IBM sent staff home

Arvind Krishna-led tech giant International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has joined a host of companies who has started firing employees in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The tech industry has suffered widespread job losses after the pandemic triggered a severe recession.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the storage and server firm, said Thursday it would save $1 billion by reducing pay and other costs. Airbnb Inc and Uber Technologies Inc have also cut about a quarter of their global workforces.

What did the company say?

“IBM’s work in a highly competitive marketplace requires flexibility to constantly add high-value skills to our workforce.

While we always consider the current environment, IBM’s workforce decisions are in the interest of the long-term health of our business,” Ed Barbini, IBM’s spokesperson said in a statement.

“Recognising the unique and difficult situation this business decision may create for some of our employees, IBM is offering subsidised medical coverage to all affected U.S. employees through June 2021,” Barbini added.

Who will be affected?

IBM, however, did not disclose how many workers are affected but media reports said thousands of employees are set to lose jobs in at least five states of the US.

The cuts affected employees in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, Missouri and New York, where IBM is based, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

According to its annual report, IBM had about 352,600 employees worldwide as of December 31.