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back to article IBM lifts axe, will trim UK workforce weeks before Chrimbo

With only weeks to go before the good folk of Blighty sit down to tuck into their Chrimbo dinners, IBM has decided to swing the corporate axe to trim the local workforce. According to company insiders, UK boss David Stokes yesterday hosted a phone conference with employees at 1pm to inform them of their fate. “Stokes got over …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not just STG

    Software Group also has a 30 day employee consultation process beginning on November 26, affecting UK-based client-facing techies and sales staff. IBM are missing the opportunity to be able to make people redundant on Christmas Eve, but there's still potential for some really crap New Years.

    It's depressing to see that IBM is still trying to cut its way to growth, and doesn't appear to have learned anything from the failure of Roadmap 2015.

    0 0 Reply
    1. cashback
      Reply Icon

      Re: Not just STG

      Indeed. The top management needs to be replaced and from outside of IBM.

      For years now it's been the same story and the chickens have come home to roost.

      0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anyone working for IBM's career is effectively stagnated and has been for the past 5 years or more. No pay rises, no promotions, no training, not to mention miserable working conditions and no incentive to do anything above clocking in and out (metaphorically speaking).

    The thing is, IBM's customers still want to buy hardware and software; just no longer from IBM. IBM is handing them over to the competition to lap up. And the competition is hiring. Anyone with any talent from IBM will find that there are plenty of jobs out there, and will suddenly realise that they can actually earn a decent salary elsewhere. Even some of IBM's partners are hiring: there are still people out there who still believe it's worth buying IBM (and it should be: some of the products are excellent, despite there being no investment in development). With IBM not even able to put a salesman into the customer, as they've all been sacked, the BPs (or at least those who haven't yet deserted) are picking up the scraps.

    As for replacing those at the top: it's probably too late for that. They're determined to destroy the company and replace it with a third-rate cloud provider, who nobody will use because IBM has managed to crap on pretty much every customer it has.

    It will take a hell of a lot more than that to restore IBM's reputation.

    2 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Most of the people with any talent and ambition left a while ago! They have been losing talented people for about 5 years now and to be honest, the ones that have stayed are the ones that are scared of life outside of Big Blue. Some of those people will be forced into fleeing the mother ship now and will realize that they should have had the guts years ago!

    1 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    2 weeks ago, there was a online forum along the lines of - what do we need to do at IBM to make it a great place to work. I think I missed the suggestion that said lets make a bunch of folk redundant, so that everyone else stays on and accepts the deteriorating conditions

    1 0 Reply
  5. Mr_Smith
    Thumb Up

    2020 roadmap...

    ...is yet more of the same...cut the sales engine and miss targets, senior management look confused at best. It will not be long now till an active investor calls for the break up, after all the parts are worth more than $160!!!

    show me a company that made growth through cutting, will the last person please switch off the lights.

    Steve Smith

    0 0 Reply

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