IBM Japan Ltd is not risking the opprobrium that fell on Eastman Kodak Co when it fired two thirds of its Japanese researchers and withdrew offers of employment it had made to graduates, but it does want to get its 25,000-strong workforce down by 1,200. It is offering its 3,000 employees over the age of 50 a voluntary early retirement programme under which they will get full retirement benefits and a year and a half of extra pay if they leave the company and start their own companies in businesses related to IBM. IBM Japan said it will not consider measures that would force employees out despite its economic woes because of customary lifelong employment in Japan. Some observers reckon Kodak’s business will be so poor in the wake of its lay-offs that it might as well depart Japan altogether.
