IBM has taken another blow to its image following the leak of documents about an effort called Project Match that comes in addition to the 4,800 layoffs it is already quietly arranging. Project Match helps IBM's U.S. and Canadian employees find jobs in countries where IBM is expanding, such as India and China, while IBM eliminates positions in the United States. As high-tech layoffs continue, what impact will there be on H-1B workers?IBM continues to lay off employees and to
take heat from employee groups for its practice of not providing more information
such as exact numbers or other particulars on the layoffs. The word is IBM
has eliminated nearly 5,000 positions since the action began in January,
according to sources.
An IBM employee organization called
Alliance@IBM says IBM
has laid off more than 4,800 people, including 1,449 in Sales and Distribution,
1,419 in the IBM Software Group, 1,200 in IBM's
Systems and Technology Group, 307 in IBM
Finance, 193 in IBM Research, and 92 in
human resources.
Meanwhile, according to reports, IBM
has an effort called "Project Match" that aims to help IBM
employees in the United States and Canada move overseas to work for IBM,
or essentially "offshoring" themselves.
Although the Project Match initiative has been characterized as an either/or
solution—where IBM employees are encouraged
to either accept a job in India (or elsewhere) or lose their positions in the
United States—it does not appear to be exactly that.
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