Company: IBM
Date: 2012-04-11
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former

Utter disbelief and ordained bureaucracy
Pros: Medical and dental.  Vision, retirement.  There is really nothing else nice to say about it except that it was a job in a horrendous economy, but I swear the job is worse.  I quit even before I landed a new one.  The risk was well worth it.
Cons: Managment.  They are incompetent.  At our "huddles" (those were meant for disparaging remarks about how you're not utilizing time to close tickets -- wheras if we didn't have 2 huddles per day we could use that time to work on closing tickets) we would constantly get belittled and briefed on how our team would not meet SLA's on time, and that how our 2nd line manager & above were "so disappointed in our performance".  (they didn't care)  Last year for PBC's, the company had a knack for giving everyone "3's" when hard work was performed, and my manager did not perform the monthly performance review.  I was forced to move out of a team that I had experience with, into a team where I didn't have experience, and got a less than satisfactory performance review for 2011 because of that.  All my fault then..  Also for the grease on the chain: our manager at the time  unprofessionally espoused that we were "bellyaching" too much when we complained about the bureaucracy, false promises, and less than fashionable work environment.  A 3 on your PBC is an automatic career crusher at this company. You can't really live that down.  Just quit.

Hours.  They pay you little and expect you to "chip in" to an already corrupt environment.  Time and a half was good, but if you worked those long hours, you will have 0 time to yourself.  You will be on the computer for *days* for a less that reputable company that does not care if you succeed in it's domain.  Not to mention stress on personal life and family.  Many have moved back to where their families are because the investment is not worth it.  Don't worry though: that's the way the GDC is designed.  Horrible morale, too many hours, low pay and at least a 45% turnover.  The execs know what they're doing...

Facilities.  Not only is the GDF(C) model horrible, the facilities there are less than accomodating .  Floors 5-9 have 2 stalls for over 100 males to each floor.  You constantly have to play elevator tag or stair spelunking to find a restroom facility.  Disgruntled employees also vandalize it, when they aren't able to just put their discernment about this prison into an online review.  There was a recent incident regarding a disgruntled employee in the conference room that was so out of line, that it really can't be mentioned verbatim on this review.  It was akin to leaving a "prank in a bag" on someone's porch when we were kids.  Not exactly that, but same ballpark.

Parking.  Although exercise is good, there isn't a parking lot for the employees near the facility, and the parking that is nearby isn't free.  Most utilize the nearby casino and have to leave work between the hours of _:__ and _:__ in order to make the trolley ride.  This became a blunder to the oblivious employees that just started at the company thinking that they have landed some sort of dream job.

Morale. Mentioned already, it's low.  And if it's not, it will be.  There is no reasonable help when you have questions about the job you're performing.  The managers don't have the answer because more than likely they just left a job managing teenage girls at "The Gap" in Elizabethtown, KY.  Fellow employees are so and so.  Sometimes you'll find decent help, but then will get yelled at for asking for help too much; so the best thing to do is not ask for help.  *I also recommend not taking a lunch or 'eating while you work' to be able to leave an hour early.  

Upper Mgmt.  2nd line and above do *not* care about you.  They are making their salary and you're not.  More than likely: if you're in a team that is chaotic and and has no paradigm of operation, your manager *is* aware and will eventually stop blaming you at huddles because he will get promoted to one of the other low morale, no team-spirit, IT GDF witch-hunts.  And to go higher than that: do you really think that the folks in Armonk want to rectify this situation for you?  No.  They want to fix the GDF, so it profits more, and will sacrifice many a attrition to get it to where they want it - with or without you.  U2 are some sort of prophets, I guess ..  I am trying to give this corporate giant a break though.  They only profited in the billions in 2011.  They can't afford to justify the means for the hard working employees, let alone pay their psychiatrist bill..

Clients.  There is so much red tape and fine print with clients and this machine, that you don't ever know what to do when trying to do your job.  Then when the end result culminates to "less than satisfactory, reprehensible, defamatory, and atrocious creshendo; it's your fault for not working hard enough.  Understood.  I will make a note of that and put it in the drawer at my cubicle that I am sharing with 2 other people.