IBM is Becoming "Garbage In, Garbage Out" (GIGO) "Just like Arvind and Krabanaugh." (CEO and CFO, Respectively)
Buzzwords in, "pump & dump" out
Two days ago: With an IBM Company Down Over 75% After Apparent Accounting Fraud the IBM Insiders Want Answers From James Krabanaugh
There are some decent new comments about IBM this morning, and they're published after several days of downturn rally (some will likely get deleted for triggering some "bad" word). One new comment speaks of "little IBM" (old products) "go[ing] off the rails" after IBM's apparent accounting trick with "toxic assets" - now apparently insolvent. To quote:
It has taken 5 years for Kyndryl to go off the rails. Spinoff announced in 2020 and effective in 2021. Yes Kyndryl learned at the feet of IBM, BUT remember Schroeter was the IBM CFO when the accounting tricks were born. (GTS accounting was always questionable due to exceedingly low margins) Putting him in charge of Kyndryl when it was spun off was essentially putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
This morning we quoted someone as saying that at IBM "merit has been flushed down the toilet" and there have since then been rather interesting assertions, such as IBM lowering salaries by about 66% (third-fold). To quote: "IBM management pays $50K for the newbies to sit around for a whole year and do nothing. Then, the IBM management lay them off the next year for doing nothing. When you have incompetent and uneducated managers and supervisors running IBM, what do you expect ? GIGO. Just like Arvind and Krabanaugh."
Someone then brought up the new visa fees (targeting India for the most part as the lion's share of such visas go to Indian applicants or American firms looking to enlist Indians): "Wait didn’t the just layoff a bunch of high level folks? High performers? Are they going to pay the visa fee??"
This long comment traces the current mess back to Gerstner, who recently died (like IBM too might die in the coming years).
More Nickle and Dime-Arvind-Jim K CFO nonsense. This is called "labor arbitrage" (forcing out older experienced workers for younger no experience and or cheap offshore countries) and something the G Man Gerstner brought into IBM 4-1-93 when he came in from being at Amex and Nabisco and worst of all McKinsey which is where they tell you that you are the smartest person on the planet and can do no wrong or harm. He fired over 100,000 IBMers in 18 months. BS.Outright lying how IBM is trying to turn what should be illegal (hiring based on age, firing based on age) into something rand and wonderful that this is "a gateway for people entering the workforce" and of course how the young know nothing new hires magically know and use AI better that the dinosaurs at IBM over 40. IBM thinks customers want people who 6 months ago worked the counter at Ulta or was a hostess at a bar and sending them to IBM's puffy GSS Global Sales School they pop out like Gerstner/McKinsey, the smartest people on the planet + AI. It is a cabal of lies to drive down SG&A sales general administrative costs as IBM has been doing now for 4 decades.
Based on recent reports and employee feedback, IBM's approach to workforce management, often described as labor arbitrage, has faced significant criticism for prioritizing cost-cutting, AI adoption, and shareholder value over employee welfare. Key aspects of these criticisms include:
Massive Layoffs and Shifting to Lower-Cost Regions: IBM has historically, and as recently as 2024-2025, conducted large-scale layoffs, sometimes referred to as "resource actions," often while simultaneously hiring in regions with lower labor costs, a core component of labor arbitrage.
Targeting Older Workers: Investigations have suggested that IBM specifically targeted older employees for layoffs, sometimes urging them to train their cheaper, younger replacements or overseas workers.
Replacing Staff with AI: CEO Arvind Krishna has actively pushed for replacing roles with AI, with reports indicating thousands of jobs (particularly in human resources) being eliminated in favor of AI automation by the end of 2025.
Secretive Layoff Process: Employees have reported that recent layoffs have been handled in secret, with some alleging they were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) regarding the specifics of their termination.
Replacement as Contractors: Some employees have reported being laid off, only to be offered the opportunity to return as contract workers, often for the same work at a lower rate of pay with fewer benefits.
These practices have led to a reputation for high employee turnover and a, at times, "toxic" work environment, leading to significant criticism from both former employees and observers.
Labor arbitrage based on age involves optimizing labor costs by strategically hiring workers from specific age demographics—typically focusing on either younger, less experienced workers with lower wage expectations or, conversely, older, experienced workers who may be seeking flexible, part-time work or have lower benefit demands. This strategy has evolved from traditional geographical outsourcing to a more nuanced, internal workforce composition strategy, often influenced by automation and changing labor force participation rates.
I have said it 100 times, we should have gone out on strike in the early 90s for a week or a month or whatever it would have taken to tell the G Man to take a hike and stop the layoffs and stealing of the promised pensions. But alas we were old school IBMers who were highly trained and obedient and did as we were told and could not forecast what IBM has been doing for 4 decades of destruction.
Someone then expressed agreement on the lowering on salaries, saying: "The short answer is yep. There is a reason India has gone up by 100k in headcount over the last 10 years while NA and Northern Europe have dropped by 100k. Indian employees work for approx 1/3 the cost. REMEMBER IBM is driven by cost and if they can find someone to do it for less, they will. The next big thing will be to automate repeatable employee tasks via AI. That implementation will fall primarily on the Indian workforce as the USA and Northern Europe headcounts have been depleted"
As the original post said "So I was RA’d as a Band 10 because I was too expensive" someone responded with: "That is an important factor in the equation, but it's not the only one."
They seem to base everything on money and no sense of loyalty or gratitude. That erodes the company's brand and lowers trust in it.
Someone has even written a new poem about how today's IBM is run:
Arvind with a spreadsheet crown,
Preaches “AI!” from Armonk town—
Buzzwords bloom where profits hide,
PowerPoints ten miles wide.Kavanaugh counts beans with flair,
Finds “synergies” in thinning air—
Trim the staff, adjust the chart,
Call it “vision.” Call it “smart.”They summon clouds with mystic chants,
“Hybrid! Platform! Growth-enhanced!”
Every slide a glowing gem—
That somehow says… “Just trust us. Them.”Stock dips? “It’s macro.” Layoffs? “Lean.”
Margins shaved till bones are seen.
If spin were gold, they’d both be rich—
Oh wait… that’s already in the pitch.
No mention of "Quantum" in this one. Never forget to name-drop QC. Not because shareholders understand it but because they might assume that if it's very cryptic and mystical, then it might possess super-powers and bear immense value (just like every year since the 1990s). █