Large For-Profit category
IBM - T.J. Watson Research Center
Global Well-Being
New York — The future is in the hands of the employees of IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, the headquarters for the largest industrial research organization in the world. Every day, they research and develop technologies that will transform businesses in a wide range of industries. At the same time, employees are also shaping their individual paths of personal and professional growth by taking advantage of programs and opportunities fostered by IBM’s corporate commitment to the “whole employee.”
Click here to watch a video clip about IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center.
Employee Involvement
By incorporating its values of client success, innovation, and trust in relationships into employee well-being programs, IBM creates a strong foundation for employee involvement. Add participative decision making, self-managed work teams and employee involvement on committees and task forces to the mix. The result: a work environment that encourages creativity and flexibility while simultaneously aligning employees with company goals and fostering a sense of personal accountability.
Health and Safety
Health and safety at IBM are everyone’s responsibility. A network of representatives from every department oversees colleague safety. As additional safeguards, managers perform audits of their areas semiannually and the Well-Being Department performs annual audits of each area. IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center has been an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program Star Award Site since 1997. This cooperative relationship between management and OSHA reflects OSHA’s official recognition of IBM’s outstanding efforts with regard to occupational safety and health programs.
In addition to a comprehensive package of healthcare benefits, IBM maintains an extensive menu of employee wellness resources that includes online tools, classes on a variety of health-related topics, and access to a workout center and other sports and recreation facilities. Other opportunities available to IBM employees at the worksite include health screenings, wellness evaluations, immunizations and “lunch-and-learn” presentations. A special focus for IBM in 2005 was raising employees’ awareness of workplace stress.
Employee Growth and Development
The electronically connected world that IBM has helped create also enables employees to conveniently access a wealth of educational and training resources. IBM’s Global Campus Web site features thousands of online training options on topics from nanoscience to business administration taught by experts at Harvard and MIT as well as by IBM colleagues from around the world. The training is available 24 hours a day to help IBM employees fit their professional development activities into their busy work schedules. IBM uses Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to shape the career paths of its employees. IDPs can be tailored to focus on developing a deep expertise or on gaining a broader set of skills and abilities. In addition to top-notch professional skills, IBM focuses on in-depth industry and technical training to keep employees up-to-date on emerging technologies and skills crucial to success in the evolving marketplace. Along with internal training opportunities, IBM provides assistance for employees to pursue relevant off-site education and, with approval, will reimburse 100 percent of each employee’s tuition and other eligible fees for accredited education programs.
Work-Life Balance
To help employees effectively manage the competitive pressures of the technology industry, IBM looks for creative solutions that enable employees to achieve greater work-life balance. These tools include child care and elder care locators, issue-specific online resource rooms and consultants who are available by email or telephone to help employees with personal issues such as child care, financial planning and legal issues. IBM’s flexible work arrangements include part-time work, job sharing, unpaid leave, compressed work week, individualized work schedules and work-at-home options.
Employee Recognition
In addition to its performance bonus, incentive award and stock option programs, IBM’s recognition programs are another way that the organization’s values shape the way it does business. “The Best of IBM” recognition program focuses on the times when passion and commitment merge to produce extraordinary results. Awards range from the Ovation! award, which allows managers to recognize personal dedication, exemplary service and selfless behavior on behalf of clients or co-workers, to awards for outstanding innovative and technical achievements that result in tangible additions to IBM in the form of patent royalties or applied technology.
The Bottom Line
By empowering employees and treating them with dignity and trust, IBM is able to attract and retain top-quality talent. IBM has received numerous honors for its workplace practices including designation as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, one of Working Mother Magazine’s Best Places to Work, Women in Technology’s Work/Life Balance Award, and Business Ethics’ list of the “100 Best Corporate Citizens.”
IBM’s focus on employee health and well-being is also paying off in terms of cost savings. The company’s U.S. health insurance premiums from 1999-2005 were on average 4.7 percent lower than the national average and 6 to 15 percent lower than industry norms. At the same time, IBM employees themselves paid 26 to 60 percent less than industry averages. IBM also reports that data from repeat assessments show a reduction in employee health risks and that savings from disease management efforts have grown to $36 million in the past year.