IBM cut U.S. workforce by 6,000 while adding 18,000 overseas in 2008

Posted March 20, 2009

IBM cut U.S. workforce by 6,000 while adding 18,000 overseas in 2008

Video

Blog Posts

On The Web

IBM CEO's letter

Site Search

Research Triangle Park, N.C. —

IBM’s employee headcount in the United States fell by some 6,000 in 2008, according to the company’s new annual report.

That number is fully 50 percent higher than the 4,000 jobs that the Alliance@IBM union estimated had been cut through layoffs or offshoring jobs to places such as India and China.

Big Blue, which employs some 11,000 people at its Triangle operations, doesn’t disclose layoffs or what it calls ‘resource actions.”

As IBM cut jobs in the U.S. last year, it increased overall headcount to 398,455, an increase of almost 12,000, Computerworld reported in a review of IBM’s report. The totals mean IBM added 18,000 employees beyond U.S. borders.

In rebutting stories about layoffs, IBM spokespersons have routinely cited the company’s overall increase in employees.

However, Computerworld noted that IBM has cut jobs in the U.S. from 127,000 in 2006 to 121,000 in 2007 and another 6,000 last year.

Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, pointed out that IBM also has reduced U.S. headcount despite making numerous acquisitions over the past three years.

“With hiring and acquisitions that took place those years it appears a lot of IBMers left the company voluntarily or involuntarily,” he told Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com.

“What it means is IBM had a lot of ‘silent’ resource actions last year,” he added, referring to the 2008 numbers. “We have always said we are only seeing part of the big picture when it comes to IBM's job cuts.

“That is why we have been demanding full transparency on job cuts in the U.S.,” he said.

Even at 6,000, the total is less than the number of layoffs the union had forecast for 2008.

Conrad recently posted an article at the Alliance@IBM Website protesting cuts in U.S. in a response to a very positive letter to shareholders written by IBM Chairman and Chief executive Officer Sam Palmisano in the annual report.

In his letter, Palmisano noted the investments IBM has made in the BRIC countries and other emerging markets.

“We made major investments in our teams and capabilities in emerging markets around the world,” he wrote. “This is helping us achieve superior growth in emerging markets — not only in the so-called BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, but in dozens of countries across the developing world. At the same time, we accelerated the global integration of IBM’s operations. As a result, our supply chain, research labs, software development and service delivery today are truly global in scope. We have made substantial progress toward remaking IBM into a Globally Integrated Enterprise, with more still to do.”

IBM also is using the “downgrading” of employee job evaluations to force people out of the company, Conrad added. Local Tech Wire has heard similar complaints from some workers.

As U.S. headcount has dropped, IBM has more than made up for the reduction by adding employees in the so-called BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In 2008, IBM increased its BRIC workforce to 113,000, Computerworld said. “Most of those are in India,” Patrick Thibodeau reported for the publication.

IBM recently launched a program through which IBM workers could transfer overseas in order to stay with the company. However, they would have to accept salaries based on scales in those countries, not their U.S. pay.

“I do not know anyone who has taken the project match,” Conrad said.

Tags: China, India, Employment, Layoffs, IBM, Brazil

WRAL Tech Wire