IBM reviews

3.9

78% would recommend to a friend

(107,222 total reviews)
avatar

Arvind Krishna

76% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

IBM has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 107,222 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 Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

107K reviews
1.0
Jun 13, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

IBM has very few good reasons to work there. However, a different view might see things more positive. For instance, if you are a senior manager IBM has a ratio of about 30:1 (Management:Employee). This equates to very minimal work load, as well as no accountability. Pay increases for this level are phenominal, and work life balance is outstanding.

Cons

IBM employees have slowly dwindled in the US. With the increased outsourcing of Sr./Jr. technical positions overseas, the accounts are very short staffed, and lack the technical expertise to properly support the associated accounts. This has lead to the thought process of "Quantity not Quality". The US will continue to suffer, as large companies like IBM, continue to take advantage of their employee base, and continue to reward their management base through cost savings. This philosophy continues to erode the company’s ability to function efficiently and fosters anamosity towards upper management. If you are seeking a career with “Big Blue”, and you are a top performer, look elsewhere. If you are the individual who like to: push all responsibilities to others, do not want any accountability, willing to work only 30 hours/week (from home), have no technical knowledge or skill, willing to agree to anything that comes across your desk (even if that product isn’t concieved), and exhibit that outstanding concept of, “It’s a large company, I can hide anywhere.” IBM has Senior Management position waiting for you. Good Luck!

1.0
Jun 12, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

IBM is a very comfortable place to work. It has good benefits and it has fitness programs for its employees.

Cons

It is "top heavy" and has a lot of bureaucracy. It's very hard to get promoted unless you're buddy buddy with your manager. It's not very fair sometimes because the managers don't really know their people well.

1.0
Nov 8, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Significant opportunity to work with new technologies to solve customer challenges.

Cons

Those who thrive are those who embrace the toxic, cutthroat culture of selfishness, tribalism, and self-promotion above all else and others. There is also significant overhead due to out of touch leaders who contribute very little, lack client intimacy, and see their role as redundant layers of supervision. While IBM takes steps to hire diverse talent, internal advancement suffers from a system that is very personality driven and influenced by strong in-group/out-group dynamics. IBM senior leadership tends to overlook bad behavior within certain verticals due to the perceived business case related to the individuals in question. Depending on business unit, leaders may not even hide favoritism and may openly demonstrate a lack of fairness in support and performance measurement. For certain minority demographics, as roles increase in seniority, expect to have one’s contributions routinely minimized or attributed to others, be held at arm’s length while peers are invited in with open arms, be required to have more demonstrated experience and eminence than peers to advance to the same levels, and face frequent microaggressions.

Viewing 502 - 504 of 107,222 Reviews

Glassdoor has 131,645 IBM reviews submitted anonymously by IBM employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if IBM is right for you.