IBM

Work-life balance and talented colleagues

Pay is poor compared to competitors, and budget cuts are in all the wrong places. Benefits are being cut significantly year on year.

Management talk a good talk about "flexible working" and being supportive of families, but then discipline a new parent for turning up to work tired when they have a newborn at home.

The company also has a massive divide/rift between sales/business workers and technology workers. One example of this is the annual Christmas events.

• Sales teams get a black-tie formal event on a boat on the Thames, with a three-course meal, champagne, and any partners (+1s) invited.
• Software developers are expected to make do with a £15 allowance that might stretch to a takeaway from the local curry house.

£15 is better than nothing, of course, but treating highly-talented software developers as second-class citizens feels odd.

Talent retention of young employees is almost non-existent. Team stability (people with long careers staying put) combined with rigid rules mean it's impossible to reward (and thus retain) young talent. It is becoming increasingly common to see incredible software developers leaving for 2-3x their salary elsewhere.

Lastly, the re-introduction of stacked ranking says it all. In a team of 20 people, and all 20 are incredible? Tough, three of you have to be ranked the worst and put on a disciplinary – no matter how good you are.

Immediate management seems to also disapprove of this methodology, so it's clear that senior management just don't have a clue what they're doing.

Pay your workers more, invest in their working environment, and their employment experience/benefits.