Five companies heavily involved in the Information and Technology Industry will meet in our digital arena today so we can determine which of them has the most robust, satisfying company culture according its employees – who submitted their sentiments anonymously via Comparably. We stayed away from the more obvious companies that we’ve covered before elsewhere (so no Apple or Google or Amazon today) to focus on Adobe, Dell, HP, IBM, and Intel, to see how their employees felt about working at each.
OVERALL CULTURE
The first little gold trophy goes to Adobe, for their vibrant culture which is very much appreciated by their employees. Dell and HP’s employees voted those two companies with solid-but-unspectacular B grads, and IBM and Intel’s workers voted their workplaces in the disappointing C range.
Adobe: “Adobe is very inclusive. All employees really embody being genuine, involved, exceptional and innovative.”
Dell: “Dell has a good culture – people are driven and work hard. Sometimes, this aspect creates a toxic environment where no one has work-life balance. Work goes with you wherever you go, leading to burn out. Top down, there is opportunity to rethink what is priority and what can wait until the next morning.”
HP: “HP Inc is a global company and the culture will vary across countries and departments. in general I found HP to have a lot of employee friendly policies and also are the most flexible in allowing people to move across countries for growth.”
IBM: “Culture is cut, cut, cut on resources, then expect those who are left to do the work of 3 without commensurate acknowledgement. Peers are collaborative and professional ALWAYS – but marketing is currently a particularly toxic environment due to forced relocation, ridiculous level of attrition and related skill flight/institutional knowledge.”
Intel: “All in all, a decent place to work. The biggest drawback is the inability to develop and stick with a strategy resulting in endless reorganizations and lay-offs. This cycle wears people down emotionally.”
CEO & LEADERSHIP
It’s Adobe again, this time thanks to the popularity of their CEO, Shantanu Narayen, who beat runner-up Michael Dell by almost ten percentage points. HP’s Dion Weisler managed to sneak into the C range, leaving IBM’s Virginia Rometty and Intel’s Bob Swan to fight for last place.
Adobe: “Shantanu is a great leader who makes bold decisions to move the company in the right direction. He’s humble and approachable.”
Dell: “The executive level, c-suite and presidents and VPs need to align on the vision, strategy AND tactics. Leave staff/leadership in a role long enough to prove the victory they just claimed, and got credit for, is sustainable.”
HP: “Dion is well regarded and appears to be leading HP in the right direction.”
IBM: “Most seem to think reasonably highly of her. I think most would agree that she’s a better than average fortune500 CEO. She has created a more clear vision for the company than we’ve had for a while. However, she and the rest of the board defer way too much to Finance.”
Intel: “Rampant cronyism and nepotism needs to be purged. Gangster mentality for empire building is absolutely poisonous.”
COMPENSATION
Looks like Adobe knows how to win one of these things. They take their third trophy in the third category, which notes how employees feel about the compensation they receive. Intel was ten points behind Adobe, with Dell and HP 5 and 4 percentage points (respectively) behind Intel. Last place goes to IBM.
Adobe: “The ESPP and equity pieces are extremely helpful, and one of the main reasons I don’t entertain other offers when they come my way”
Dell: “If you stay in one position you will nevyer get a raise or bump in pay. They make if very difficult to move positions internally and you always hear of someone coming in from the outside getting a better paying position within your department and doing the same job.”
HP: “The salary, vacation are good. Currently a concierge service and legal service have been added to available benefits.”
IBM: “As a woman I feel I am paid under my colleagues because I entered our LOB through a lower-paid channel, but deliver as much or more value.”
Intel: “Match the stock given by other big tech corporations. We made almost $10 billion in profit last year and Intel spends billions to buy back its own stock. The least it could do is pay its employees fairly.”
PERKS & BENEFITS
Adobe leaves the competition in the dust in terms of the suite of Perks & Benefits they offer, beating runners-up Intel and Dell by a wide margin. HP and IBM tie for last place with average scores.
Adobe:“Great health care. A 4 week sabbatical after 5 years, 5 weeks after 10 years and every 5 years thereafter. Discounts on a number of services.”
Dell: “Health, dental, vision, personal days, vacation days, bonus potential.”
HP: “Retention bonuses, yearly bonuses, and good beer.”
IBM: “Remote work. Opportunities to grow in a huge variety of different job types, clients and roles within the High-Tech industry. Nice open-office layout, great benefits, and very diversity-friendly environment.”
Intel: “401k, basic eye, dental and health insurance, free fruit/coffee, fitness center, special events, intel discounts.”
DIVERSITY
Someone certainly gave Adobe the magic formula for earning employee affection, as once again they win – this time for Diversity, or how the companies are rated by workers of color. Dell clocks a modest, respectable score. HP and Intel struggle to escape the C range that IBM is looking more and more at home in.
Adobe: “Diversity could be improved, but Adobe is working hard at increasing diversity at the company and is doing well.”
Dell: “Intelligence, performance, diversity and professionalism.”
HP: “HP is working hard on diversity, better than most in Tech but we have work to do.”
IBM: “It’s a large focus in the organization to achieve higher inclusion and diversity. Some parts of the organization are doing a better job than others. The best I can say is it’s an intentional change by leadership to increase the diversity and it’s working.”
Intel: “Our team is 7 people including the manager. 4 are women. We are very diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity and nationality.”
OUTLOOK
Adobe: “The company has allowed employees a good amount of job flexibility. There really isn’t anything we can’t do. It is incumbent upon us to find an opportunity and go for it. The only walls at Adobe are the ones we create in our own mind.”
Dell: “All is growing! No difficulties, only opportunities that haven’t been realized.”
HP: “The Graphics and 3D print businesses are probably the biggest long term growth opportunities but in general, HP is firing on all cylinders. I certainly feel like I wound up on the right side of the Hewlett-Packard split.”
IBM: “I love the brilliant people and the variety of work/innovation happening at any given moment somewhere in the company across any and every industry.”
Intel: “With so many reductions in force over past years, I’m just a number to this company.”
Adobe bats 1.000, winning in today’s competition to suss out which of our five companies had the best culture. Nobody else took any trophies today, but it’s worth nothing that Dell and HP put up a good fight. The same could almost be said about Intel, but in terms of IBM’s low cultures scores, it suddenly dawns on us that some technology companies have been around for over 100 years at this point.
