49
eNPS Score
Q&A With IBM Employees
At IBM, work is more than a job—it's a calling. To build. To design. To code. To consult. To think along with clients and sell. To make markets. To invent. To collaborate. Not just to do something better, but to attempt things you've never thought possible. To lead in this new era of technology and solve some of the world's most challenging problems. Let's put smart to work.
How employees describe working at IBM
1. Career- Overall very neutral feeling, 2. Flexibility- Fantastic, Management- Very Average.
Review from HR Dept
Long term career with many challenging roles and opportunity to advance and grow.
Review from HR Dept
I served in the military before joining IBM. I didn't know what to expect working as a full-time employee. However, after almost a year, I can say that I like my job, my colleagues, and the experience of being an IBMer.
Review from IT Dept
Generally good - there are aspects about development and career that can be upgraded
Review from Sales Dept
My experience has been overall positive.
Review from Operations Dept
What it's like to work at IBM
- IBM employees generally work 9.0 hrs a day
- Employees at IBM report the work pace is comfortably fast
- On a typical day, employees at IBM have 4+ meetings
- 95% of IBM employees look forward to interacting with their team every day
- IBM employees most often take 20-30 paid vacation and sick days each year
- 85% of IBM employees report they are happy with their work life balance
- IBM employees typically get valuable feedback on how to improve at work Once a month
- 93% of IBM employees call their work environment positive
Q&A With IBM Employees
IDX: 0 TOT: 146
How's the work life balance at IBM?
Top Employee Response
Decent... it's up to you how you structure your day
Decent outside of sales or technical service delivery. Just don't take parental leave, or they'll ding you on productivity and it could land you getting laid off when they have their regular mass layoffs.
Better. Many in management are parents with children and understand work shouldn't be your number 1 priority. However sometimes for short periods it may trump everything, it shouldn't the majority of the time. I've never had a manager have a problem with the time I need for myself and/or my family.
Does IBM have any remote positions?
Top Employee Response
IBM is global company, with positions in virtually every country. Remote work options depend on the job role. Marketing used to allow for remote work - which really allowed projects to be shared and managed globally with great efficiency. Also very good for work/life balance. (ie: work *full time* from 2nd home). Currently co-location to centralized US hubs has forced an estimated 70% of marketing professionals to electively or forcibly leave the company.
They used to, but now they are demanding that everyone work from one of their offices. If you don't have an office close enough to drive to, you'll be out of a job
Not anymore, everyone has to go into the office these days.
How's the vacation policy at IBM?
Top Employee Response
Varies by country, but in the US everyone gets 15 days paid time off for the first 5 years. In addition everyone in the US also gets 6 "personal choice holidays" which are in addition to the national paid holidays like labor day, memorial day, thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. They are meant to give people the flexibility to celebrate unique culural or religious holidays without having to use their regular vacation. Some sites may also mandate some specific uses of a couple personal choice holidays, like designating the friday after thanksgiving as a site-wide personal choice holiday. So one of your days would automatically be used for that.
In US mostly 15 days until your 10th year... then 5 more days
Pretty good. You get 15 vacation days and then depending on your site, you get locally designated days off as well as some personal choice holidays (typically around 3).
What does the leadership team at IBM need to get better at?
Top Employee Response
They need to ask employees what improvements to make. They push Agile development but top - down management.
The leadership is old, stale and out of touch. They all need to go
Change management -- they manage up , not down - -not visionary and don't leverage their people properly
How's the morale at IBM?
Top Employee Response
Honestly, it's terrible. Once a great company. Current executives have killed it. Sales reps on 6 month numbers. You don't make your 1st or 2nd have number, you're gone. Doesn't matter how many years of outperformance you have. Massive layoffs but yet CEO gets huge compensation... Sad state over at IBM right now.
This is very dependent on which group you work in. Hardware, Software, & Services are all very different and within each of those groups morale differs. The morale where I work is great. People are getting trained, having fun working in new technologies, and affecting positive change for their clients.
high
What do people at IBM think about the CEO? What do they do well and what can they improve?
Top Employee Response
Only here for herself. No vision. No interest in people. Only stock price is of concern
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. And she's better than some with sharing regular updates on what IBM high level priorities are and what is happening across different areas of the company. However, she and the rest of the board defer way too much to Finance. Finance has way too much power and control in this company. As a result, they tend to run the company and invest like IBM is an old line industrial company - focused way too much on profit, and not enough on revenue growth. Exact opposite approach that Amazon and even the new Microsoft are taking. So while Ginni is a better than average Fortune 500 CEO, she's probably not a top tech CEO.
The CEO needs to go - we need new leadership that knows how to execute a singular vision and operational strategy. IBM is too busy re-orging and getting in its own way, instead of actually get anything accomplished.
If you could make changes, how would you improve the culture at IBM?
Top Employee Response
New executive team who wants to GROW the company beyond just providing goods and services to big businesses. IBM is a services company dependent on its people to generate revenue... but these people are only viewed as costs vs the source of rev and profit.
Actually fulfill the statements that make you think they care about their employees.
I would make it more flat and have less levels of approvals and executives.
How's the work pace at IBM?
fast
There is no work-life balance
Depends where you are (business unit, role, team, etc.).
How common is it to switch departments or teams at IBM?
Top Employee Response
Teams yes.... departments, no
Very common - probably 60% based on personal interest - advancement or horizontal for new skills, 20% based on reassignment based on business need and 20% based on current positions being eliminated
It is fairly common and not always by choice
What needs to change to make the company culture better at IBM?
Top Employee Response
They need to value their employees more and compensate them fairly, especially U.S. workers
IBM is pushing co-location = move or lose your job the result is low morale and decreased productivity.
The constant layoffs, reorganizations and sale of core assets needs to stop.
What's going wrong and how can it be improved at IBM?
Top Employee Response
No trust of mgmt when layoffs happen every quarter.
Better more effective managers - who care about their teams
Constant offshoring and publicly stated policies about returning to the office have killed morale.
Why do you feel undervalued and what would make you feel better about your compensation at IBM?
Top Employee Response
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
First they should fire the CEO. Comp there is horrible and then they take away our benefits. I recently retired and have never be happier!
Our executive leadership is only interested in short term profit.
What’s the most common reason ppl quit or leave?
Top Employee Response
poor management/lack of leadership abilities of those who bring $$$ into the company
The co-workers are great, but management is currently making poor decisions that are negatively affecting the lives of coworkers.
They are RA'd (part of a resource action) or fired (in case of sales not meeting often unrealistic quotas).
How would you describe your overall experience interviewing at IBM?
waiting takes forever, the interview is scheduled 10+ days in advance. The interview itself was fairly standard, the same as any other software engineering tech interview.
I did not interview. I was acquired.
It was very positive once I heard back from recruiters. Sometimes job postings are not needed immediately or even available any longer so you may wait a long time. However, if you know someone on the inside it gives you a huge advantage. I interviewed with very excited and passionate managers and was proud to join the team.
What are your coworkers at IBM like?
New employees are not educated in "the process", acquired employees are driven and quality, until they are laid off.
great people and smart people
Incredibly intelligent and hard-working.
What benefits does IBM provide?
Top Employee Response
IBM has a generous 401k plan compared to most companies, matching 100% up to 5% of pay, with a 1% automatic contribution. Last I compared with friends, it is more generous than Google and Apple. The 401k accounts offer index funds with extremely low fees (e.g. ~0.09% range). On the high deductible health plan, IBM funds a health savings account with up to $1600 cash for a family or $800 for an individual, and pays the empoyee's health premium. Leave starts at 15 days vacation plus 12 holidays (5 floating) for 27 days off - a month! Sick leave is very generous with up to 13 *weeks* at full pay and 13 more at partial pay. One often overlooked benefit is ibm's employee discount program. It's easy to get up to 20% off at cell phone companies, electronics stores, hotels, rental cars, etc. even for personal use. I love their contracted rate for minivan rentals which is usually about $250/week or about 75% less than the usury the rental car company charges at regular price
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.
Typical health benefits. Work at home program is being discontinued.
What's one thing you wish you'd known before joining IBM?
Top Employee Response
More about their benefits
Plan your exit strategy as soon as you're accepted. The best way to get a raise at IBM is to have a competitive offer at a different company.
To stay there for less time. I was foolish to think that I would have a long career with them.
What unique perks and benefits does IBM provide?
Some discounts on hotels, tickets to attractions and special events.
IBM US offers nothing that most other companies offer. The few unique areas that old 100 year old companies have are long gone in IBM
Great seats for sporting events
How much diversity is there among employees at IBM?
There is a lot of diversity at IBM.
Lots of diversity
A lot if you consider more than half the company is off-shored. Typical for IT in US
What do your coworkers need to improve and how could you work together better at IBM?
Top Employee Response
Self of owenership for projects / task zješ ste involved in.
Great team, the reason im still here.
no they are great
What are some of the best things about your team at IBM?
Top Employee Response
My immediate team is wonderful. The executives are selfish and do not care about anything but their own skin.
Collaboration and respect, our team truly supports one another so we can support our clients effectively
They will do whatever it takes to deliver
What's your biggest frustration in your company or team?
My team was awesome.
layoff without notice - good people being let go even in growth areas
Lack of leadership and growth support.
Are people generally collaborative, or is everyone mostly looking out for themselves?
You have to look out for yourself. You never know when you'll get a tap on the shoulder with an exit package.
Generally collaborative.
Both - assessment is done on both how well you team, and how much better you perform relative to others on your team. Ridiculous irony. Once you get past the assessment - individuals are incredibly collaborative.
How's the feedback proccess at IBM?
very frequent and with tools to enable a feedback culture
Processes established do not work - if you want to stay employed. Engagement surveys quarterly asking only 3 questions. Comments are ignored vs just basic scoring. Input is supposed to be anonymous, but recent low performer formula accidentally revealed an individuals engagement survey results could count against them... anonymous???
it is getting better - but good results doesn't mean you job is secure
What's the interview process like at IBM?
Top Employee Response
Another joke because you have a team of people interviewing candidates, and what you wind up with is a Partner over riding the general conscience and making decisions regardless of the advice.
Varies greatly by department.
interviews with hiring manager for soft skills and technical SME's for hard skills
Curious about what work's like at IBM?
Anonymously Ask IBM Employees Any Question
Should I work at IBM?
63% of IBM employees would encourage their friends to become coworkers, whereas 23% are neutral and 14% would not recommend working at IBM to their friends.
| 63% | Promoters |
|---|---|
| 23% | Passive |
| 14% | Detractors |
