IBM Layoffs Reportedly Impacting Thousands of Workers

IBM layoffs are reportedly hitting thousands of workers as part of a rebalancing effort announced in January.

The Register originally reported this new round of layoffs. And according to Computerworld, as many as 8,000 workers are being let go.

We were able to obtain Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices with the California Employment Development Department, which say 112 of the layoffs are occurring in California, including 58 workers in San Francisco and 54 in San Jose.

One worker posted this on Reddit:

“I’ve been given a 30-day notice of layoff, effective Oct. 17. My manager told me he wasn’t permitted to tell me how many others were involved, but that I wasn’t the only one affected and that he fought to keep it from happening, as my entire department, former SoftLayer, has been on a hiring freeze since early 2021. It bites because IBM stock is at an all-time high. Obviously upper management is treating that as a bubble.”

IBM didn't respond to our request for comment by publication time.

IBM Layoffs Represent Single-Digit Percentage of Workforce

IBM provided the following statement to The Register:

“Early this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low, single-digit percentage of IBM’s global workforce, and we still expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with."

Related:Recent Tech Layoffs: 2024 Q1 Tracker

The IBM layoffs in California will take place on Nov. 18. IBM said the layoffs are permanent.

Among the impacted roles in San Francisco are brand sales specialists, back-end developers, product managers, software developers and more.

IBM is just the latest company doing business in the channel to initiate layoffs. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) layoffs are impacting about 1,800 workers. And Five9 announced it's cutting roughly 180 workers.

For its second quarter of 2024, IBM reported $15.77 billion in revenue, up from $15.48 billion for the year-ago quarter. Profit was $1.83 billion, up from $1.58 billion.