Company: IBM
Date: 2008-08-21
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Stable employee with a good work/life balance but definitely run for the benefit of shareholders.
Pros: Plenty of oportunites to move around in different positions, every now and then some very good oportunites come along to completely reskill. 

Huge amount of experience can be called upon when needed and technical staff to technical staff relationships are easy going and relaxed.

Lots of free education available however it's delivered in a very basic form.

Excellent work life balance on the contract I work on, very flexible with regard to accomodating family issues.

Even though the pension plan has changed and is no longer full-final-salary linked, it's a lot better than many other companies.
Cons: There is no mistaking that the company is run for the benefit of shareholders, the bureaucracy around even the smallest spend is astounding. There is very little loyalty by the company towards employees which then reflects on employees attitudes towards customers. Many employees feel very let down by the company with regard to pay rises this year (2008) as the company made record profits however only the very top performers had their pay increased, this is not the first year this has happened. Experience has shown that contracts are defined and signed with customers without proper consultation with the staff that would implement those contracts. Spend on training is usually the first to go when budgets are tight which is a constant situation in the GTS division. Many employees who are not suited to project management have been placed in those positions it seems just to fill roles, this has the potential of causing lots of satisfaction issues with the customers and employees. Since I joined, from what I can remember, I haven't seen a single initiative to reduce bureaucracy or streamline processes.