IBM workforce 'rebalancing' might hit more Indian staffers

The workforce restructuring plan of IBM, the global information technology major, is expected to impact its India operations. A fourth of the New York-headquartered company's global employee base is in this country.

Earlier, a blog post in Forbes magazine said the company might be looking at laying off around 26 per cent of the global workforce, code named 'Project Chrome', the biggest in its history. In a statement on Tuesday, IBM dismissed the report but stated workforce rebalancing would affect 'several thousand' employees, a 'small fraction' of what Forbes had reported.

"IBM does not comment on rumours, even ridiculous or baseless ones," the company said in the email to Reuters. "If anyone had checked information readily available from our public earnings statements or had simply asked us, they would know IBM has already announced the company has just taken a $600-million charge for workforce rebalancing. This equates to several thousand people, a small fraction of what's been reported."

According to multiple sources at IBM India, "The appraisal period is just getting over and the fear is that the number of employees who may be asked to leave this year could be higher than last year." They added: "However, we don't see any other metrics beyond the regular performance evaluation one for these exits."

IBM India spokesperson could not be reached for the company's comments on this.

The Reuters report quoting one Wall Street analyst estimated that based on this year's restructuring charge, the exercise could impact about 8,000 people globally.

IBM has been reorganising its workforce for some years, dismissing employees in certain areas while hiring newer ones with different skillsets in growth areas. It is yet to disclose its employee headcount numbers at the end of 2014 but had 431,212 staffers at the end of 2013, slightly down from 434,246 the previous year.