Concerns regarding job cuts and cultural shifts were raised when Red Hat employees were told that beginning in early 2026, IBM would take over HR, finance, legal, and other back-office staff.

Red Hat, a subsidiary of IBM, is moving many of its back-office employees and the techies who work with them to the mothership. The migration is scheduled to begin in early 2026, and some observers might be shocked that it didn't happen sooner. On September 3, company insiders were informed of the change.

As per a message distributed to staff members, the majority of those employed in Red Hat's HR, finance, accounting, and legal departments, as well as those in general and administrative areas, will be joining IBM.

According to a source, the changeover will go into effect this year, while legal restrictions may cause it to take longer in other nations. Red Hat staff will still be in charge of those teams. Some people are anxious about the change because computer corporations, like IBM, are getting rid of redundant jobs in order to streamline back-office operations. Similar to previous years, IBM projected $3.5 billion in annual savings in January, partly as a result of job losses.

Although the number of G&A employees at Red Hat is unknown, the company employs over 19,000 people globally, the majority of whom work in the engineering, sales, and support departments. The remaining Red Hat staff will be members of Mike Ferris's core Strategy & Operations department. Therefore, there will be no impact on engineering, product, sales, or marketing staff. At least for now. Some people don't appear to be too affected by the relocation to IBM, believing they already collaborate closely with their Big Blue colleagues.

Purple_Afternoon966, a Reddit member, asserted that micromanagement and out-of-touch judgments from middle managers had supplanted Red Hat's culture for at least a year. In April 2023, the corporation let go of 800 workers, or 4% of its total staff. Red Hat was purchased by IBM for $34 billion in 2019 and has remained mostly autonomous up to this point. Given that Red Hat will make around $6.5 billion in 2024, some staff members are concerned that recent back-office adjustments portend more significant changes.