In Australia earlier this month IBM GSA confirmed that 400 employees would have to find redeployment because their positions were being terminated. Hewlett Packard also announced it would shave up to 600 people off its Australian workforce as a result of its recent merger with Compaq Computer.
On the worldwide stage other major tech companies, such as Nortel and WorldCom, have also been rumoured to be looking at job cuts.
However, while some companies are simply keeping mum on layoff rumours, others are denying analyst estimates.
While in China recently, Oracle's chairman and CEO Larry Ellison denied talk of impending job cuts, despite market analysts' expectations that the company was to reduce up to 800 positions. Although Oracle earlier this week confirmed that it reduced 200 positions from its development team, the company indicated there weren't further cuts.
-We have no plans for layoffs," Ellison said. -It's interesting to read the newspapers as I find I'm doing things which I never knew about."
Steven Hayes, managing director at recruitment consultancy IT&T Careers, said that rumours of big numbers expected from some retrenchments added continued fuel to the fire regarding negativity.
-As far as candidates looking, it decreases morale and motivation," Hayes said. -They think they need to start looking at their career options outside of IT because of the volume of people coming onto the market."
Yet, potential layoffs may not cause IT professionals to necessarily stay put. A survey by analyst firm META Group in the US found that companies there were finding high voluntary departure rates, and a shift from recruitment to retention.
-Surprisingly, given the difficult economic climate, voluntary departure rates at technology companies continue to be high, with the average turnover for all reporting companies at 10 percent," the study's author Maria Schafer said in a statement.
Irene Tham contributed to this story.
