IBM's $1bn layoffs latest: Now axe swings in US, Canada - reports Scores of workers have been made redundant at IBM's Systems and Technology Group in the US, according to a union, soon after the tech titan warned of sweeping job cuts worldwide. Following a $400m shortfall in mainframe and software sales in the first quarter of 2013, employees were warned that a "workforce rebalancing" act (a …
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>>It is feared IBM will shed something along the lines of 6,000 to 8,000 workers, judging by the size of the $1bn payout pot <<
I wonder how much of the ring fenced pot will actually be allocated to pay bonuses to senior managers for successfully carrying out the difficult act of "workforce rebalancing"?
Here is a very rough chronological chart summarising IBM's progress in its attempt to emulate the ideal of modern, Western middle-aged man, namely stop having to do hard work and think too much and instead start telling other people what to do and shuffle papers until retirement:
19xx-1990: IBM - giant manufacturer and innovator (inventing and making things)
1990-2010: IBM - giant software and consultancy business (still doing some work / telling people what to do)
2010-2030: IBM - shuffling papers (aaaaaah, finally)
2050: IBM - Sale? (it can be seen as a form of retirement)
According to my source in big blue.. This chap 'Watson' is running the show now. Keeps harping on about 'eradicating the humans' or something. Apparently he's quite the pub quiz know-it-all and was last seen tinkering with some automated flying 'kill-bots'.. Must be a call of duty fan too from what I gather.
These computer types are all rather clever.
IBM has underperformed the market for large-scale disk storage. Their disk-enhancing software has been notably behind EMC and others for 8 years, particularly in the disk-voracious database segment.
Right now, the problem with working for IBM is that the workers really don't control the prioritization of service-deployment and the upper management has been screwing it up.
It really isn't "safe" for the elite workers to chose IBM anymore. What a shame...
Add offshoring to that. Here on an Oz Government account we're losing some IBMers who were given 4 weeks' notice that their jobs were to be offshored. You can offshore a dude, yeah, but you can't offshore his work due to government security requirements - therefore those who remain will have to carry that workload.
And if you think that those who remain onshore will simply work more on the government account and less on other ones, then you've clearly never worked for an outsourcer. They don't care if you live or die (so long as your death can't be blamed on them).
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