An unofficial online employee Web site, IBMemployee.com, says massive layoffs are coming to Big Blue later this month.

While IBM spokesman Fred McNeese says the company “does not comment on rumors or speculation,” there’s plenty of both on the site. (RecordOnline)

Shares of Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) are trading lower this morning following a somewhat bearish article published in this weekend’s edition of Barron’s. While the main point of the article focuses on Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) recent decision to sell Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone in its stores, the column has negative overtones for other smartphone makers such as Research In Motion, Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). (StreetInsider)

At least 600,000 jobs could go in the UK in 2009, according to a report by a personnel managers’ professional body.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says even those who escape redundancy face pay freezes.

It says that while total unemployment will not hit three million, the time between New Year and Easter will be the worst for job losses since 1991. (BBC)

Hon Hai chairman Terry Guo said the world’s largest ODM/EMS firm will cut 3 to 5% of its staff, which according to Hon Hai’s website is more than 400,000, but which other sources have pegged at more than 450,000 in China alone. It is unclear whether recently announced cuts of up to 1,500 employees in Hungary are included in Guo’s latest announcement. (PCD&F)

Unisys Corp. has begun eliminating 1,300 jobs as part of an initial spate of cost-cutting actions that will reduce its annual expenses by $225 million.

Unisys (NYSE: UIS) also will consolidate offices, stop making matching contributions to its employees’ 401(k) plans, which it said had been costing it $50 million a year, and freeze salaries in most of its markets next year. (BizJournals)

Silicon Storage Technology, the Sunnyvale maker of flash memory, said it is in the process of cutting 120 employees, or 17 percent of its staff, according to a filing it made Friday. The action is being taken “to streamline the organization going forward” so as to “to reflect changes in anticipated levels of business.” (SJ Merc News)

French investment bank Natixis said Friday it will shed around 840 jobs by the end of 2009 and slash riskier activity such as trading with its own cash as part of a shake-up of the entire bank.
Among the measures being taken are an end to all proprietary trading in credit and structured credit, where the bank currently has around 19 billion euros ($27 billion) in risk weighted assets. (MarketWatch)

Polaroid Corp. announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Minnesota-based company said it is taking itself and its subsidiaries into bankruptcy in order to restructure its finances. (CNN)

Ad industry holding company Omnicom Group is prepping to lay off nearly 5 percent of its 70,000-person global workforce, per AdAge. The trade pub’s unidentified sources would not confirm which divisions or agencies would be affected by the cuts?which could ultimately affect 3,500 workers?but BBDO is expected to take a large hit, given that it’s Chrysler’s agency of record (and the auto giant has been slashing its ad spend). The news comes on the heels of another AdAge report that PHD, a media agency under Omnicom’s umbrella, is shutting its Atlanta office and laying off 30 staff. It is unclear whether PHD’s cuts are part of the larger layoff plan. (Washington Post)

Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Britain’s Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), will inform employees about layoffs only after the new year, the New York Post said, citing sources.

Barclays executives including President Bob Diamond decided to hold off on the layoff news, which is expected to affect some 3,000 employees, until the beginning of next year, the paper said. (Reuters)