IBM reviews

At this point in IBM's history, it's a lot like life during the decline of the Roman Empire. There were worse places to live during the decline of the empire but the Visigoths were coming. When considering the eradication of IBM's developed-world workforce (and compensation packages) throughout a never-ending quest to transfer the payrolls to cheaper 3rd world countries, there is a lot of risk involved with working at IBM long term. In the short term, it's a decent place to pay your dues for a few years and then leave for greener pastures with 'IBM' on your resume. You'll have lots of exposure to different technologies at IBM. Unfortunately, a lot of what's forced on you is either proprietary, obscure, or rapidly vanishing outside the world of IBM (think Lotus Word Pro, Lotus Notes, Domino, etc). Many US-based jobs at IBM are "tenuous", so the workplace feels a lot like dining under the Sword of Damocles. Since your co-workers know that the end could come at any moment, and their survival depends upon how well they rank compared to you, the result is reduced information flow/share, cooperation, participation, and general workplace camaraderie among your co-workers. On the subject of "how you rank", the PBC system (performance reviews) at IBM is a TOTAL FARCE. It's basically a random system of ranking by the managers. Worse yet, you usually already have a performance number assigned before the evaluations ever begin -- based on who the manager's favorite employees are, how many people in the dept the execs said will need to be laid off in the next year, etc. Specific to a bonus/commission/performance-based role at IBM like the TSM position, another rub is that you don't pick your assignments - they're given to you. So, if a manager needs to get rid of someone, it's far easier to assign the "DOA" and "tire-kicking" deals (which are almost certain to go nowhere and therefore result in lower performance) to anyone targeted for layoff than it is to deal with concocting other reasons to get rid of them and thereby meet executive management's employee attrition goals.

Current executive management has given up on growing the company. Instead, they are focussed on growing EPS (earnings per share). The only way to do this with declining revenues is to dump more experienced employees by the thousands. This is depleting experienced ranks in the company and decimating morale. More important, it is also causing extreme customer dissatisfaction. Not unlike strip mining, it may allow short-term gain, but it will take years to repair the damage - if it's possible at all.