Company: IBM
Date: 2012-04-01
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former

Bureaucratic giant focused on cost reductions and controls
Pros: Benefits are decent and generally speaking I found it easy to get personal time off when needed. My organization was spread out across the globe, so while I worked at an IBM office, I could work from home whenever I needed/wanted.
Cons: After 34 years I was selected to participate in a "Resource Action". I was given 30 days to find another job or be out the door. (I was out the door.) These RAs, always the end of the second month of a quarter, are designed to lower costs quickly. They are a common occurrence and because there are so many organizations the overall numbers are never high enough to get media coverage. It is a cloud over every employee's head. 

Executive management doesn't want to hear bad news, so middle management will spin any problem to save themselves. Even bad programs/products get out the door, the management in charge get their awards and move up and out before stuff hits the fan. Then new management has to fix the problem that they didn't cause.

Non-performing employees are kept around because headcount is so micromanaged that if someone is let go, there's a good chance that there will never be a backfill. So, managers are continually faced with the problem of keeping a bad performer around just to save the spot or save it until they're forced to make an RA selection. 

Expenses are micro-managed. In my Group, if you asked for $8 business cards, you had to go through reviews and get half a dozen upper managers to okay it - oh, and provide a list of external customers that you interfaced with to prove that the cards would be used in a clear revenue opportunity. Just before I left, the edict came out from CHQ - no external monitors or minidocks if you had a laptop. SW and HW developers writing code, running scripts, compiling, debugging in multiple windows, why would they need an external LCD monitor to actually see what they're doing??? Penny wise and pound foolish. Be prepared to buy things you'll need to do your job with your own dime.

It is clear that the goal is to reduce US headcount and increase headcount in those countries where the P/Y rate is a third of what it is in the US. That would be a good financial decision if those individuals had the necessary skills AND if they stuck around to do work and provide continuity. Turnover in those countries is very high because the employees are focused solely on making more money (who can blame them). 

IBM is clearly not the company I went to work for 34 years ago. We used to be proud to be IBMers. Today it is a paycheck. IBM tries to recruit from the best schools and the pay is competitive in the beginning, but by year 4, those hires will be behind their peers in other companies. IBM may have more patents than any other company, but it doesn't play out in how they reward their employees in job opportunities and advancement.