In a recent development, tech giant IBM has made headlines once again with its decision to lay off employees from its marketing and communications divisions. The exact number of employees affected by this decision has not been disclosed by the company.
The news of the layoffs surfaced after a brief seven-minute meeting conducted by Jonathan Adashek, the Chief Communications Officer at IBM, with employees in the affected departments. While CNBC reported on the layoffs citing unnamed sources, IBM itself has not officially released any information regarding this matter.
This move comes in line with IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna’s statement made last year, wherein he indicated the company’s intention to pause hiring for roles that could potentially be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) in the near future. Krishna emphasized the likelihood of AI and automation replacing up to 30% of back-office functions, such as human resources, over a span of five years.
According to data from layoffs.fyi website, at least 204 companies, including IBM, have announced job cuts in 2024, affecting a total of 49,978 employees.
Earlier in January, IBM’s Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh had hinted that the company’s restructuring expenditure for the year could match the previous year’s figure of $400 million. In 2023, IBM had reduced its workforce by approximately 3,900 jobs.
In response to the current situation, IBM has offered its employees the option to choose voluntary redundancy, with a particular focus on positions in Europe. This initiative, termed as “transformative” by the company, primarily targets Enterprise Operations & Support (EO&S) and Q2C missions, as well as Finance & Operations, with 80% of the reduction target directed towards these areas.
