Pros
Nice benefits package Sharing information is great with all the intellectual capital available, from techniques and templates to process and procedures that have been successful previously.
Cons
Management treats all non-managers as expendable pegs--doesn't matter if you're round and the hole is square, you'll be pounded in there. And one better exceed their expectations in that engagement too or one's rating at the end of the year will suffer. Management no longer informs non-managers of important changes or information until the day they occur (e.g., layoffs) where they used to provide a great deal of information for example, having monthly meetings with line management (at a minimum) with announcements from senior management on down to team certifications and births. Senior management has transformed the services units into body shops like Manpower or Kelly Girls. They will use you until you drop, lay you off and find someone offshore. Work/Life balance has become a joke since most management talk a good game but really just pay lip service to it. "As long as there isn't a crisis on your project, you can take your vacation or holiday or class, etc." When >isn't< there a crisis that someone wants you to stay and work on through your time off? So employees end up skipping your vacation(s) to make sure >that< crisis is averted, because team members are running scared that they're next on the chopping block. Emails were sent that encouraged team members to bill "at least 45 hours per week" through the end of the fourth quarter so that management could get their bonuses. The emails said nothing about making sure there would be a bonus for each team members' bonuses who worked overtime. These emails have continued and extended throughout each year to make up for the loss of contracts and salaries for top-heavy management. For example, beginning in 2008, everyone was required to work 45 hours weekly all year to make utilization. Additional bonuses are carrots during the American and Christian holidays at the end of the year--from November 1st through December 31st, management invites team members to work overtime on their projects for a chance at cash prizes, causing resentment from those who take most, if not all of their vacation time then. No matter what your performance rating, you will be laid off once 1) you've trained your replacement offshore, 2) management finds that you are too close to a milestone (e.g., 55 for healthcare, etc.) or 3) your face was hanging out when management decides they can save money by cutting 200 team members rather than cutting two managers. Although they provide all the paper, pens, copiers, etc. you could want at an IBM office, expenses for everything else were cut so many years ago that I can't remember when they should have replaced my printer (which has limped along valiantly for after printing so much IBM crap).
