Any managers care to share what gets communicated to them on cutting employees? Any of that happening in the near future?
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THIS has been the best post/replies about RAs @ IBM! This should be pinned and referred back to whenever anyone on any platform asks about the possibility of future RAs.
@k8 correct
I do believe that first line managers are ket in the dark until shortly before the hammer comes down. I probably witnessed over 30 RAs , if not more , in my 18 years there. Over that time there was always the knowledge of an RA looming . No one ever knew if they were on the list in advance or the day of the RA
25+years in IBM management here.
Things do vary, but usually 1st and often 2nd line find out a half day to three days before it happens. We have suspicions and talk to other managers who are also busy reading the tea leaves. But we have no actual knowledge most of the time. The most advance knowledge I ever had in all those years was 3 weeks and that was because of a delicate legal issue with the employee’s long term mental health status (long ago in 20th century)
This blog goes back many years, and this same question has been repeated many times over. If you have the patience to do so, you can read back postings and you'll see a response that is similar to the following:
RA's typically happen quarterly. First line managers are informed by division execs a few months in advance that an RA is coming. They learn about general numbers, but not specific names. The first lines already "know" what's coming down, because they and the second lines are always in constant communication with division financial analysts. In other words, they know when they are exceeding expected budget targets. (Remember that one of the first commitments of a manager is to meet budget targets.)
A few days before the RA, the actual names of people to be cut are distributed. These names were determined in advance by division execs (2nd/3rd/4th line) along with division financial analysts. Take out enough employee cost to meet a financial target. This is done a few days in advance, to give managers time to set up meetings with employees or beg the execs to switch who gets cut. (That second part rarely happens.)
The RA happens 30 days before the employee walks out the door. There's a meeting between the first line manager and the employee, and the employee finds out the news. They are typically told to stop whatever they are doing, cease all meetings, conference calls, instant messaging, etc. They are on their own for 30 days while they sort out their own futures.
After 30 days, the employee hands in their security badge, their laptop and/or cellphone. They get a final severance check, and they walk away. They might see their first line manager, or they might see another manager who was designated for that meeting. It doesn't matter anymore.
That is precisely why many of us visit this site in the first place—to piece together what is happening behind the scenes and gain some sense of what may be coming, much like you are doing.
@cd Jokes aside, there is actually some truth to that characterization. And @b2+1kzw3zjs2 is correct as well: the reality is that we generally have very little definitive information until only a few days before such an event actually occurs.
That said, while the recent conversations have stopped short of explicitly stating that a reduction is imminent, there is nevertheless a discernible sense that one may be forthcoming. More tellingly, we appear to be receiving increasingly indirect requests to prepare a preliminary accounting of individuals who could potentially be affected, particularly those identified as low performers or currently subject to PIPs. None of this constitutes confirmation, of course, but the subtext is difficult to ignore.
Well here's how it goes for me. Da big boss gathers all us little bosses in a room and says, "You's guys need to get rid of da riffraff." Sometimes he says ten percent, twenty, sometimes even tirty percent. We got no choice. It's you's or us. So it's gotta be you's. Capiche?
@b2 Thank you for this valuable information. In which country if I may ask?
I'm a manager of a large team. We haven't received any communication about layoffs but we're being asked to put some employees on PIPs (15% of employees in a team) which makes me suspect this may be a step toward letting them go for sure.
@OP
Managers, useless are not going to share, they protect themselves.