High Scores "Strongly agree" Score Industry Rank High standards of corporate governance 96.5 6 Conducts business fairly 93.6 10 Less stress at work 80.0 10 Low Scores "Strongly agree" Score Industry Rank Regular and constructive feedback 74.1 19 Managers care for professional and  personal growth 73.0 19 Responsive to issues/problems 76.1 20 Dream Job "Strongly agree" Score Industry Rank Company Image 49.3 1 Work-life balance 44.8 6 Growth opportunity/career development 35.8 12 Strengths: Retention emerged as a strong point and the overall HR mechanism was good  Weaknesses: Satisfaction in terms of salaries and work culture was missing Employee Size 2003-04, 9,000 2004-05, 23,000

Even as IBM retained its position as the fourth largest employer in the survey, the company underwent a considerable growth charge in its workforce, emerging as one of the most aggressive hirers during the year. While the whopping growth of over 150%, from 9,000 to 23,000 employees, looked good, it took a toll on employee satisfaction as the company grappled with the growth pangs.

Martin Appel, VP (HR)

The employee scorecard for IBM didn't read very impressive as it came a distant #18 on the employee parameters, which have been on a downward trend for the last 2 years. However, the saving grace for IBM was its performance on the HR front, scoring a decent #4. Surprisingly, despite the low employee satisfaction levels the company did a fairly good job of retaining its employees. With a score of 9 points on a scale of 10, IBM fared particularly well on the retention front, highlighting its good HR performance.

IBM continues to be as attractive as ever to the workforce in the industry. It came a good third as a dream company, even though it was at #8 on the preferred employer list among its own employees.

Though it scored well on the retention front, salary and compensation came across as the topmost reason for leaving, with 67.2% of the employees citing it as a factor for moving. The company did not perform very well, on other employee parameters, with overall satisfaction at #19 and job content and culture, both at #18. Freedom to make decision on their own relating to their work, company responding immediately to any issue or problem they have, excitement about the work they handle, exciting growth opportunities in this company and feeling that their opinion matters, all elicited negative feedback from employees.

Overall employee satisfaction, job content and company culture are some of the key issues that IBM will need to address in the coming years.