Laid off from IBM.
IBM doesn't do one big layoff. It runs quiet, rolling 'resource actions' year after year, and it stopped publishing package terms long ago. The process is the thing to understand, and the process has a clock in it.
At a glance
What's known about IBM severance and layoffs
- 30 days · Window to find another internal role after notification
- A few months of pay · Severance reported in the 2025 resource actions
- 3,900 roles · The January 2023 round, about 1.5%
- None published · Formula announced in any recent round
- 264,300 · IBM employees reported at the end of 2025
- Down 6,000 · Change in that count across 2025
- $670 million · Workforce rebalancing charge booked for 2025
- None · IBM filings in our tracker for 2026
Recent IBM layoffs
IBM's last sized round was Q4 2025
The most recent action IBM put any number against landed in the fourth quarter of 2025, when it told CNBC the cuts would reach a low single-digit percentage of its global workforce with U.S. employment flat year over year. Its 2025 annual report has since reported 264,300 employees, down 6,000 across the year, and our WARN tracker holds no IBM filings at all for 2026.
Previous rounds
IBM layoff history
IBM calls them resource actions, and the wording earns its keep, because the thing it describes runs on a clock. In the rounds on record, notified employees got 30 days to find another position inside the company before separation, with a few months of severance pay after that, according to reporting on the most recent action. IBM told CNBC that round would reach a low single-digit percentage of its global workforce while U.S. employment stayed flat year over year. That percentage band is the last number the company put against a round.
A company-wide percentage can hide what happens inside one group. Insiders and former employees told The Register that the Q4 2025 target ran to about 45 percent of the U.S. infrastructure group, with more than half of U.S. cloud expected to go, accounts IBM didn't confirm and which stay unverified. The same report counted 2,840 open IBM roles in India against 376 in the United States. Cuts in March 2025 had already reached Raleigh, New York City and State, Dallas, and California, and IBM didn't respond to requests for comment on those either. Which group you sit in has mattered more than the company-wide figure.
IBM's own filings count what its announcements leave out. The 2025 annual report put employment at IBM and its wholly owned subsidiaries at 264,300 at year end, against 270,300 a year earlier, a decline of 6,000 across 2025. That figure nets hiring against every kind of departure, so it measures net change rather than layoffs, and it's the year-end count this comparison rests on. The same filing books $670 million of workforce rebalancing charges for 2025 and $696 million for 2024, a line that has sat in the company's selling and administrative expense for years. IBM prices these reductions annually. It stopped counting them out loud after January 2023.
The public filing record is thinner still. Our tracker holds 25 all-time IBM filings and 3 filings covering 206 jobs since the start of 2025, across California, North Carolina and Texas, the largest listing 75 jobs in California on 4 November 2025. For 2026 it holds none. A company reporting 264,300 employees has left almost nothing in the WARN record this year, which is what rolling cuts look like from outside the building. Checking your state's filings is still worth doing, and it's worth knowing in advance that a quiet result proves very little here.
The AI statements are worth reading exactly as they were made. In a May 2023 Bloomberg interview Arvind Krishna said he could easily see about 30 percent of IBM's non-customer-facing roles, roughly 7,800 jobs, replaced by AI and automation over five years. In May 2025 he told The Wall Street Journal that AI agents had taken over the work of about 200 people in human resources, and that IBM went on to hire more salespeople and software developers. IBM's own framing in February 2024 put its rebalancing down to productivity gains and to aligning the workforce with skills its clients wanted, naming AI and hybrid cloud. None of that names a reason for any particular round, and IBM hasn't offered one.
So the paperwork in front of you carries more weight than the reporting around it. A group termination program that asks workers 40 and over to release age discrimination claims triggers a federal floor under the ADEA. Your window to decide stretches to 45 days rather than the 21 that covers an individual offer, a signed agreement stays revocable for a further week, and the employer owes you a written account of the group the program covers, the factors behind the selection and any time limits on it, plus the job titles and ages of everyone eligible or selected next to the ages of those in the same job classification or organizational unit it passed over. That last disclosure is the part to read line by line. ProPublica reported in 2018 that IBM had cut more than 20,000 American employees aged 40 and over across five years, about 60 percent of its estimated U.S. total, and that the company had withheld information of exactly that kind; IBM answered that it complies with the law. Ask for that disclosure in writing, use the whole window, and put the agreement in front of an employment lawyer before the clock runs out.
Reporting on previous IBM layoff rounds
Q4 2025 · IBM said the action would reach a low single-digit percentage of its global workforce with U.S. employment flat year over year. Insiders told The Register the targets ran to about 45% of the U.S. infrastructure group, with more than half of U.S. cloud expected to go, accounts IBM didn't confirm.
Reporting described 30 days to find another position inside IBM, then separation with a few months of severance pay. No formula published.
March 2025 · Employee accounts placed cuts in Raleigh, New York City and State, Dallas, and California, reaching Cloud Classic among other groups. IBM didn't respond to requests for comment.
One employee cut in the round said those affected were simply offered a separation agreement, an unverified account. Terms not published.
February 2024 · IBM asked staff who wanted voluntary redundancy to raise their hand and said the action would affect a very low single digit percentage of its global workforce, with employment expected to end 2024 at roughly the level it began.
January 2023 · About 3,900 roles, roughly 1.5%, which a spokesperson attributed entirely to the Kyndryl spinoff and the sale of its healthcare analytics business.
How IBM's layoffs compare to other companies
No single headline number ever captures a full year at IBM. The rounds arrive in pieces, the company sizes them in percentages when it sizes them at all, and the year-end filing is where the arithmetic finally shows up.
What to do after being laid off from IBM
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. IBM's biggest hubs: New York, North Carolina, Texas, California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what IBM's hub states run: New York, North Carolina, Texas, California, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
IBM layoff and severance questions
What is an IBM resource action?
IBM's internal term for a layoff. In reported rounds, affected employees have been notified and given 30 days to find another position inside the company, with separation and severance following for those who don't. Most reportedly don't, so treat the 30 days as a parallel track, not a plan.
What severance has IBM paid in recent resource actions?
IBM hasn't published terms for any recent round. Reporting on the 2025 actions described a few months of severance pay after the 30-day internal window, and there's no formula on record. What binds you is the figure written into your own separation paperwork, so start there.
Did IBM lay off employees in 2026?
Our WARN tracker holds no IBM filings at all for 2026, and IBM hasn't put a size to a 2026 round in the reporting we track. A quiet filing record covers notices rather than every cut, so it can't settle the question by itself. What the company has said this year is financial. On its April 2026 earnings call the chief financial officer said productivity work had driven $4.5 billion of savings since 2023, with another $1 billion expected in 2026.
Does IBM file WARN notices for its layoffs?
Sometimes, and thinly. Our tracker holds 25 all-time IBM filings and 3 filings covering 206 jobs since the start of 2025, across California, North Carolina and Texas, with the largest listing 75 jobs in California on 4 November 2025. Set that against 264,300 employees reported at the end of 2025 and the WARN record plainly won't tell you whether your own group is being cut.
What are my rights if I'm over 40 and IBM offers me a severance agreement?
Federal law sets a floor once a group termination program asks workers 40 and over to sign away age discrimination claims. Your deadline to decide runs 45 days, where a solo agreement would give you 21, you keep a further seven days to take a signature back, and nothing binds until that week expires. The employer also owes you in writing the group the program covers, the factors behind the selection and any time limits on it, plus the job titles and ages of everyone eligible or selected and the ages of those in the same job classification or organizational unit who weren't. Compare those lists carefully.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from IBM?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. IBM's biggest U.S. hubs are New York, North Carolina, Texas, California. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at IBM?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at IBM?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from IBM?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.