IBM's Dynamic Workplace

Abstract

In its quest to become a globally-integrated enterprise, IBM needed to develop new ways of working. Already, it competed for talent by being a best workplace, an employer of choice with the best opportunities. It had been one of the first companies to provide paid vacations, health insurance, sick leave, job sharing, and domestic partner benefits. Its human resources (HR) portfolio included a full array of progressive policies and programs. Senior Vice President of Human Resources Randy MacDonald said, "There are five things that people come to work for IBM for, and it's not compensation or benefits. It's diversity, workplace flexibility, performance differentiation, learning, and leadership. Those are our differentiators." There was increasing flexibility in how people were employed, including alumni. In addition to full-time regular employees, there were people on long-term supplemental contracts. In Europe, IBM salespeople who had peaked and were going no further could be placed with customers or business partners for several years, with the chance to return to IBM. The case of IBM's response to the Asian Tsunami showed it at its best: values-driven, self-organizing, able to move at lightning speed connecting global and local resources. This was the kind of global leadership and citizenship IVT5 was charged with enhancing. But how could IBM provide a tsunami-relief-like experience to everyone, without a disaster?