Company: IBM
Date: 2008-10-06
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Single-minded focus on cost cutting is killing the company
Pros: At this point, the pay is good and the vacation plan is great (for a long time employee).  The technical challenges are outstanding.
Cons: I have little or no faith that any of the benefits that value to me will continue to be offered.  There is too much emphasis on squeezing blood from the stone by continuing to cut costs - all in the interest of increased net income.  The focus isn't on growing revenue, it's on net income ... so the costs must come down.  All of that burden falls on the employees in the form of fewer resources (mostly staffing, but also increased times to replace obsolete hardware), benefit cuts (mostly in reductions in pensions and increases in health care costs), and depressing facilities (lousy cafeterias, unpainted buildings, unrepaired sidewalks, etc).  The workforce is stressed out, burned out, and worn out.