Company: IBM
Date: 2014-06-10
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Great potential blocked by short-term focus of senior leadership in Armonk
Pros: Great people, good benefits, stable company, culture of trying to do good for the world through innovation.  Industry-leading technology in some areas.  There are many pockets of people trying to do the right thing for IBM despite HQ Finance's direction.
Cons: It's frustrating always to be losing colleagues who quit because they got frustrated with IBM's 2015 Roadmap-driven lack of investment in areas that would provide sustainable competitive advantage - both in technology and compensation.  Employees are treated as interchangeable resources - history and experience don't matter when Finance orders its annual job cuts.  This has demoralized the workforce and inhibited innovative thinking.  People are afraid to transfer internally within IBM because they likely will be the first selected should a Resource Action hit their new organization; as a result, cross-pollination of experience and skills that used to lead to great innovations just isn't happening.