IBM Announces Global Workforce Reduction, Lays Off 697 Dutchess County Employees

More layoffs are headed to IBM’s Dutchess County facilities

IBM — the Valley’s second largest employer — announced in May that it would lay off 697 employees from its two Dutchess County facilities as part of a global workforce reduction. One industry analyst, though, thinks that some workers will be rehired as independent contractors — a common occurrence in the technology industry. “Some of these people will still be wearing an IBM badge,” the Envisioneering Group’s Richard Doherty told the Poughkeepsie Journal. “But their health-care mix and benefits will be changed.”

Still, the region is better positioned to absorb the downsizing now than it was in the ’90s. And community leaders are working to soften the blow. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney said he and other officials would create a Community Transition Team to aid families in need. “This is devastating news for our neighbors and friends at IBM,” Maloney told the Hudson Valley Reporter. “But I want them to know that their community is here for them.”

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ibmPhotograph by Spencer Ainsley for the Poughkeepsie Journal

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