IBM

1. Lots of opportunities - There are hell lot of opportunities inside IBM. They are using and working on almost all the technologies in the world.

2. Premium clients - We get the opportunity to work with some of the best clients in the world.

3. Leaves - Unlimited sick and casual leaves and mostly unlimited work from home.

4. Pay - Mostly decent pay (if the project is good).

5. Benefits - Overtime benefits, overtime meals reimbursement, weekend meals reimbursement, etc.

6. Exposure - We will get the opportunity to work in cross-cultural and cross-timezone teams, which is both interesting and challenging.

7. Other benefits - Year-end bonus, quarterly market share, chauffeur reimbursement for higher bands, fuel reimbursement, etc.

8. Work timing - 5 workdays/week and mostly 8-9 hours/day.

9. Learning - One of the best online employee training facilities.

10. Managers - A few of the managers are exceptional, especially the European ones. It will be a great learning opportunity.

11. Work-Life Balance - Some projects give you excellent work-life balance. You just need to finish your work. No one cares from where, when, or how long.

So, basically, if everything is as per the written rulebook, this is the best company we can work on. There are lots of benefits; listing all of them here will overflow the page.

Most of the pros will happen if and only if your manager is very good.

For instance, I have worked on a project where managers used to make everyone work on all weekends and extended hours up to 11 hours per day, rarely giving them their entitled overtime benefits. Even the year-end reviews were biased based on regional politics, and even worse, on how long people spent extra in the office after the stipulated time, which the managers fondly called "availability." It was common for people who work smart to get lower ratings compared to those who sat in the office for 12 hours without doing any work. This was more common with Indian managers (very few had this habit) whose aim was to improve billing by making everyone work overtime and weekends, even if there wasn't any need. So, if you are lucky enough to be assigned to such a project, then there will not be anyone to help you out other than looking for a jump.

Another issue is that the hike and market share are decided by the managers themselves, and it just requires a formal sign-off by HR. So, basically, in India, most of the time, it is based on your language and non-professional skills.

In some projects, work-life balance goes for a toss. You might end up spending up to 70 hours per week in the office.

Onsite opportunities - Again, might depend on how you treat your manager rather than how well you did your work.

Bottom line is that all the policies of such a great and old company are sometimes being misused by a few Indian middle managers for their personal gains, resulting in the company losing some outstanding talent.

Please take good care of your employees and make sure that they are not harassed by any of the Indian managers, who will do all their hook and crook to bill from the clients, at the cost of the professional and social happiness of your employees.

Please check the timing and work culture in a few of the projects in Bangalore. If you check some of the long-serving critical projects, you will understand how deep the issue is.