As I consider to join IBM. How is the Bonus for engineers typically in the last few years?
What is the typical range recently like % or salary for engineers? I realize that this is a lay-off site. But any comments would be most welcome.
More like zero?
IBM gives out scraps and calls it a bonus.
Got a real bonus at my current company and it was MUCH higher
Ibm is good if you have family / new parents and want to cruise. It’s the first job I don’t get bonus or stock so make sure initial base salary is solid. Good option if you want to move to low cost of living area to settle and then find a better job. This is the plan during COVID and stock market uncertainty. Next bear market could be prime time to jump to high growth company.
Unlike others here, I have gotten at least a $2K raise and some bonus every year each the last 17 years. The only time I haven’t is when it was company-wide cut.
Thank you all for your comments. This was very helpful to explain my family what I might be choosing. People are honest here! Watching the xmas video was great as well.
Thanks again and I am following the advise!
I've been consistently rated a 1 for the past few years, the most experienced and most valuable person on my team (no brag). I don't recall the last time I got more than a couple of hundred dollars, even the year when I ran the team for 9 months because we were between managers.
Bottom line: base your financial expectations on your salary, and a bonus that might buy a nice meal out but no more than that.
I was on an account for 6 years 1 year Ginni said no bonuses another year Ginni had managers reduce review ratings to reduce amount of bonus paid 1 became 2+ 2+ became 2 2 became 3 which meant no bonus Of course Ginni and crew got more stock options and pay raises to offset the decline bonuses
I think most IBMers of lower ranks have these days accepted that they will never again see a bonus or some GDP.
Agree with you. IBM is a fantastic place to work at if you want to get paid to do not much of anything. Some days, I wonder if my management knows that I still work here!
This company is really pathetic.
If you dont want to work hard or at all, & take it easy, IBM is the right place. But you are not going to learn much and in a few years, you will be looking out and find yourself out of touch with the cutting edge technologies. Unless you're planning to retire in a few years or you do not have a job / need one, do not join IBM. The good colleagues that I have worked with mostly in recent years are far and few. They are probably long gone or about to leave or retire. The quality if colleagues joining IBM is very bad.
As a manager (~10 direct reports) , in 9 years GDP aside, the best bonus I could gave an employee was 2000 dollars and the worst about 600 dollars. The majority of the years went by with zero bonus. Also in all those years only 12 to 15 bonuses were given. So you can do the math. I gave GDP to 3 employees averaging 6k each, 2 of them left before being able to cash those shares (2 years). In my years here I got 1 bonus and it was GDP. Depending the area IBM can be a great place to work, but do not join thinking about bonuses; join if you think the base salary is good and you are ok with a modest increase every 2 or 3 years.
Bonus is a word that is Taboo these days... so don't count on getting any bonuses unless you are getting hired as an executive, as someone else mentioned earlier.
You won't get a Bonus ... You only get the Bo--r at IBM!!! 😏
The bonuses* are fantastic and sometimes more than once a year!
I joined IBM in 2015 and it's the first company that I worked for where I have not received any cost of living adjustments or paid for overtime work. (35 years working). Deal bonuses have been down to the point of being insignificant.
Anyways - don't join expecting raises/bonuses. Try to get as much as you can before joining as salary or signing bonus cause it will flatline once you're in no matter how you perform.
Join if you think the job is interesting. IBM is not such as a bad place to work as you read here. There are great people working there.
Money is just part of the whole package.
Run away as fast as you can!
I have not received a bonus in 3 years even though I performed very well and actually had my two best years ever in 2020 and 2019. IBM hasn’t paid any GDP (Growth Driven Profit bonus) in the last two years either. Typically, when IBM takes something (bonuses in this instance) away, it never comes back.
So if you expect getting bonuses at IBM, you are joining the wrong company.
Whats a "bonus?"
Don't go there if you have other options! IBM is a terrible company to work for. You will not get a pay rise for the first few years and you can forget about bonuses. It's a he-l ho-e
If you include the BS stock award, over the last 2 years my "bonuses" have been about 4% of my base pay. No pay raises in 2 years despite across the board "exceeds expectations" ratings. I'm in the process of looking for something new. Head everyone's words, stay away from IBM unless they are your only option, and if they are your only option you better bank every dollar you get because don't expect a career here and will eventually need the savings.
RUN AWAY!!! It's a bait and switch scam. Can your career take the hit?
+1 to @icy+1drFbYh3 - run away
IBM will talk about a performance bonus but you will not see anything worth calling a bonus as an engineer. Even sales people who have sales incentives have complained about not getting the full amount they were promised after they met ridiculously high targets.
But why stop at bonuses....raises over the years have been low and are pretty rare. The idea (per IBM speak) has been to give a low percentage of employees a "reasonable" size raise rather than give most people an "insultingly small" raise.....but in reality BOTH of these situations annoy/frustrate employees.
If you really want to come to IBM, take the opportunity now to negotiate at decent initial BASE salary. If you are not happy with the starting BASE SALARY, do not bother accepting the job.
Can you read? The company has been going down hill for years. Why would you even apply to a company like this?
No bonus
Run away
Like Christmas Vacation... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SXB1hvxnzw
Negotiate a high base. You bonus is dribbles.
IBM consistently sets unrealistic targets to ensure it pays below target bonuses consistently.
As a Manager of engineers and project managers, I was given 1200.00 to split across 7 staff. My choice on how to split. And as a manager, I got nothing.