RIM Cuts Go Into Effect

Most of us know Research in Motion, or RIM for short, as the maker of the line of Blackberry smart phones that are often carried by business and political figures. For those of you who are familiar with the company here is a look at how the company has chosen to describes itself, “Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.”

Then again if you are an avid reader of this site you may know Research in Motion for a much different reason. You may know them as a company that is getting ready to do some big time laying off. For those of you who are not familiar with the layoffs rumors that were surrounding the company here is an excerpt from our earlier coverage that will get you up to speed in no time at all, “Well it looks like Research In Motion is about to put some of its staff in motion, the kind of motion that brings them to the unemployment line. According to reports being made around the web the company is getting ready to cut back on between 2,000 and 6,000 of its workers. If that seems like a wide range to you don’t worry, you’re not alone. The 2,000 number comes from the Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper that first broke the story. The 6,000 worker estimate comes from reporters at Reuters who despite confirming the minimum number of 2,000 jobs to be lost wrote, “One source close to the company told Reuters the impending layoffs could hit as many as 6,000 people and affect RIM’s legal, marketing, sales, operations, and human resources divisions.’”

Well, it looks like the time is coming for the workers of Research in Motion to begin the long process of looking for new jobs, as the company has begun its round of layoffs. The company has not, at the time of the writing of this piece, released a statement about the layoffs, so there are a lot of things left up in the air. The company has not said what kind of benefits, if any, they intend to give to the workers of the company who are being given the boot en mass. They have also not stated which areas are going to be the most deeply effected by the cuts that are coming down now.

The only information about the cuts being made thus far is coming from the Twitter feed of Martin Chmiel, who makes it his business to watch and report on the actions of major companies. In his tweets he has said the manufacturing units for the company are taking the highest number of hits.