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      IBM

      Engaged Employer

      IBM reviews

      3.9

      78% would recommend to a friend

      (107,291 total reviews)
      avatar

      Arvind Krishna

      77% approve of CEO

      68% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.2

      Diversity & inclusion

      4.0

      Culture & values

      4.0

      Work/Life balance

      3.7

      Career opportunities

      3.6

      Compensation and benefits

      3.4

      Senior management

      IBM has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 107,291 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The IBM employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Informatique industry (3.9 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      107K reviews
      3.0
      Dec 20, 2008

      Great opportunities for learning but little work/life balance

      Advisory software engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      - Job flexibility. If you are determined to excel in your position then a world of options are opened to you. The complexity and far reaching nature of the company allows one to gain expertise that isn't even a part of their job description. If done right, one can mold their career and create a position suited for themselves. - Technology. If you are in a development/test role then you have access to just about all hardware/software available. Any OS, programming language, tape drive, hard drive tech, networking infrastructure.. etc... is there. - Benefits. Compared to many other companies, the benefits (medical, 401k, options....) are among the top.

      Cons

      The major down-side is definitely work/life balance. Although IBM advertises a great balance, you'll only find this being used by those whose roles are not essential. Any valued leader will find themselves faced with understanding the big picture. This applies to the matrixed organization, product design, team dynamics, market direction, and even client satisfaction. Due to the large nature of the company, understanding and working with the previously mentioned aspects takes much time... more than 8 hours in a day. There are many within the company that simply do not go this far in their understanding and their work/life balance is probably great... however it places a burden on others in charge who have to make up for their shortcomings.

      4.0
      Dec 19, 2008

      A Great place to start your career

      Consultant
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Great Benefits and they are very flexible with your schedule in regards to work location. Most managers are competent and take time coaching newer members of their teams. They do give you opportunities to work on other initiatives within IBM. For example, I have been able to help out with college recruiting.In addition, it is a fairly young company, in my experience at least. My first project was a good 30% people under 30 which makes the working environment that much more enjoyable and easy going. They hire very ambitious young employees too; adding to the fast paced work environment.

      Cons

      They do not reward business development for people at my level, i.e. 1-3 years experience. The pay for the new hires is great for the industry, but I came in before they raised the rates so I am playing some serious catch up to personnel 1 and 2 years younger than me. When you are a new hire you have to get on a long term project. Otherwise every time you switch to a new project you will be considered the new hire and be forced into doing mundane tasks for people even though you had already earned your stripes on a previous project you have to do it again.

      5.0
      Dec 18, 2008

      IBM is a company I would recommend to others.

      Senior marketing manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Within the organizations I supported and worked, I was constantly surrounded by educated professionals. Most companies have several "dead weight" employees; however I did not see many of these individuals in IBM. It seemed that most made a fair attempt to carry their weight and contribute to the team. In addition, those that were labeled as being unproductive were either encouraged to increase performance or they were part of the regular resource actions (layoffs). Thus, by having competent workers surrounding you, the overwhelming work load seemed a bit lighter... a bit. Secondly, general management does care about employee work-life balance. If anyone tries to tell you that IBM pressured them into compromising family life in favor of work schedule, question their motives. Of course, the executive work load is much greater than lower-level, and they at times, have work-life balance issues - but are well compensated for it.

      Cons

      In some organizations, there is a tendancy to 'stay the course' among lower-level employees. New initiatives and strategic changes were seen as temporary 'fire-drills' that would go away if ignored long enough. This type of attitude enables poor response to competition in the market and a general disalusion from sales and BPs as the the consideration IBM gives to their cause. When a new executive is appointed to make changes within an organization, those changes come slowly, or not at all. Furthermore, an employee looking to distinguish his/herself from the pack needs to seriously network. There is no 'automatic' climb to the top with hard work... even if you immediate management recognizes your talents. You MUST reach beyond your organization and network, network, network. Finally, with layoffs the workload does not diminish, but is reassigned. There was a period of 2 years as my 'expected actions' rose 400% due to assuming others' work as they were let go.

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