Lou Gerstner wrote, "People truly do what you inspect, not what you expect." … Lest we forget, "inspection pages" such as these exist because chief executives are "people" too.
Arvind Krishna: 2020 through 2025 IBM Employment Security
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Date Published: April 11, 2022
Date Modified: April 2, 2026 |
Evaluating Arvind Krishna's Employee and JUST Capital Performance
- Evaluating Arvind Krishna's 2020-2025 Employment Numbers
- Evaluating Arvind Krishna's Employee, Customer, Community and Shareholder Performance
Evaluating Arvind Krishna's Employment Numbers
- Arvind Krishna: 2020–2025 IBM Employment
- Full-time employees: Down 24.6% since 2020 from 362,200 to 273,000 in 2025
- Full-time complementary employees: Down 36.1% since 2020 from 21,600 to 13,800 in 2025 *
- Total worldwide full-time employee headcount: Down 25.3% since 2020 from 383,800 to 286,800 in 2025
- Arvind Krishna and Ginni Rometty: 2011–2025 IBM Employment
- Full-time employees: Down 37.0% since 2011 from 433,362 to 273,000 in 2025
- Full-time complementary employees: Down 58.2% since 2011 from 33,023 to 13,800 in 2025 *
- Total worldwide full-time employee headcount: Down 38.5% since 2011 from 466,385 to 286,800 in 2025
- Arvind Krishna, Rometty, Palmisano, and Gerstner: 1999–2025 IBM Employment
- Full-time employees: Down 11.2% since 1999 from 307,401 to 273,000 in 2025
- Full-time complementary employees: Down 70.6% since 1999 from 46,976 to 13,800 in 2025 *
- Total worldwide full-time employee headcount: Down 19.1% since 1999 from 354,377 to 286,800 in 2025
* A complementary employee (with an "e" not an "i") came into existence during the IBM Crisis of 1992-93. It is defined in IBM's 2021 Annual Report as: "The complementary workforce is an approximation of equivalent full-time employees hired under temporary, part-time and limited-term employment arrangements to meet specific business needs in a flexible and cost-effective manner."
The following line chart documents IBM's worldwide employment from 1999 through 2025 and contains information on the headcount reductions that took place in the United States from 2002 through 2009 which was termed "workload rebalancing" by IBM's corporate executive leadership. A more common term of the day was "outsourcing" as United States headcount was reduced by 27.9% but overall worldwide headcount increased by 23%--mainly with new hires in India.
It is important to note that these are "worldwide" headcount numbers as IBM does not currently offer any geography specific headcount numbers. This means, for example, that during Palmisano's tenure although worldwide employment numbers increased he was using "worldwide" resource balancing to ensure he made his yearly earnings-per-share numbers. There were significant, heart-wrenching reductions in the United States and Europe while work was transferred to lower-wage, but also lower productivity geographies. It was during this transition that IBM stopped publishing its employment numbers broken down by geography. No one today knows just how many IBM employees are left in the United States of America or Europe.
IBM last released its geographic and United States headcount numbers in its 2007 and 2008 Annual Reports.
Samuel J. Palmisano was less than transparent on his methodology of increasing earnings-per-share with U.S. and Europe workforce reductions. Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty and Arvind Krishna have continued to be opaque in this matter through the latest annual reports. So, it is impossible to provide accurate information about how these reductions may have impacted the United States, Europe, or any other geography.
How many employees still remain in the United States or Europe is a closely guarded secret held somewhere in IBM's Human Resources Department. IBM was forced to reveal the number in Congressional testimony in 2009. Congress should ask again!
Reach out to me if you have the specifics: [link to contact information]
IBM last released its geographic and United States headcount numbers in its 2007 and 2008 Annual Reports.
- In IBM's 2007 Annual Report it provided the following information for the last time on employment in India: "The company has been adding resources aggressively in emerging markets . . . India experienced the largest growth, up 22,200 to approximately 74,000 employees at year end."
- In IBM's 2008 Annual Report it provided the following information for the last time on U.S. employment: "The U.S. remained the largest country, with 115,000 employees, while resources increased in Asia Pacific and Latin America and were essentially flat in Europe. The company continues to add resources aggressively in emerging markets, particularly in the BRIC countries-Brazil, Russia, India and China-where employment totals approximately 113,000."
Samuel J. Palmisano was less than transparent on his methodology of increasing earnings-per-share with U.S. and Europe workforce reductions. Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty and Arvind Krishna have continued to be opaque in this matter through the latest annual reports. So, it is impossible to provide accurate information about how these reductions may have impacted the United States, Europe, or any other geography.
How many employees still remain in the United States or Europe is a closely guarded secret held somewhere in IBM's Human Resources Department. IBM was forced to reveal the number in Congressional testimony in 2009. Congress should ask again!
Reach out to me if you have the specifics: [link to contact information]
Evaluating Arvind Krishna's Overall Performance
- How Does IBM Support Workers, Customers, Shareholders, Communities and Environment?
It seems that JUST Capital's positioning of IBM in its overall rankings since Arvind took over the corner office captures and documents the deteriorating perception of the IBM brand in the marketplace. IBM's brand has dropped in almost every JUST Capital survey over the last five years: falling from 11th to as low as 60th place, then up to 50th place, and finally, in 2026, it has fallen out of the Top 100 ... so low that the exact position is only visible to JUST Capital and IBM as JUST Capital evidently no longer makes this information (outside the TOP 100) public.
- 2020 Results: 11th Place Overall - Arvind Krishna
- 2021 Results: 19th Place Overall - Arvind Krishna
- 2022 Results: 48th Place Overall - Arvind Krishna
- 2023 Results: 60th Place Overall - Arvind Krishna
- 2024 Results: 50th Place Overall - Arvind Krishna
- 2025 Results: 50th Place Overall - Arvind Krishna
- 2026 Results: Fell from Top 100 - Arvind Krishna
The reason we don't use "Forbes' Best Employers" Yearly Listing is here: [Challenging Forbes Best Employers' List].
- How has Arvind Krishna performed for his employees, customers, shareholders and communities.
Information in the following charts is from JUST Capital's 2025 and 2026 Overall Rankings information. It is unfortunate that JUST Capital in 2026 has restricted access to the detailed information on IBM as it provided in 2025.
Although, JUST Capital's stated desire is to help corporations improve their performance, putting detailed information behind its firewalls does little to help the industry understand how companies are truly performing as can be seen in the following charts. They document that IBM--although overachieving in all categories when compared with the industry average, it never "overachieves" as an "Industry Best" or "Overall Best" involving workers, customers, shareholders and governance, communities, and environments.
The real IBM story was in JUST Capital's 2025 detailed information.
Although, JUST Capital's stated desire is to help corporations improve their performance, putting detailed information behind its firewalls does little to help the industry understand how companies are truly performing as can be seen in the following charts. They document that IBM--although overachieving in all categories when compared with the industry average, it never "overachieves" as an "Industry Best" or "Overall Best" involving workers, customers, shareholders and governance, communities, and environments.
The real IBM story was in JUST Capital's 2025 detailed information.
The following 2025 JUST Capital chart reflects IBM's inability to perform as either the "Industry Best" or "Overall Best" in any of JUST Capitals' five categories: Workers, Customers, Shareholders and Governance, Communities and Environment.
The following 2026 JUST Capital chart reflects that IBM has fallen from JUST Capitals' Top 100 Companies overall.
This is summarized information to make a point. The complete data is located here: [JUST Capital Rankings].
This is summarized information to make a point. The complete data is located here: [JUST Capital Rankings].
Select the chart to see the information on the JUST Capital website.