Given the recent uptick of people being put on PIP due to insufficient work(or lack of ), when should we expect the next round of layoff?
Heck, even people with tones of experience are begging for an opportunity : https://www.reddit.com/r/IBM/comments/187plvu/when_you_have_to_beg_for_work/
Another thing IBM likes to do when they intend to roll you off a contract is to make the new position have requirements that you don't meet, like a certification or college degree even if neither is actually required. For example, a help desk lead position that didn't previously require a college degree in computer science now does.
You don't really hear much about it at the lower levels (number bands), but there is also a lot of churning and burning of letter-band employees as well. It would be fun reading to find out just how many employees end up as terminal band 10s rather than getting bumped to band D. Even a band 10 can get canned for being long in the tooth (too long in one band)...what a crazy company.
If you are on a contract, it might be a good idea to search the Professional Marketplace every month or so to see if they're looking for your replacement.
If you see a position that looks like yours, but your leadership has made no mention to you or your team that they are looking for someone...that's a big red flag.
They'll let you know about 3 weeks prior that you're rolling off the contract, but the position will have been created in Professional Marketplace a couple of months prior to you ever finding out from your leadership.
This most likely is also having an impact on future IBM headcount
McKinsey Shrinks New Partner Class by Roughly 35%
Consulting giant recently told employees about 250 people would become partners, down from around 380 a year ago
Read in The Wall Street Journal: https://apple.news/AKCNR_nI0Ss2XIoMBiQ-ONg
Q1 RA is an annual event even during good economic times. With economy slowing down, large RA is practically guaranteed.
RA, PIP, RTO...they are nothing more than jumbles of letters when you're hungry. The bottom line is that IBM's sales pipeline for consulting and services has run thin. Whatever is left in that pipeline is not enough to keep all the employees around. Blame the management if you want to, but it really doesn't matter. If you have options (just about everybody does whether they accept them or not), then you're better off using those options now when it's convenient. You don't want to be forced into a job search because you got canned.
Next is enforcement of RTO it will give them every legal right to clean the decks
Think of the PIPs as IBM’s way of laying people off without the media knowing or needing to pay severance. There isn’t a need for mass layoffs when you are exiting people in this manner.
From the reddit commentary: "Surely there is a sales pipeline..."