'Reinventing' itself, says IBM on reports of sacking 300 workers

After media reports surfaced that tech giant IBM has sacked 300 employees from its services division in India, the company on Tuesday said it is "re-inventing" itself to meet changing requirements of the businesses.

"IBM has been in India for over 25 years and remains committed to being an essential part of its growth.

"IBM's strategy is to re-invent itself to better meet the changing requirements of our business and to pioneer new high value technologies," the company said in a statement.

Most of the "sacked" employees were in the software services.

Industry sources, however, told IANS that the number may not be that big and is in the "low triple-digit" range.

Last year, a ProPublica and Mother Jones investigation found that IBM adopted hiring practices that favoured younger workers while systematically laying off or forcing the retirement of as many as 20,000 employees over 40.

IBM had said in a statement that "We are proud of our company and our employees' ability to reinvent themselves era after era, while always complying with the law.

"Our ability to do this is why we are the only tech company that has not only survived but thrived for more than 100 years," IBM spokesperson Edward Barbini had said.

Another tech company Cognizant has also fired nearly 600 senior employees in recent times, saying they could not adjust to the "changing environment" of the company, the media reported.

--IANS

na/mr