I received an invite from my manager. 2026 Organizational Changes. Is IBM doing another reduction in force in January?
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@1ht, managers are mostly useless. It is not kindergarten, people should be responsible.
@16x For 10 people, a team leader is enough, a manager isn't needed.
A manager should have at least 30 employees.
@16x, dare we ask how many former managers (or they now individual contributors ??? ) heading for PIPs, Layoffs or just the Exits ? Inquiring minds want to know.
PS: Any executives like the blubber Joanne Wrong impacted ?
@vq Get Stuffed !
It's a new IBM wide rule that managers can't have less than 10 people
@c9+1ke7exa4g nailed it
"If the Manager called the entire team into a 15 mins meeting, it probably means the Manager is out and is trying to control the narrative.
UPDATE ON MEETING. Manager will be moving to an individual contributor role. The rest of the team will be 'reorganized', not RIFed
They are all bad people and can’t trust anymore
@OP+1ke7exa4g So . . . what happened at this meeting?
"I received an invite from my manager. 2026 Organizational Changes. Is IBM doing another reduction in force in January?"
@vq
Are you for real?! The Albany is most corrupt site of all of them. Didn’t one of the main guys go to jail?
Shame on all of you. Our leadership, as always, has only our best interests at heart. They sacrifice endlessly—for our benefit, for our careers, for the greater good. Frequently putting themselves in harms way for our gain. They put their careers on the line so that ours can advance! And Albany, of all places, how dare you question that? Leadership bends over backward every day to make sure everyone is thoroughly taken care of. Any suggestion otherwise is clearly ungrateful.
This was supposedly the first layoff to ever happen in Albany and it was big and likely another one in February I am hearing
@kq Huiming and his circle really need to go.
At this point, it’s reasonable to question whether the Albany site should continue operating at all. The dysfunction and internal games far outweigh any real benefits or accomplishments that this site has produced. Big picture—what has that site actually delivered over the past decade? Very little of substance, yet it continues to consume a tremendous amount of capital.
Take 7nm as the headline example—an outright failure. Despite that, the site has gone years without meaningful oversight or a serious, honest assessment of what’s really happening on the ground. Leadership has clearly taken advantage of that blind spot. And all the technology is a good 10 years behind.
Then there are the persistent rumors and well-known internal politics that seem to dictate how the site operates. As others have pointed out, it’s not hard to connect the dots—and in some cases, the behavior is so blatant it’s barely even concealed.
Hopefully, with Dario out and Jay G stepping in, the long-standing hands-off approach finally ends. HB and his leadership circle—and the network around them—need to go. What have they truly accomplished during their tenure? A series of small, self-serving “deals” and collaborations, but nothing genuinely impactful. 7nm failed. The Japan partnership looks like it’s heading in the same direction. Even the new quantum announcements aren’t really what they’re being sold as—it’s mostly just media hype. They have operated for far too long without meaningful oversight or a candid assessment of what is actually happening on the ground, creating a blind spot that a small, entrenched group has clearly leveraged.
It’s long past time for a hard, unfiltered review of that site and the people running it. Taken together, it’s difficult to argue against the need for a rigorous, unfiltered review of both the site and the leadership running it. That level of accountability is long overdue.
They basically have been having blank check and no supervise for more than ten year. In this kind situation, nonsense illogical system grow and more.
@dv Man, I just read that whole post and yikes. I thought my department was rough, but Albany Research? Good grief, that place sounds like a full-blown circus. Don’t get me wrong, my site’s got its share of headaches — it sure ain’t a picnic — but honestly, after reading all that, I almost feel lucky. Whatever nonsense we deal with here, it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as the mess going on over there. I just wish the posts shared with us names so we know who is who.
@ft and sometimes, those reshuffles takes the failed leaders back again to their original roles and the C-Level brainiacs announce it as an unqualified success.
But...It is just rearranging deckchairs on the IBM Titanic !
There's a reorg every January. In response to failure to "achieve plan" the C-Level brainiacs at IBM reshuffle all of those failed leaders into new roles and then a year from now act shocked when once again plans were not realized, and so they will again reshuffle those same leaders into new roles.
@a7 it's not just a low cost country, it's a total sh-thole country.
That's why Alvind needs to innovate and rebuilt the toilet infrastructure there.
One job at a time.
@dv you got lucky that your number wasn’t called…had nothing to do with performance
I hid from layoffs at IBM for 32 years and then hid from them another 2 years at Kyndryl. Decided to resign from Kyndryl when my main customer left to support them. I’ve been with them another 3 years and will retire this summer at 65! Not the ideal working situation for sure, but it is possible. I decided not to make a career out of IBM but used it as a game to see how long I could last (sad I know….). Good luck!!!
@dr & @by
There’s a reply by @1xq+1kcmx0g24 on an older thread (“Employee evaluation”):
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1kcmx0g24
Probably the most coherent explanation I’ve seen of our infinite reorg loop. Says out loud what everyone’s been thinking, but apparently leadership keeps missing.
@b7 Started 4-1-93 when the G Man Gerstner came in and quickly burned the 3 IBM Basic Beliefs that made IBM the best for decades. Since then it has been 4 decades of fear and intimidation with every IBMer going to bed every night putting their heads on their pillows wondering if my RA number comes up in the AM.
Rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.
IBM does not do mass firings with alot of people on the call due to liability concerns.
If the Manager called the entire team into a 15 mins meeting, it probably means the Manager is out and is trying to control the narrative.
Reorg started .. long day to start new year
Manager change every year is painful
Here we go! The roller coaster ride has come around again and is ready to go downhill again. It’s a never-ending loop. It will go on and on this way until there is no Ibm left worth much. Went through this for 18 years. I am finally off the ride by my own choosing.
@a8
You nailed it
They're not going to call it that. They're going to do this in small chunks to avoid having tom comply with the WARN act. People are calling it "forever layoffs."
It takes a 15-minute phone call to outsource an expensive job from North America to a low cost country like India
Manager has scheduled 15 minutes meeting with entire team. We'll see.
TBD, Not yet.
Currently shuffling chairs on the deck.
Yup