IBM reviews

3.9

78% would recommend to a friend

(107,304 total reviews)
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Arvind Krishna

77% approve of CEO

68% positive business outlook

IBM has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 107,304 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
3.0
Apr 28, 2017

IBM - roll the eyes

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Wealth of knowledge. Good co-workers. Benefits are competitive except 401k company contribution.

Cons

Higher ups are out of touch with reality, 5 years of loosing qtrs! 401k plan employee payout is 1 time a year and if IBM decides to cut / RA employee, employee get 0.

1.0
Apr 4, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Large organization, great networking opportunities Company Intranet includes contact information on staff as well as detailed profiles and other internal resources to procedures

Cons

1. Disconnect between large base of millenials and baby boomers in charge- there is no in between 2. IBM uses Lotus Notes, which is slow, inefficient and outdated 3. HR is unresponsive in email and over the phone, even when illegal and discriminatory practices are happening- HR looks the other way and/or pretends these activities are not happening 4. Hostile management are brought in the 'clear out' department staff and push them to resign 5. You are required to show up to a physical IBM office, but don't expect your own desk or work space 6. Medical benefits are poor- prepare to pay thousands in deductibles 7. Empty promises of raises, reorgs & resources never come to fruition 8. Managers across departments play a fun game of calling a selected employee with an urgent request from Ginni/CEO on Friday nights to see if the employee will iterate on the urgent Ginni request all day Sat & Sun, meanwhile many other employees (since there are 300K) are tasked with the same weekend assignment....who knows if it's a test of dedication or what, but I doubt the work product goes to Ginni....and if it does, the weekend sacrificing employee won't ever get credit 9. Smart capable employees are expected to do the work of 3-4 people without budget and without complaint and then they get fed up and leave, it's a bad cycle 10. You don't feel like you're part of something good, the size takes away from any sense of pride or belonging and the work environment further reinforces this.....employees are left feeling disconnected and out of the loop

1.0
Apr 3, 2017

Only if you can't find work elsewhere

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you get one, the pay rises and bonuses are so small for the lower ranks that there is no reason (other than pride and the fear of the endless redundancies) to go above and beyond. This can be a pro however, as once you have reached the point where you no longer care if you get made redundant (even with the legal minimum redundancy payment now being standard for IBM) and have realised that it's not always the bottom of the pile that are targeted for redundancy so working hard won't necessarily save you, then you are free to be mediocre at work and have a great stress free home life. Also, eventually all the goings on become so ludicrous that it's actually quite entertaining once you learn to laugh at it all. So if the above sounds good and you can accept the fact your starting salary will be similar to your end salary when you leave, you could fit in quite well.

Cons

It can get a bit depressing reading about Ginni's bonus going up and up and up as IBM's revenue goes down and down and down (just like the lower ranks pay rises, bonuses and perks). However, it inspires further mediocrity in the lower ranks so it's not all bad.

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