IBM reviews

After 40 years of employment at IBM, there are no longer any “Pros” to report. IBM once was the greatest place to work, but has since devolved into a gigantic mismanaged mess. The downward trend began right after Mr. Louis Gerstner resigned as CEO.

The “Cons” of working at IBM are: no pay increases above 1% (every other year if at all) Actual salary range is 56,000 annual On call 24 hrs a day 7 days a week (only if you are not in management) Given 5 weeks annual vacation, but you are not allowed use any of them, due to severe personnel shortages.

Started out with a pension. Over the course of 40 years it has been taken away three times, then reinstated 10 years later. So it is a worthless perk (400.00 a month)

Focus on technology and growing the customer base. The only focus, over decades, is reducing margins and offshoring as much of the company as possible, to make it look like management is growing the company.

I had to pass an engineering and general aptitude test first before being granted an interview. Nowadays you just need to have preferred pronouns.

Nothing

Well below average

DEI is IBM’s primary focus. Actual abilities are secondary.

My customers. Being able to provide them with the level of service that they expect and pay for.

Amazing people working at the individual contributor level.

Constant reorganization and layoffs leading to constant instability and lack of upward opportunities.

Stock options

Treat inclusion as if it applies to all individuals.

Studying the annual report and determining how I might fit into the companies goals and objectives.

It seems to be about 10% below the market average.

Diversity is emphasized over skills and abilities. I’ve seen many times where individuals without the necessary skills and experience are placed in a role over someone else in the name of diversity.

Seeing the employees that report to me exceed and get promoted.

Name recognition, initial training program. Truly multicultural company.

Upper management focused on making their bonuses vs what is best for customers, employees and company. Working under constant threat of layoffs. Too focused on meeting diversity quotas vs hiring and promoting for performance. Career advancement: it’s who you know, not what you know. Age discrimination is rampant! You can make more money at IBM’s competitors.

Initial training program. Afterwards, get out and go elsewhere!

Good salary, nominal raises.

Staggeringly incompetent management. Lots of coercion. Rankings are only for HR hiring numbers, performance means nothing.

Better at spotting snake oil

incompetent.

Remove the CEO, and his peeps

Often people come in through acquisition. I was hired multiple times.

IBM is a tier 2-3 company and pays accordingly.

Serious lack of skills.

Solving problems, leading teams, changing the way things are done

Good people around and they are generally understanding of your needs. In my position I had a lot of different activities, so it was never boring

Little actual direction or coaching, though a lot of paperwork to fill. A lot of the challenges were resolved by the cheapest way possible that creates even bigger problems in the long run.

Education available to employees to progress skills

Age discrimination

Benefits - 401K, Pension

The outages.

Decent co-workers

None They brought me on as a contractor. There were minimal benefits.

You ALWAYS have to look over your shoulder wondering if the current day will be your last due to a layoff. The stress is not just about the actual work, but knowing that your days are always numbered if you are a US-based employee.

I worked as a consultant for the last 20 years.

I can't comment on this since I was not an IBM employee. However, it was great when I worked as a contractor.

Flexibility

Better understanding of the employees needs.

The company I was doing consulting was acquired by IBM.

As a subcontractor it was a reasonable salary

fine

My coworkers and my managers.

My dream company

Too much dependent on Mangers, Managers. Are more than God

Esop

Always inspire and motivated

Yes remove managers as de centralized

Two days prepare for the interview had a panel of six to seven people interview

Less than industry

Its ok for diversity

Respect the new ideas for new thinking

peers

environment, company not following it's values but insists the employees do

there are none

The current CEO is not transparent

Be honest

I knew my stuff

Amazing people working at the individual contributor level.

Constant reorganization and layoffs leading to constant instability and lack of upward opportunities.

Stock options

Treat inclusion as if it applies to all individuals.

Studying the annual report and determining how I might fit into the companies goals and objectives.

It seems to be about 10% below the market average.

Diversity is emphasized over skills and abilities. I’ve seen many times where individuals without the necessary skills and experience are placed in a role over someone else in the name of diversity.

Seeing the employees that report to me exceed and get promoted.

I like the Innovation and impact to the world

I don't like the global impacts on the organizational structure

favorite perk/benefit: Bonus

They have a lot of contacts and knowledge sharing information.

Their culture could be hierarchical and sometimes politice

Participate in many associations.

Name recognition, initial training program. Truly multicultural company.

Upper management focused on making their bonuses vs what is best for customers, employees and company. Working under constant threat of layoffs. Too focused on meeting diversity quotas vs hiring and promoting for performance. Career advancement: it’s who you know, not what you know. Age discrimination is rampant! You can make more money at IBM’s competitors.

Initial training program. Afterwards, get out and go elsewhere!

Opportunities

Hours

I enjoyed the large learning opportunities with large clients.

Base Compensation, strong peer team

Always the threat of a layoff.

Well funded 401k

I worked for IBM for nearly 17 years,I have returned under Global Foundries for 4 years now. Excellent work/life balance. Management and team members are easy to work with. Pay isn't bad either.

Discounts at gyms

Experience

I want to learn from these company

Working within the company to learn a lot of skills

None

No future

Stupid management

I have been freedom to implement my ideas during my work.

Management or Corporate policies

Work From Home

Coworkers were great.

Cut down departments but work stayed the same.

Yearly Cash benefit from company.

Ability to advance my skills and mobility to transfer within the company

That's personal to the 1980's

Conferences and traveling to audit my function in other California offices

The best thing is Work-life balance

Too much manager centric

Basic pay and salary benefits

Intellectual stimulation & Training

PMI and IBM project management certification.

Training, learning experience, great work-life balance

Salary

options to keep learning from other areas

I liked the technical aspect of it. Every day presented a new challenge and it was my responsibility to come up with a solution.

I felt undervalued towards the end.

Working from home.

Opportunities to grow. Cute edge technology. 500 futune customers, innovative

Lack of agility

Incentive Plan

Great environment, amazing people, great pay

nothing.

health benefits and pay.

The Professionalism and the global working environment

Nothing, I liked almost everything

Financial and knowledge

You meet some amazing and talented people who are more than supportive towards your growth and development on the job.

Some of the tasks on the job tend to repetitive and sometime it doesn't leave with much time to learn new skills.

Flexibility with remote working

People are smart, innovative and motivated.

N/A

Contributions are respected.

Very smart people to work with

Lots of pressure on sales.

Work from home and management of hours

Work-life flexibility

Nothing

Work from home convenience, pension plan, benefits, and pay.

Very relaxing atmosphere with a workout included!

Awesome all the time!

The atmosphere!!

Colleagues

Micromanaging

My favorite perk was to be able to work from home

Young team, exploiring new ways of working

traditional

Flexibility, working on various projects, never a dull moment

Decent pay, okay benefits

Frequent layoffs, lack of job security. People are eliminated but not the work, so those remaining have to pick up more. Working 50-60 hours per week or more is common.

Work from home (unless you live within 50 miles of some locations) and flexibility in work hours

flexibility to work from home and working under minial supervison

Poor ethics and poor management

travel alowance

Great teams, unlimited resources. You might work with someone from Germany and Spain, South America and Texas.

Cafeteria, I didn’t like too my of the things they had to eat.

I could set my own 8 hours.

Flexibility, work Life Balance, benefits, integrity

Medical Aid and Pension

The education, the challenge the prestige

Not enough out of the box thinking

The Golden Circle award I won. Trip to Bali for 12 days. Was amazing.

Working with great people, and excellent benefits

The company has been transitioning for several years.

Working from home

Ability to progress upwardly by moving into many roles

Too much inward focus vs customer focus

Healthcare

The people

IBM is so large it can be challenging to get things done, especially if you "think outside the box".

401k matching is fantastic.

Pays well. People are generally nice.

The organization is large, siloed, and nearly impossible to navigate. Very messy and difficult to progress career, especially from the summit program

Flexibility

Hires contractors to avoid paying for benefits. Constant company restructuring.

Remote work.

Technology Portfolio, Leading Technology, Potential to change the world

Short Term Culture and Bureaucracy

Learning

IBM -treat employee well - working culture

some project culture is very stressfull

travel and salary

Work life balance, multiple options to explore as per your interest

manager

flexible timings, multiple resources to learn

Good people around and they are generally understanding of your needs. In my position I had a lot of different activities, so it was never boring

Little actual direction or coaching, though a lot of paperwork to fill. A lot of the challenges were resolved by the cheapest way possible that creates even bigger problems in the long run.