IBM is reportedly laying off as many as 9000 workers at various locations around the United States in the latest round of corporate restructuring.
According to a report by ‘The Register’, the employees that the company is letting go include a quarter of staff working on the corporation’s Cloud Classic operation.
While the report said that the company is keeping the exact number of layoffs private, an estimate suggests that almost 9000 jobs are at risk of the axe.
Affected teams are said to include those responsible for consulting, corporate social responsibility initiatives, cloud infrastructure offerings, sales, and folks who report to IBM’s CIO and work on internal systems.
According to the report, one of the reasons for the massive layoff in the IBM Cloud Classic, the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) outfit offering built on IBM’s 2013 acquisition of SoftLayer, is the organisation shifting employment to India ‘as much as possible.’
It is also being estimated that 10 percent of the Cloud group (which is not the same as Cloud Classic) has been let go.
IBM’s restructuring and back-to-office mandate
{{/usCountry}}IBM’s restructuring and back-to-office mandate
{{/usCountry}}IBM has not made a public statement regarding the layoffs but the company has publicly stated its intention to reduce its workforce in recent times. The tech giant's chief financial officer James Kavanaugh said in January that he expected the ‘workforce rebalancing’ to be consistent with the recent years.
Last year too, IBM and other tech giants had cut a big chunk of their workforce.
Those who have avoided getting the pink slip in the latest wave of layoffs face a new mandate from the company. According to ‘The Register’ report, the employees are expected to attend an IBM office at least three days per week by the end of April.
"Management is monitoring badge swipes and only allowing medical exemption, which is being frowned upon by executives and even discouraged by middle managers," a source quoted in the report said.