IBM reviews

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).

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.