Lou Gerstner wrote, "People truly do what you inspect, not what you expect." … Lest we forget, these "inspection pages" exist because chief executives are "people" too.
Arvind Krishna: IBM's 2020-24 Employee Revenue and Profit Productivity
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Date Published: April 11, 2022
Date Modified: September 18, 2025 |
Arvind Krishna's 2020-24 Employee Revenue and Profit Productivity
- Evaluating IBM's 2020-24 Employee Sales and Profit Productivity
- Arvind Krishna: IBM's 2020-24 Employee Sales Productivity
- Arvind Krishna: IBM's 2020-24 Employee Profit Productivity
As the reader will discern from these charts, IBM's employee sales productivity and profit productivity have been dropping for a very long time—more than two decades. Although at first blush it would superficially appear that Arvind Krishna has stopped the downward trend in employee productivity, inflation considerations tell a deeper, more concerning story: employee revenue productivity continues falling and employee profit productivity, although no longer falling, has flatlined.
Review these charts and the numbers they contain and decide for yourself.
Review these charts and the numbers they contain and decide for yourself.
Evaluating IBM's 2020-24 Employee Sales and Profit Productivity
What were Arvind Krishna's and IBM's revenue and profit productivity performance numbers for the last four years?
- IBM's sales productivity per employee for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 were:
- For 2020 down 2.4%
- For 2021 down 4.9%
- For 2022 up 4.3%
- For 2023 up 4.2%
- For 2024 up 5.6%
- Sales productivity is up 6.4% since 1999 when Arvind Krishna took over IBM from Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty. Meanwhile inflation over the same five years was up 21.2%. IBM's sales productivity did not keep up with inflation.
- IBM's profit productivity per employee for the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 were:
- For 2020 down 39.4%
- For 2021 up 25.3%
- For 2022 up 5.3%
- For 2023 up 25%
- For 2024 down 16.5%
- Profit productivity is down 16.5% since 1999 when Arvind Krishna took over IBM from Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty. Meanwhile inflation would exaggerate this downturn if considered, as inflation over the same five years was up 21.2%.
Arvind Krishna: IBM's 2020-24 Employee Sales Productivity
- Arvind Krishna: IBM"s 2020-2024 Employee Sales Productivity
- IBM Employee Revenue or Sales Productivity was up 6.4% since the end of 2019, falling 2.4% in 2020 and 4.9% in 2021 but increasing 4.3% in 2022, 4.2% in 2023, and 5.6% in 2024. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees in 2024 produced sales at a higher level than the corporation's 2019 employees: $201,008 (2019) vs. $213,882 (2024).
The chart below depicts the inflation rate over this five year period but does not consider its impact.
Inflation was up almost 22% *
- IBM Employee Revenue or Sales Productivity was up 6.4% since the end of 2019, falling 2.4% in 2020 and 4.9% in 2021 but increasing 4.3% in 2022, 4.2% in 2023, and 5.6% in 2024. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees in 2024 produced sales at a higher level than the corporation's 2019 employees: $201,008 (2019) vs. $213,882 (2024).
- Krishna & Rometty: IBM's 2011–2024 Employee Sales Productivity
- IBM Employee Revenue or Sales Productivity was down 11.6% since the end of 2011. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees in 2024 produced sales at a lower level than the corporation's 2019 employees: $229,244 (2019) vs. $213,882 (2024).
Again, the chart below displays but does not consider the impact of inflation over this timeframe.
Inflation was up almost 40%: 39.5%.*
- IBM Employee Revenue or Sales Productivity was down 11.6% since the end of 2011. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees in 2024 produced sales at a lower level than the corporation's 2019 employees: $229,244 (2019) vs. $213,882 (2024).
- Krishna, Rometty, Palmisano & Gerstner: IBM's 1999–2024 Employee Sales Productivity
- IBM Employee Revenue or Sales Productivity was down 13.4% since the end of 1999. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees is now producing $33,166 less revenue than in 1999—not taking inflation into consideration. The chart below quantifies the impact of inflation—54% less revenue production per employee.
- If a 2024 IBM employee were as productive of revenue as a 1999 IBM employee—considering inflation, 2024 revenues would have been $137 billion, not $62 billion.* All stakeholders should be asking why the top executives at IBM are failing in such a critical area as improving employee sales productivity. If the IBM corporation can't beat inflation, what chance to they have against the real competition in the marketplace?
The chart below depicts the impact of inflation on an IBM employee's sales productivity in the 21st Century.
Arvind Krishna: IBM's 2020-24 Employee Profit Productivity
- Arvind Krishna: IBM's 2020-2024 Employee Profit Productivity
- IBM Employee Net Income or Profit Productivity is down 16.5% since the end of 2019, falling 39.4% in 2020 but recovering over the next three years by increasing 25.3% in 2021, 5.3% in 2022, and 25% in 2023. Unfortunately, profit productivity fell 16.5% in 2024. Every IBM employee in 2024 produced $4,045 less than an IBM employee in 2019.
The chart below depicts the inflation rate over this five year period but does not consider its impact.
Inflation was up almost 22% *
- IBM Employee Net Income or Profit Productivity is down 16.5% since the end of 2019, falling 39.4% in 2020 but recovering over the next three years by increasing 25.3% in 2021, 5.3% in 2022, and 25% in 2023. Unfortunately, profit productivity fell 16.5% in 2024. Every IBM employee in 2024 produced $4,045 less than an IBM employee in 2019.
- Krishna & Rometty: IBM's 2011–2024 Employee Profit Productivity
- IBM Employee Net Income or Profit Productivity is down 39.6% since the end of 2011 and fell 42.3% after reaching a profit productivity high in 2012. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees is now producing $13,428 less profit than in 2011-2013. IBM hit a profit productivity brick wall in 2011-2013 after a decade of financial engineering—acquisitions, divestitures and pension plan changes, and workload rebalancing—outsourcing employment to lower-wage but less-productive organizations overseas.
Inflation over this thirteen-year period was up almost 40%: 39.5%.*
- IBM Employee Net Income or Profit Productivity is down 39.6% since the end of 2011 and fell 42.3% after reaching a profit productivity high in 2012. Every one of IBM's 293,400 employees is now producing $13,428 less profit than in 2011-2013. IBM hit a profit productivity brick wall in 2011-2013 after a decade of financial engineering—acquisitions, divestitures and pension plan changes, and workload rebalancing—outsourcing employment to lower-wage but less-productive organizations overseas.
- Krishna, Rometty, Palmisano, & Gerstner: IBM's 1999-2024 Employee Profit Productivity
- IBM profit productivity in 2024 is down by 5.7% since 1999, but when inflation is taken into account, it has actually fallen by almost 50%: 49.9%. IBM's 2011-2013 Employee Profit Productivity brick wall is best visualized in this chart showing that since 2011-2013, employee profit productivity is down 42.2% and when considering inflation down 57.1%.
This chart visualizes the impact of inflation on an IBM employee's profit productivity in the 21st Century.
- IBM profit productivity in 2024 is down by 5.7% since 1999, but when inflation is taken into account, it has actually fallen by almost 50%: 49.9%. IBM's 2011-2013 Employee Profit Productivity brick wall is best visualized in this chart showing that since 2011-2013, employee profit productivity is down 42.2% and when considering inflation down 57.1%.
* Inflation numbers are from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.