IBM reviews

3.9

78% would recommend to a friend

(107,230 total reviews)
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Arvind Krishna

76% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

IBM has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 107,230 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).

Reviews by job title

107K reviews
2.0
Sep 28, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits (health, vacation, etc.) are better than most companies, but don't expect perks. 401k matching is better than most other large tech companies. IBM promotes a work/life balance, which most managers actively encourage. Working from home is the de facto work arrangement for most non-technical job roles, including management.

Cons

There is zero budget for travel, training, additional software, and anything else outside your laptop and Lotus Notes. Senior Management agrees to deals that generate losses in the near-term and then ask account managers to furlough contractors to meet profit goals for the quarter. Contractors are used far too much and are treated as simple commodities and not human beings. Everyone works from home without video collaboration tools or a travel budget. No travel budget + country-wide teams = no team building. Most employees never meet their managers face-to-face. A manager I hadn't met before conducted my exit interview and advised her college-aged child to avoid IBM. Ethics battle between customer service and margin growth drives many good people out (including me).

4.0
Sep 28, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Environment of constant change and complexity, particularly due to IBM's global focus. Good management with opportunities for advancement. Also, increasing flexibility in work location (telecommuting, etc.) Work projects are often very challenging, so being bored is never an option. On the other hand, getting major initiatives supported and off the ground can take a seeming act of God, so patience and persistence is not only a virtue, it's absolutely required. Leadership often provides good communication from the top down, particularly as IBM embraces the social media to get the messages out to an increasingly distributed troops. But individual initiative is still key for personal growth.

Cons

Global exposure can often mean regular 12 hour days. Complexity of business environment (matrixed organization) can mean lack of clear direction and focus, leading to a consistent sense of being overwhelmed. Despite all the focus on communication from top leadership, due to the complex nature of the business one will find often competing goals and objectives within the organization, so an understanding of the ambiguous operating environment can either frustrate or foment, depending on the individual response. The long days can become overwhelming, so the employee needs to know when they should turn off the Blackberry/ThinkPad -- IBM will take all that you can give them.

2.0
Sep 28, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Looks good on the resume Some very talented people work at this company Tremendous resources that can be brought to bear - financial, talenetd people, geographic reach, technology

Cons

Old boy network - very hard to break into Consulting business model is broken - billable utilization target is 95%!! In GBS people are commodities to be hired out on ANY project irrespecive of whether or not it fits your skills and interests In GBS salaries are usually lower than the market Most leaders are rewarded based solely on business generated - no incentive to look after their people or invest in innovation

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