BGR has confirmed with a trusted source that the rumored next round of layoffs that Research In Motion (RIMM) has been planning will indeed commence next week. Our source has informed us that RIM will reduce its workforce by 3,000 employees over the next couple of weeks, and that “people are terrified” at RIM because they don’t know who will be affected. Workers have been told that aside from employees working on BlackBerry 10, “no department is out of bounds” for this latest round of reductions. Our source went on to say that “employees packing their desks in anticipation” of next week. RIM provided BGR with the following statement:
UPDATE: RIM clarified that any layoffs that take place will be part of the 5,000 jobs RIM said it will eliminate by the end of the year.
RIM announced on June 28 that it will reduce its global workforce by approximately 5,000 over the course of the remaining fiscal year. These are difficult but necessary changes to help achieve operational cost savings of over $1 billion. RIM remains committed to ensuring that the reductions made do not impact key programs such as BlackBerry 10, customer support or BlackBerry service levels.