IBM has announced it is to shed between 10,000 and 13,000 jobs worldwide, with the majority of the cuts planned for Europe.
IBM was one of a number of technology companies to report gloomy quarterly financial figures back in April, and to help reduce overheads it is going to axe a pan-European management layer.
The company is now looking to create a number of smaller local operating units in Europe, with the emphasis on direct client contact.
According to a company statement the change is aimed at ‘reducing bureaucracy and infrastructure in lower-growth countries and creating teams that can work across country borders, shifting more employees into direct client roles that support the company’s plans to deliver higher-value services and products.’
No further details have yet been released by IBM UK.
As always, such cost-cutting exercises come at a price. IBM estimates that it will record a pre-tax charge of up to $1.7 billion in its next financial quarter to pay for the redundancies and reorganisations.
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