IBM to continue to hire ahead of recession

While major firms in the United States, especially in the technology industry, have announced layoffs and hiring freezes ahead of an anticipated recession, IBM plans to stay the course.

IBM’s senior vice president of transformation and culture, Obed Louissaint, said IBM is always selective with its hiring and constantly scans the marketplace. He added that IBM was continuing to hire and will continue to monitor and pivot if circumstances require it. IBM will continue building out and investing in their clients’ critical skills. Within the industry, areas around AI, cloud, and security continue to increase demand.

That’s reassuring news for workers, considering that over 450 startups and tech firms have laid off over 75,000 people in 2022, according to Blind’s tech layoffs tracker. In just July 2022, over 20,000 jobs were cut. In addition, tech giants Google and Apple have prepared to slow down hiring efforts into 2023.

But IBM has always carved its own path. Like many firms since the COVID-19 pandemic, IBM has relied upon its business resource groups—its label for employee resource groups (ERGs)— to maintain and even boost talent retention.

A significant factor in the Great Resignation has been the push for workers to return to the office. While Google and Apple have ruffled feathers with requesting employees back for at least a couple of days a week, Tesla went one step further by demanding employees head to office five days a week, like COVID never happened.