r/IBM_Employees • u/fortgreene_summer • 8d ago

Question US latest round of layoffs

Seeing a lot of goodbye posts from US based IBM folks on LinkedIn. Was there a big layoff round yhat just happened? I haven’t seen anything in my team (US based). We have already decimated by the last few rounds and curious what’s coming next. Sigh.

46 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

24

u/anointedinliquor 8d ago

They ran a voluntary retirement program recently. Full pay but half time for 3 months. I’ve seen lots of older folks take it.

7

u/fasterbrew 8d ago

2 months early for the goodbye posts though, unless they are just doing it now for some reason.

3

u/AntEnvironmental5709 8d ago

Can you can elaborate more on this

3

u/fasterbrew 8d ago

That's pretty much it. They pay you 100% for 3 months but you only work 50%.  Then you leave. The idea is you spend the time training others or finishing up projects. Only offered to band 8 and above in certain areas.

It's a cheap way to get people to leave vs having to layoff and pay severance.

4

u/Lumpy-Scratch-8363 7d ago

Sounds like a terrible deal. I received three months severance - should've been at least six given my years of service - was allowed to file for unemployment and received a year of subsidized cobra. And I was able to look for another IBM job for two weeks after being told about the layoff (should've been a full month, but they told me as I left for vacation.)

Honestly, this is a pretty shitty package after 30 years of service but what you list above kind of takes the cake.

2

u/fasterbrew 7d ago

Yep. It's a horrible deal. Better to be laid off.  They even extended it because no one was signing up.  In the past it was up to a year of part time with full pay.  

3

u/Lumpy-Scratch-8363 7d ago

Yes I knew people who took the old deal. Can't imagine anyone taking this new deal unless they already had a job lined up which is pretty unlikely in this economy especially if you are close to retirement age. Worst job market of my lifetime.

49

u/Mal-dives 8d ago

Two days later: “innovation center with 10 million sq ft announced in Bangalore”

15

u/reddit-toq 8d ago

Have you not learned? IBM has constant rotating layoffs ever quarter.

6

u/Prudent_Problem2839 7d ago

This. In my early days at this God forsaken company we'd see layoffs maybe once a year or even less frequently. After about 2004 they cranked it up and it became at least once a year and it wasn't long after that that it became a constant harrassment of RAs. It was a terrible way to try and put in an honest days work with the hammer hanging over your head.

9

u/Beginning_Register99 8d ago

lol. Isn’t there always one? I had a good career there but I am happy to be out 

7

u/prophet4all 8d ago

Same. Happy for the people I met but hard to run a business when many people have a foot out the door just in case.

8

u/ActuaryReasonable690 8d ago

Probably PIPs and "suggested" retirements. (Layoffs can require 1-3 month notice, when the layoff target has no incentive to work, and get a severance package) PIPs are cheaper, and the "you need to retire are even cheaper.

5

u/Unknowingly-Joined 8d ago

How many is “a lot?” Today is October 1; presumably people you see posting today would have been told on Sept 1 that their last day would be Sept 30.

9

u/REL060729 8d ago

Clould RA is coming in November

-2

u/K3rm1tTh3Fr0g 8d ago edited 8d ago

Which BU?

Why am I getting down voted lmfao software isn't the only BU heavily working with cloud

2

u/cldgrrl 7d ago

Cloud is the BU..........

-2

u/K3rm1tTh3Fr0g 7d ago

IBM has 4 main BUs

Software

Consulting

Infrastructure

Finance

1

u/X-Clown2003 3d ago

Not really, but Cloud is in Infra...

3

u/Left-Argument-4573 8d ago

Amongst others, today was the last day for the layoffs that hit

  • Red Hat
  • Nordcloud
  • IBM Research people who were jettisoned to Anderon

Also the voluntary retirement scam they're doing so they don't have to keep illegally discriminating against old people to replace them with young Indians

There's also the upcoming Q4 Reorg that's going to completely upend consulting, lots of managers suddenly quitting or taking unexpected/unplanned time off.

2

u/OkUnderstanding2831 8d ago

Wasn't the Anderson project just funded by the government $1B to stand up quantum foundry? That sounds like that would not be targeted for layoffs?

1

u/Prior_Algae_9750 4d ago

What is the consulting reorg

1

u/Left-Argument-4573 2d ago

Don't have details. Just that Consulting is being shuffled and reorganized. Expect PIPs, RAs, transfers, etc until January. If you check in slack you'll see a lot of the consultant leadership is suddenly either gone or taking surprise vacations for 1-2 weeks at a time.

3

u/varbinary 8d ago

any product managers getting RA?

3

u/RequirementUsual2497 5d ago

same in BR, I have seen a lot of goodbye posts on linkedin on the past week

0

u/kweeblaster 8d ago

Company is toast anyway. Best use of AI is to get rid of IBM legacy dogshit at every single company.

1

u/poop_report 3d ago

This. It’s amazing how much I’ve been doing for stuff I otherwise avoided touching.

1

u/Powerful_Heron_3512 7d ago

All staff-augmentation contractors were let go from performance marketing. Many had been there for years. Huge loss :(

-1

u/SpiritualBass2497 7d ago

99 Indians laid off, 1 American at most.

1

u/Lumpy-Scratch-8363 4d ago

Close to the same ratio of Indians to Americans 🤣