IBM has fundamentally changed - stay away/run away
Pros
I like the people on the teams I manage. Over 22+ years I've worked with some great people.
Cons
The days of the "IBMer" are over. Over the past year and a half, IBM leaders have gone from being ambivalent to being openly hostile towards employees. They eliminated 401k match, eliminated remote work (including for employees who were remote prior to the pandemic), implemented return to office mandates regardless of job role and team structure, conducted multiple layoffs (including three in 2024 and one so far in 2025), forced relocation to high cost locations with the goal of getting older people with families to quit, eliminated employee-friendly perks and benefits, changed the annual employee assessment program multiple times (and now returned to a forced-rank system where 20% of all employees are required to be identified as low performers), stopped all employee spending (including office supplies, keyboard/mouse, travel, etc. Multiple cases of employees being told by their managers to pay for work-related travel out of their own pockets), annual promotion cycle cancelled for two straight years, and the list goes on. The 2025 GDP and ESP programs (bonus and annual salary increase) were rigged to skip older employees regardless of their 2024 performance ratings ($0 for both bonus and annual salary increase). This was mandated by senior leadership and is blatant age discrimination (which IBM has been successfully sued for multiple times). There is an aggressive plan to move a significant portion of jobs to India and other "low cost" countries. This is ongoing and is planned to continue for the next three years. It will impact employees in all parts of IBM. Most people I work with come to work every day feeling fear, anxiety, and depression. For all of us, the question isn't "if" but "when" we will lose our jobs. And there's nothing anyone can do about it - being a top performer, working extra hours, taking on more projects, etc. do not provide any protection. Even though I still work at IBM (and have for over 20 years), I can no longer recommend IBM as a place that anyone would wish to work. If you're considering coming here, do yourself a favor and DON'T.
