IBM

It's a paycheck. Some first-line managers are good and will save your hide. Compensation is decent.

The company is focused completely on the bottom line. Experience isn't valued. Layoffs have no rhyme or reason and often seem to be veiled attempts to offshore job functions. They are alarmingly frequent, even if a good year has happened. The bottom line has priority over product quality and customer satisfaction, unless you're a premium customer or employee. Employee satisfaction is secondary.

If you have decent first and second-line management, life can be tolerable.

Benefits and compensation are often spun as "in line with industry averages," implying that we're only average.

Have some respect for the people who get the job done. Know how to get it done, and respect experience and knowledge above the cost of less expensive offshore alternatives.

Don't lie to your employees. Happy-happy-joy-joy, sugar-coated, and spun emails about how wonderful things are, when clearly they're not, are insulting. This is especially true when followed by major resource actions.