Kyndryl takes employees' pulse while cutting off circulation for some

Timing is everything. On the same day last week that Kyndryl told staff they were at risk of redundancy, a pulse survey landed on the desks of the entire workforce. The short questionnaire is used by organizations to measure sentiment toward the business, typically comprising one to 20 questions and sent weekly, monthly, or quarterly. It's a process that is commonplace across the world of work. Except on Wednesday, May 20, it happened to coincide with Kyndryl telling certain employees that their roles may get chopped. A source told us voluntary redundancy was offered in the first instance, including four months' salary. "With the hundreds that are on TUPE terms, I can't see a huge uptake but it may persuade some of the newer ones," claimed an insider. "As a (slightly) amusing aside and to show how joined up we are, the pulse survey went out on Wednesday afternoon just after most of the company had been told they were at risk." Kyndryl told us last week it is trying to "address labor costs" in some countries, including the UK. This followed financial results for the year ended March 31 when revenue grew $63 million to $15.057 billion and net profit shrank 21 percent to $198 million. Charges for severance are forecast at $200 million. A spokesperson at Kyndryl – the infrastructure tech services division that was spun out of IBM in 2021 – sent a statement to The Register on the distribution of the pulse survey. "Since becoming an independent company, we've invited Kyndryls globally to share input in a survey about our culture and workplace twice per year. This is part of our commitment to listen and take action based on employee feedback." At the end of last week, the tech biz held a town hall meeting with workers, according to a source, which we're told lasted about four minutes and gave away very few details. "Now teams are being asked to fill in their 'goals for 2027' when they don't even know if they will have a job," our source claimed. "Insensitive doesn't even come into it, all the while HR are saying how much empathy and respect they are showing." As we mentioned, timing is everything. The Reg suspects not everyone is entirely happy about the recent run of events, and may use the pulse survey to make those feelings heard loud and clear. ®