HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

– HR POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN IBM

 HRM POLICIES AND PRACTICES: IBM

HR policies, procedures and practices establish a framework to help to manage

people. They cover everything from how the business recruits its staff through to ensuring
employees are clear about procedures, expectations and rules, are how managers can go about
resolving issues if they arise.

IBM HR POLICY
“At IBM, we have always set high standards for the way we conduct business – in areas
from corporate and social responsibility to sound business ethics, including compliance with
all applicable laws and regulations.

These Conduct Principles apply to all IBM employees. However, they are not meant to
describe the full scope of IBM human resource policies or practices. More detailed statements
of policies, procedures and practices are contained in documents such as the IBM Business
Conduct Guidelines. Employees are required to comply with all IBM policies, procedures and
practices at all times and are responsible for consulting their management if they have any
questions.

Our goal is to ensure full compliance with these principles by IBM managers and employees.
A companion to this document, the IBM Supplier Conduct Principles, governs our
relationships with and standards for IBM suppliers.”

IBM HR PRACTICES
I. PROCUREMENT

Recruitment

Thus, IBM recruits employees who are daring, hard-working and have an urge to learn and
excel. They look forward to employees who can add value to themselves as well to the
organization at large.

Annual intake:

It varies according to the business needs. The approximate figures are around
67 freshers recruited every year and 7-8 laterals. As far as the recruitment for
consulting position is concerned, IBM has a list about 20 B-Schools which suit the
company requirements and are contacted for recruitment. IBM also has its
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) service which provides outsourcing solutions
to identify the best talent available. They help to improve the workforce productivity,
make the internal processes visibly clearer and streamline recruitment services
delivery.
Selection

The selection process for consulting jobs is carried out by partners and not the HR
department. They test for the subject matter, assess behaviour and check the basic technical
skills of candidates. Only if all the required criteria are met, the job will be offered to the
candidate. Selection process generally remains same over the years.

Employee Retention

The 2005 IBM Global Human Capital study indicated that there are three practices that are
closely tied to lower employee turnover: opportunities for advancement, the need for
feedback and the existence of child-friendly policies.

HR Transformation &(Cloud):

They support organizations as they consider moving their HR systems to the cloud. They
provide strategy support, vendor selection, and implementation of HR Cloud systems. Their
solution also supports the culture and organizational changes that stems as a result of moving
to cloud.

IBM is one organization as a whole. It does not differentiate between its business divisions.
The selection depends on the position which is to be filled. The particular position is filled
internally. Applications are invited from interested candidates which are then interviewed for
it. If the position still remains vacant, it is filled by inviting applications from outside the
organization.

II. DEVELOPMENT

Training and Development

Think 40 program:

It is an IBM exclusive program where every employee is required to complete 40

hours of training within a week. This program can be undertaken any time within a year of
joining. It affects the rating of an employee if missed.

The essence of this training program is “Restlessly Reinvent Yourself”. The program
aims at upgrading and diversifying the employee skills as per the market conditions and to
stay ahead of competition. It is mutually beneficial for both the employee as well as the
organization. THINK-40 adds on to the CV of an employee and helps the organization to stay
competitive.
Career planning

Self-goal setting:

 Employees visit the portal and see what is required to reach to the next level
 He updates the manager of his aspirations and expectations and the manager in turn
ensures he stretch himself to achieve his targets
 An optional webinar and conference is held three days a week
 Internal restrictions are there on classroom training

Performance Appraisal System

 It is done yearly and is target driven

 An excel is floated with weighted parameters called the “Career Framework” which is
first filled by the employee himself, then reviewed by the supervisor followed by the
project manager
 Employees at same career level in the organization are compared against each other at
the project level and then the business unit level and the performance of each
employee is then plotted on a Bell curve
 Then the employees are segregated into di1erent rating scale asedon the
competencies they have developed since the last evaluation.

Performance Rating Scale

1 : Among the Top Contributors

2+ : Above average Contributors

2 : Solid Contributors

3 : Need to improve

4 : Unsatisfactory

III. INTEGRATION

Communications

IBM makes available to all employees open communications channels for suggestions and
complaints to management. IBM maintains channels for direct contact with the corporate
office for employee complaints, including any form of harassment including sexual
harassment.

Health and safety policy of IBM

“Advancing the health, safety and well-being of our global workforce is an absolute priority;
it’s a commitment that encompasses the environments in which employees work and the
communities in which they live.” - Martin J. Sepulveda, M.D. FACP, IBM Fellow, Vice
President Integrated Health Services
Compensation and benefits

Pay-

 A major part of the salary is fixed (90-92%) with very less variable which is also
dependent on company’s performance
 No concept of retention bonus
 IBM stock option is very rare, only for top level management

Promotion- No fixed promotion cycle.

Work Culture

Values followed at IBM:

The value system that IBM follows is broadly divided in three categories.

1. Dedication to every client’s success

 Put the client first
 Listen for need, Envision the future
 Share expertise
2. Innovation that matters, for our company and for the world
 Restlessly reinvent our company and ourselves
 Dare to create original ideas
 Treasure wild ducks
3. Trust and personal responsibilities in all our relationships
 Think, prepare, rehearse
 Unite to get it done now
 Show personal interest

Peer Interaction

As the consulting job requires employees to work on client sites, most of the interaction with
immediate superior is through formal channel of e-mails. Same is true for the interaction with
colleagues. Employees tend to maintain informal and friendly relations with juniors.

Work Life Balance

IBM is an organization well known for its employee friendly practices. The work life balance
at IBM is paid a lot of importance.

IBM-GBS puts trust in its employees and gives them the liberty to work from where ever
possible and doesn’t push them to be available in office for specific number of hours as long
as the employees keep high productivity and perform better. But to keep a track of their
employee’s time and on what project he/she has carried out their work so it can be charge to
the client. IBM expects its employees to log the number of hours worked on each project in
their Time Management System ILC- Intranet Labor Claiming.