IBM has detailed HR practices focused on recruitment, selection, talent management, training and development, diversity and inclusion, compensation and benefits, and work culture. Key aspects include: 1. IBM recruits employees who are self-motivated, hard-working learners and provides training programs to help employees continuously develop. 2. Selection processes evaluate candidates' skills, behaviors, and technical abilities. Training programs like Think40 encourage employees to reinvent themselves. 3. Talent management priorities include change management, talent analytics, and improving employee experience. HR practices also focus on work-life balance, health, and diversity.

1. IBM HR practices
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.
Job Level Methods
Lateral hires Interview and Interaction Session
Campus placements Group discussions and interview
Talent Management
Talent engagement and transformation are top priorities for C-suite leaders. The practice
gives clients access to organizational change management methods, tools and expertise
gained from our external clients and IBM’s own transformation initiatives.
Key areas:
Change Management: It is responsible for every client's transformation and enables them
to prepare for and successfully implement change. It is a core component of all IBM's
solutions, helping to accelerate results and drive sustained business impact.

2. Talent Analytics: Talent is one the top three CEO priorities. As organizations shift from
buying new talent to building existing talent, CHROs depend on real-time insight and
immediate access to the right resources at the right time. Our solutions integrate leading
analytics with talent management expertise to provide a holistic view.
Employee Experience: Engaged employees drive business results. The C-Suite understands
that the ability to engage, develop, recognize and support employees will be critical in the
battle for customer loyalty The focus is on employee engagement and collaboration, and
improve workforce productivity and retention through a blended approach of behavioural
sciences, technology and organizational consulting.
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 Kenexa Predictive Retention helps organizations boost employee retention and
employee satisfaction rates by providing the ability to identify and act upon the specific
factors that can contribute to talent attrition and turnover. This includes profiling
employees who are more likely to leave voluntarily, as well as the specific risk factors that
can be used to prevent future attrition.
It helps organizations in:
 Increase employee retention rates by identifying and acting upon key attrition factors. 
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 Leverage employee feedback to optimize your work environment in near real-time and
boost employee satisfaction. 
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 Improve productivity and decrease costs associated with attrition by proactively
addressing attrition risk factors 
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IBM is one organization as a whole. It does not differentiate between its business
divisions. The selection depends on position which is to be filled. The particular position
is first tried to be filled internally. Applications are invited for the position 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. 

Employer branding- IBM is lagging in this feature and it is working upon it.
Employee Engagement
 No proper on-boarding process is there, only orientation program to know about

3. company which does not include the wider aspects 

 No proper networking within the company 

 Does not take care of employers aspirations 

 Freshers are paid lower than their peers at the time of joining but given a hike within
a year 
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 New joiners do not immediately get great projects 
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 Very good organization for top management 

 Work from home facility is provided and work pressure is low 
As it is shown the efforts for employee engagement is low, this has resulted in low level of
employee retention. People are leaving frequently. They leave in 3-4 years majorly. As a result
it has led to a gap in middle management.
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 


4.  Internal restrictions are there on classroom training 


Diversity
IBM conducts all its activities without discrimination based on race, colour, genetics, religion,
gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or
status. Its inclination to promote diversity can be seen in its past practices as well. IBM hired
its 1st disabled employee in 1914 and its 1st black employee in 1946. The company is regularly
listed as best places to work for employees, employees of colour, and women to work.
Currently, IBM is one of the top 10 companies in 2014 NAFE top 50 companies for Executive
Women.
Differently Abled- IBM has special offices for differently abled employees.
Gender- There is no active gender bias although there are more than 50% women.
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.
In case you miss to clock in the required hours for a week, escalation goes too your manager
which is not a favourable case.
Employees are required to complete 40 hours of service in a week with no fixed number of
hours for a day.
In IBM, there are two sets of managers. One is the personal manager who is responsible for

5. your leaves, ratings and related things. The other is a project manager whose roles are very
different from the personal manager. He allows leave only if it is possible from the project
point of view. In case the project requirements do not allow, the project manager will not
grant a leave.
The number of leaves as per the policies is listed below.
Privilege leave
 22 days in a year 

 12 days can be carried forward to next year 
Sick leave
 Maximum 14 days of consecutive sick / casual leave 
Paternity leave
 Maximum 5 days within 120 days of birth / adoption 
Maternity leave
 90 days with pay 

 Post maternity – Leave of absence 
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 Additional leave of maximum 6 months without pay 
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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
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

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

7. Working hours:
Working hours are not that stringent as in consulting job employee has to work according to
the need of client.
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
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."— Martín J. Sepúlveda, M.D. FACP, IBM Fellow, Vice
President Integrated Health Services
IBM's proud heritage of excellence and long history of leadership and commitment to
employee health, well-being and workplace safety date back to the very beginnings of the
company.
IBM is known for its best healthcare policies for employees, which are listed below
 Regular health checks 
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 Quarterly psychiatrist sessions 
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 Awareness drives 
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 Ergonomic chair design 
Induction program for newly joined employees:
Every new IBMer would be a part of the Royal Blue Ambassador Program (RBA). This is a 30
days program which connects every new IBMer to an experienced employee who acts as an
advisor or buddy helping new joiners adapt quickly within IBM. This includes everything from
finding accommodation to getting help in understand the work culture of IBM.

8. Benchmarking with competitors
Ernst & Young
The major HR strategies and structure at EY are as described below:-
Structure of the People Department:
 EY has a dedicated and a very active HR department. The company lists the HR
department as Human Capital Services in its organizational structure diagram. 

 Broadly the human resource department is divided into three categories: The people
strategy department, the performance and reward department, and the HR consulting
department. 

 The people strategy department looks into HR strategy articulation, organization
design, and job evaluation and grading. 

 The performance and reward department looks into compensation and reward,
performance management and appraisal, competency and assessment centers,
training development plans, and HR policies and procedures. 

 The HR consulting department gives consultancy services to the clients regarding
people issues. 

 The People department lays a lot of emphasis on changes going on in the
contemporary business environment and actively gets involved to become the
champion of change to achieve all targets which help the firm realize its vision and
mission. 

 The average age of the workforce is 26-27 years making the workforce fairly young. 
There are 65% women in the organization which makes EY extremely gender diverse.
People policies:
 The leaves policy of the firm is just as any other company in the industry but the HR
department is particularly concerned about the work-life balance of the employees. 

 The usual working schedule of the company is from 9:30 am to 7 pm but almost all the
employees have to stretch an hour or two extra every day. 


9.  There is restricted provision to work from home as the work at EY is usually team
oriented wherein the dependency of the team mates on each other is quite high so it
becomes difficult to co-ordinate with a co-worker who is sitting at home. 

 The People department sponsors team parties to rejuvenate the employees and also 
organizes team outings.
Performance Management:
 The performance management system of EY is quite mature and all employees have
2 discussions with their line managers in one year. This gives the employees ample
time and opportunities to reflect upon their scope of improvement. 

 The HR department conducts regular employee satisfaction surveys to keep track of
any bubbling grievances. 

 The firm uses 360 degree evaluation and balanced score card approach to do
performance appraisal. 
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 The firm values its human capital a lot and takes every step to retain it and tries to
reduce early employee turnover. 
Hiring and Talent Management:
 The department tries to keep the process as simple and transparent as possible. The
firm uses an Enterprise Resource Planning enabled hiring system. 

 The firm hires both freshers and laterals. 

 The freshers are usually hired from campus and the number of freshers hired depends
on the attrition rate of the current employees. 

 While the freshers are hired on a regular basis the laterals are hired on a need basis
only, that is, when there are vacancies. 

 The average life cycle of an EY employee is two to two-and-a-half years. 

 As of now the firm has an approximate composition of 70% freshers and 30% laterals. 

 The training program of the freshers lasts for five days after which the employees are
expected to continue learning on-the-job. For laterals it is 1.5 days. 

The HR department also has a provision to provide career development and
counselling to employees of all positions. This is done only to maintain harmony in
teams and increase team cohesion. Such sessions also reduce interpersonal
differences and
motivate the employees to work with enthusiasm.

10. Compensation Policies:
 The compensation system at EY is also structured in such a way that it facilitates
innovation and motivates the employees to that extra mile to prove themselves and
do something extra, something which is out-of-the-box. For example the HR
consulting department has a starting annual salary of about 11-12 lacs INR, which is
the fixed component of the salary. The variable component forms approximately 30%
of the fixed component and varies as per the performance of the employee. 

 The firm also gives recruiting incentive to the employees who refer valuable workforce
to the firm if that workforce gets selected. 
Recent HR Practices:-
 Rank harmonization: 

1. EY has 5 career ranks for client service employees and these ranks are primary
career milestones.
2. There are subdivisions of ranks that represent the way the skills and
experience of the employees is measured.
3. This provides a greater clarity on the employee career path and the employees
get a fair and equitable basis to be promoted. Employees get to know what is
required of them to get promoted.
4. EY also encourages employees to take advantage of the learning and
development programs in the firm.
5. Promotion is a movement from one rank to another. A change in rank means
a change in responsibility, competency level, and authority.
6. There is a “grow or go” principle at each rank. This practice ensures that the
right people are present at the right time and in the right role which better
defines the core business services of the firm.
7. Greater clarity around career models helps to retain talent for a longer time.
8. The benefits of rank harmonization are:
a. Provides seamless, consistent, high quality client service, worldwide
b. Mobilizes employees globally
c. Meets increasingly regulatory demands

11.  Competency : 

1. In EY, Competency comprises skill, behaviour and knowledge.
2. Skills: includes the consulting and technical skills that are needed to effectively
deliver the Business Advisory Services (BAS) value proposition to clients and to
sustain the BAS business.
3. Behaviours: the way EY delivers to clients and the employees of EY work together.
It is the way clients immediately recognize, and EY demonstrates that it provides
the best BAS consultants.
 Accelerated Leadership Plan: 

1. The ALP is a firm wide 3 year exclusive program for the development of
leadership.
2. It aims at increasing the diversity and power of the leadership strength.
3. It is a sum total of aspiration, ability, and engagement of the employees
4. It has 2 parts – skills workshops which form a part of formal learning and on-

12. the-job-experiences which form a part of informal learning