IBM tight-lipped on possible NZ job redundancies

BY TOM PULLAR-STRECKER

Last updated 05:00 03/03/2010

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IBM New Zealand has refused to comment on rumours it is making 34 staff redundant in Wellington and merging its northern and southern region sales teams.

Spokeswoman Courtney Allen said IBM "continuously re-balances skills and capabilities to meet the changing needs of clients. While many of our competitors were contracting in response to the global financial crisis, we hired consistently throughout last year with over 80 appointments," she said.

The leadership team was continually changing to meet the needs of clients and business, Ms Allen said. "This is business as usual for IBM."

The subsidiary employs about 1000 staff. It last reported a reduced profit of $13.7 million on sales of $391.4m in 2008.

IBM's United States parent this week cut nearly 1000 jobs from its worldwide work force of 400,000. The New Zealand subsidiary of its biggest global rival, Hewlett-Packard, this week reported a $8.9m loss and a 10.5 per cent drop in sales.

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