Company: IBM
Date: 2015-09-04
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current

Director
Pros: Joined IBM in the mid 90s when Gerstner was turning the company around. Management was focused and respected, and IBMers were engaged to solve clients' problems. Compensation was rewarding and motivating. Career opportunity was vast and global. Stock split twice. Morale and camaraderie made work exciting and fun. This trend ended in 2005 with IBM's first "2010 Earnings Roadmap" when Finance began enriching IBM's CEO and senior leadership with huge restricted stock rewards, earned by outsourcing in Brazil, India, etc. and on the backs of tens of thousands of terminated IBMers. All the while, IBM could not grow topline revenue and instead spent more than $100 billion on stock buybacks to manufacture earnings.
Cons: Today IBM is in a death spiral. IBM's second "2010 Earnings Roadmap" and constant workforce rebalancing (layoffs) have left IBMers afraid and disengaged. IBM promotes its values and corporate character as a "great company," but tens of thousands of IBMers, mostly in the U.S. have been resourced regardless of performance to make up for management's inability to grow top line revenue. IBM does an annual IBMer Engagement census survey but doesn't share the results with employees as year over year scores continue to plummet. IBM dispicably practices age discrimination and no longer provides data on resource actions for fear of litigation. If you're over 50, you're on a list and sooner or later your number will come up. IBM's poor reputation as an employer means it can no longer attract or retain top talent.