Alliance@IBM/CWA

IBM again fails to make Fortune's
"100 Best Companies to Work For",
while most of its competitors do

December 2000

For many years, IBM was considered one of the top companies to work for. Young graduates eagerly sought a career at IBM. Benefits were excellent. The professional work atmosphere and consideration for employees' families were outstanding.

Those were the old days. IBM is not listed as one of Fortune magazine's Top 100 companies to work for, though many of its competitors and many high tech companies are. Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, Sun, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Adobe are some that are considered model employers.

"These companies show no signs of cutting back on their commitment to employees" says Fortune.

Even Walmart and Kinko's are considered better employers than IBM.

"Nice perks may help somewhat in recruiting, but to keep people here we've got to demonstrate that we offer a culture where they are respected and treated as adults, one that shows people that we really do care about them," says Patricia Brown of First Tennessee Bank, a leader in innovative family-friendly benefits.

Shareholders take note: the public companies on the list performed significantly better than the S&P 500 index ... perhaps this is not a coincidence.