Company: IBM
Date: 2013-03-29
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Senior

Paralysed by process, Share price obsession top priority, Clients second priority, Staff 10th priority
Pros: Excellent technology strategy and products.  Strong Brand.  Good credentials.  Employees have good tools for working at home.  Whole IT infrastructure is robust and rarely fails. Generally staff are respectful and talented with some management exceptions.  Benefits are acceptable. Salaries appear below market rates.
Cons: IBM efforts to reduce expense cost means the staff are increasingly meeting the day to day costs of the business i.e. self funding cell phones, stationary, some client hospitability.  Working for IBM costs the employees money. Expenses are difficult to claim and are often rejected even when completely legitimate  Long work hours are expected.  Some offices are in a poor state of repair and require attention (dirty carpets, broken chairs, broken phones, data ports not functioning, leaking ceilings, broken elevators) Processes are difficult and prohibitive making the working day painful and frustrating.  Sales staff are driven in an unacceptable manner to achieve quarterly goals.  Clients are now being driven in the same way to do deals.  Corporate Money being diverted to growth markets and mature markets are having most back office functions outsourced to Asia/S America etc.  The consequence is day-to-day business operations for USA and Europe is now more projected and onerous having moved out of the host country. Clients are also finding this a challenge too.