IBM Reviews in Raleigh-Durham, NC Area

Pros

If you're connected to the "good ole boy(GOB)" system, you're golden

Cons

Be outside the "GOB" loop and your career, raises and bonuses are stagnate

Advice to Senior Management

Take a second look at your mid-level mgt teams. Everything is not as they present it and employees fear losing their jobs if they tell the truth.

Pros

Working with incredibly bright individuals.

Cons

Loss of investment in the employees in the US.

Advice to Senior Management

You can only ride on the legacy of the name IBM for so long. Eventually it will catch up to you. IBM was successful for the first 100 years because of the investment the Watsons made in people. A focus on EPS and bean counting is required but not at the expense of everything else.

Pros

Cutting edge technology. Good opportunities to move around

Cons

Culture is not what it used to be

Pros

IBM culture and management have traditionally been supportive of employees' advancement and career development, allowing for people to try different disciplines. There is a system in place to ensure that promotions and financial compensation/incentives are merit based (not based on internal politics).

I think that the financial compensation is competitive with industry standards. Though benefits seem to have been cut back over the years, I think they are still competitive with the industry.

Cons

It seems more and more evident that everything at IBM comes down to "the bottom line" (money/revenue). Earnings per share (and the resulting Executive compensation) seems to have become more important to the corporation than their employees.

The company cuts back costs (staff, equipment, contract services) at the expense of the workers. Meaning we are expected to "do more with less." This mentality seemed reasonable at first, but it has perpetuated into a vicious cycle where we expect more and more (and more!) out of our people. Many/Most people are overworked, and work-life balance seems to be a distant memory.

While the culture has traditionally supported employee career development, in harder economic times managers can be reluctant to let their good employees pursue opportunities, for fear of losing the head count - Finance will see it as a chance to save money (and not allow you to backfill the position)... So if somebody leaves your group, more likely than not, one of the existing team members will just have to absorb the additional work... again adding to the overworked staff.

There are MANY corporate practices/processes that have been put in place over many years. Most (not all) of these processes were meant to make sure that the teams delivered a high quality product that met certain industry standards/regulations. Though we cut back on staff, and we have to do more with less, we never seem to cut back on process. This is a double-edges sword... Cutting back on some of these practices/process may cause us to deliver a poorer quality product, or to not meet certain standards/regulations... But not cutting back on process means that more and more of our time is spent navigating process. Spending time on this, and trying to get your "real work" done adds to the problem of an overworked staff.

While there is a system in place to compensate based on merit, over the years the differentiation between the best employees and the average employees has become laughable (corporate funding for these programs seem lower than expected, especially considering reported company earnings). The minuscule difference between compensation for the best and the average employees have made many people question the point of working so hard (If you can put in less effort and get compensated the same, why kill yourself working 60 hour weeks???).

Finance seems to be making many decisions which they are not qualified to make. All they care about revenue versus expense. They have been given power to dictate our expenses, though they do not understand the impact of cutting certain expenses. Penny pinching today may cause you revenue for the next few years if we don't have enough resources to put out a product.

Advice to Senior Management

Most of the lower level managers are just trying to get by (survive) in an environment where we are expected to "do more with less." Upper level management (Executives) need to realize that we are at a breaking point and we can continue down this path. Many of our good people will look for opportunities to leave the company as soon as the economy gets better.

Pros

IBM provides their employees with outstanding benefits and pay. There is a lot of flexibility in your job and the people are great.

Cons

Disjointed work environment. There's a lot of flexibility, however you don't really get to know the other people in your office.

Pros

Good for leaders, and if you are good at office politics

Cons

Layoffs whether the economy is good or bad. Offshoring most development. No free drinks, no budget for anything. no budget even to print business cards. Most employess are highly demotivated.. 2% raises even if you are a top performer.

Pros

High technology
Professional environment
 easy to grow

Cons

Sometimes it's stressful
paying in not amazing

Pros

Lots of opportunities
Long-term career prospects
Challenging projects
Several different businesses
Lots of people to work with and learn from

Cons

Large company - hard to be recognized unless doing really great work
Promotions can take time
Managers use visibility as an excuse for not giving you promotions

Advice to Senior Management

Value employees more
Senior management should do a better job at profit-sharing with regular lower-layer employees
Continued education should be encouraged

Pros

I worked as an entry level cost accountant for IBM and during my time and numerous opportunities to attend career workshops and network with people from a wide variety of areas.

Cons

IBM is such a big company but their didnt seem to be a lot of room for upward movement, a lot of people bounce around laterally for a while before ever moving up.

Pros

No pressure.
Nice work place.
Very nice people.

Cons

Low growth potential.
Very old technology and tools.
US jobs going to India and China.
Useless patents on everything.

Advice to Senior Management

Update the tools and equipment and bring the jobs back to the US.
The stock price is not the only indication of a good company.