to varying degrees.^[16]

Cuts to thousands of jobs

On January 23, 2017, it became known about mass layoffs at IBM. At the same time, earlier the management of the corporation spoke about plans to increase staff in the United States and spend $1 billion on its training.

As former and current IBM employees told Bloomberg, at the end of November, the company completed at least the third round of job cuts in 2016, as a result of which thousands of people lost their jobs. Most of the layoffs affected the company's divisions in Asia and Eastern Europe.

In January 2017, IBM began notifying some U.S. workers to leave the company after some time. In particular, employees of the corporation's service business received such notifications, one of the IBM employees told the publication.

In December 2016, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said that in four years the company's staff in the United States will increase by 25 thousand people. IBM spokesman Doug Shelton confirmed this plan to Bloomberg, but did not comment on the layoffs in 2016. They only noted that the turnover of personnel in the company has always been less than the average value in the IT market.

Ginny Rometty fires thousands of IT employees and behaves like some kind of hero who tries to hire 25 thousand people. For me, this is hypocrisy, "said Sarah Blackwel, a lawyer for Protect U.S. Workers, an American worker advocacy organization that represents 100 ex- IBM employees who accused the former employer of discrimination and other violations.

After Rometty announced IBM's plans to increase its staff in the United States, a huge number of messages from disgruntled company employees appeared on forums and social networks. Some complained that the new wave of hiring did not compensate for the long-term outflow of jobs abroad, while others predicted massive layoffs at IBM with the active hiring of new people.^[17]

2016

Promise to President Trump to increase staff by 25 thousand people in three years

On December 13, 2016, IBM announced a staff increase of 25,000 jobs. The statement was made before a meeting between CEO Ginni Rometty and CEOs of other American IT companies with President-elect Donald Trump.

In a conversation with USA Today, Rometty said that by the end of 2017, IBM will hire 6,000 new workers, and in another three years the company's staff will increase by 25,000 people compared to the end of 2016. It is assumed that most of the hired employees will work in the United States.

In addition, IBM plans to invest $1 billion in the process of training and improving its employees. That money will be spent over a period that runs through 2020.

By the end of 2015, IBM employed 377,757 people. In 2014, the number of employees of the company decreased by 12%, and a year earlier, IBM's staff decreased for the first time in the history of the corporation.

According to Ginny Rometty, the main problems in the personnel market are related to the working positions created as a result of the development of new technologies. We are talking, for example, about specialists in cloud computing and the provision of IT services. Such positions are difficult to deal with, since they require certain highly specialized knowledge and skills. According to the head of IBM, by the end of 2016, more than 500 thousand vacancies related to IT and related industries remain uncovered in the United States.

To correct the situation, IBM practices non-standard approaches in training. The company has developed a new educational model for a six-year high school, combining traditional subjects with knowledge and skills that can be obtained at colleges, at work and in classes with tutors. Such a school was opened in New York in 2011.^[18]

Using Watson to treat cancer in IBM employees

In October 2016 IBM , it announced that the company's employees would take part in the treatment program cancer using a proprietary computer system. Watson This is already artificial intelligence used by various medical centers around the world to fight cancer, but it has never been used for such purposes for IBM personnel. More. here

2015

Fine of $250m for saving on employee pensions

At the end of July 2015, IBM warned US financial regulators that the company may have to pay a quarter of a billion dollars if an appeal against a court decision regarding the corporation's savings on the pensions of its employees is not satisfied in the UK.

In 2009, the British subsidiary IBM recorded pensions for employees depending on salary and seniority. The accumulation of preferential payments was stopped, and increases in payments or additional experience ceased to affect the size of pension payments. In return, the percentage of salary contributions to the pension fund was increased.

Through these measures, IBM planned to reduce the pension fund budget deficit by £890 million (about $1.4 billion). However, dissatisfied with the reform, the company's employees filed many lawsuits (about 290 from 2010 to 2015) against their employer.

In April 2014, London judge Nicholas Warren issued a verdict according to which IBM reduced pension benefits for about 5,000 employees, misleading them with its statements and failing to fulfill pension obligations. The IT giant appealed, arguing that the pension reform was explained to employees as clearly and transparently as possible. At the same time, IBM prepared for a fine.

According to Bloomberg, citing documents that IBM sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of July 2015, if IBM rejects the appeal, it will have to return the previous pension deduction scheme. At the same time, the company will have to write off $250 million, as well as make additional fixed payments related to the accrual of pensions. The British Court of Appeal is not expected to rule until 2016.^[19]

Media: IBM may lay off another 112 thousand employees

In January 2015, the media wrote that almost one in four IBM employees could be fired. If the information is confirmed, the company will be swept by the biggest wave of staff cuts in its history.

Forbes, citing its own sources, announced IBM's intention to cut almost 112 thousand jobs, which approximately corresponds to 26% of the total staff of the American corporation.

IBM may lay off 112 thousand employees

Most of the reorganization program, which is secretly called Project Chrome, will affect IBM staff in the United States, but layoffs will occur in all regional offices of the company. At the time of writing, IBM's Russian office refrained from commenting on the layoffs, which became known to the press.

According to Forbes, IBM management will announce the liquidation of working positions in early February 2015, and by the end of the same month, reduced employees will have to leave their places.

Previously, the largest dismissal of IBM employees dated back to 1993, when about 60 thousand people left the company. In 2013, 6 to 12 thousand IBM employees were laid off worldwide, including 3.5 thousand employees in the United States.

A wave of massive cuts at IBM could be the logical result of the corporation's long financial downturn. In October-December 2014, the company's revenue fell by 12% on an annualized basis, amounting to $24.1 billion, and this quarterly decline turned out to be the 11th in a row. In 2014, sales of the Blue Giant dropped 6% to $92.8 billion.

According to IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty, the company is in the process of transforming the business and has already achieved significant results in this. IBM is betting on long-term investments and benchmarks, Rometty said.

IBM's main problem, due to which the corporation may have decided to resort to large-scale job cuts, lies in the emerging trend in which companies around the world are moving their storage infrastructures to the cloud, abandoning their own physical data centers. Related services and equipment generate two-thirds of IBM's revenue, so the decline in this business is reflected in the manufacturer's overall financial results. Under these conditions, the company is increasingly paying attention to the cloud direction, revenue from which in 2014 reached $7 billion (+ 60% by 2013).

2014: IBM staff down 12% for the year

In March 2015, it became known that the total number of IBM personnel decreased by 12% in 2014. This is due to a reorganization in which the company shifts business emphasis, getting rid of non-profitable areas.

By the end of 2014, IBM had a worldwide workforce of 379,592, down 51,600 from a year earlier. As of the end of 2013, the company employed 431,212 people.

Most of the employees (about 35 thousand) who left IBM in 2014 represented the divisions sold by the company, including those responsible for the production of servers on the x86 architecture and microelectronics - these structures went to Lenovo and GlobalFoundries for $2.1 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.

IBM staff shrank by 12% in 2014

According to Pund-IT analyst Charles King, IBM focuses only on profitable segments of the corporate IT market, while getting rid of low-income ones.

In particular, IBM is betting on the cloud market, where sales from the company increased by 60% in 2014 compared to 2013, amounting to $7 billion. In addition, the Blue Giant pays increased attention to mobile and analytical technologies, as well as solutions in the field of information security: there revenues jumped by 200%, 7% and 19%, respectively, in 2014.

It is worth noting that the decrease in staff, which occurred in 2014, turned out to be the second in a row. Until 2013, the company fired people, without compensating for this by new employees, only in 1993-1994, when the vendor was on the verge of bankruptcy.

In 2014, IBM not only cut jobs, but also hired new people. Company spokeswoman Clint Roswell said 2014 thousand people were hired 45 year, and by March 2015, 15 thousand more vacancies for cloud computing, analytics, cybersecurity, social networks and mobile solutions remain open around the world.^[20]

These markets, which the IBM focuses on, have great potential that has not yet been fully revealed, said Charles King.

2004: 329,000 employees in 170 countries

In 2004, IBM had 329,000 employees in 170 countries.

Notes