IBM Planning Reassignment of Employees, 10,000 Jobs to be Lost

A month after news came of the extreme tactics being used by Verizon to force its employees to resign, reports are emerging which suggest IBM might soon go down a similar route.

IBM is planning to reassign a third of their staff at a global level. This is going to result in more than 10,000 jobs being lost. Of these, 1,700 lay-offs will happen in US and 8,400 will happen off-shore. About one-third of IBM is employed in India, estimated to be around 1,22,000 people. Significant job losses could be seen in India when these cuts happen.

Forum of IT Professionals (ForIT) have published a press release condemning all attempts of retrenchments by terminating employees in an unlawful manner. They have called for all IBM employees to not bow down to any pressure tactics that might be used by IBM’s management. They have also demanded that the government engage in proactive action to ensure that the law is properly followed. 

Previously, Verizon used all sorts of unimaginable ways to get rid of its employees. HR managers were accompanied by henchmen and hooligans and even doctors to force employees to put in resignations. 

Most of the reassignments in IBM are expected to occur in the GTS (Global Technology and Services) division.

An IBM PR representative was quoted responding to these reports saying, “As IBM has said in the past, we are focused on redeploying and reskilling our workforce globally, and IBM is substantially increasing its investment in professional development and technical training to focus on our strategic initiatives.”