UK in firing line as IBM prepares for more job cuts

CPI has learned that Arvind Krishna’s shake-up of Big-Blue to mean 8,000 roles are to be axed

IBM is set to cull its workforce in Europe, with the UK braced to take a chunk of the cuts.

A source told CRN's sister title Channel Partner Insight (CPI) that Big Blue is poised to cut around 8,000 jobs across the continent, with the UK in line to take a quarter of the total.

IBM did not confirm the figures when contacted by CPI but said in a statement: "Our workforce decisions are made to best support our clients on their journey to adopting an open hybrid cloud platform and AI capability, and we are reinvesting in our business.

"We continue to make significant investments in education and skills development for IBMers to better meet our clients' needs."

The purported cuts come after IBM said in May that it would be cutting an unspecified amount of jobs due to the impact of the pandemic, with the number thought to be in the thousands.

IBM is in the process of spinning out its huge services business into a separate $19bn-revenue, currently dubbed NewCo.

A representative of German trade union Ver.di confirmed cuts of IBM staff across Europe but could not give any figures.

"They haven't fired anyone yet; they are trying to make voluntary cuts," he told CPI.

"Sometimes you could call it a golden handshake, and sometimes it seems to be rather silver instead."

You can read more on the restructuring in the full story on CPI.