Lotus Lops 183 More People From Payroll

On Wednesday, the IBM subsidiary notified 183 people,primarily in marketing and sales,that they would no longer be needed, spokeswoman Maryrose Greenough said.

Greenough said there will be no further cuts for the foreseeable future. With the layoffs, total Lotus employment now stands at 6,617. Total employees,including IBM Software Group staff dedicated to Lotus back office jobs, human resources, finance, and legal departments,brings the total to 7,500, she noted. Lotus "re-aligned" those departments in January 2000.

But people inside and close to Lotus, Cambridge, Mass., still expect deeper cuts. An IBM insider familiar with the situation said last month the company needed to cut 1,100 jobs in order to contribute an IBM-mandated $175 million in profit. Lotus does not comment on revenue or profits, Greenough said.

There had been employee attrition but nothing beyond the industry norm, she added. Lotus has redeployed other employees to the IBM Software Group, especially "where there were redundancies," she noted.

The changes mirror some consolidation already done at Tivoli Systems, another IBM Software Group subsidiary.

Lotus, which makes Domino and Notes, is in a bruising e-mail marketshare battle with Microsoft Exchange. Even insiders have slammed the company, calling it over-staffed and bureaucratic.

"They could lose a lot of people and you'd never know the difference," said one.