I heard a rumour today that IBM said pay rise across the board was 0% and that people are deserting the ship.Any truth?

Yep, heard rumour that they are re-negotiationg with 'selected' staff. Not a good message if they made $13billion and there is no money left.Apparently the message is that they have not won anything recently, take from that what you will.

There are a number of firms I can think of who've had recruitment freezes in place at some point in the last 12 months and where the practices are being very cautious and trying to resist pay rises......however IBM is most definitely not one I would put in this category. My money's on this being a rumour put about by IBM's competitors!Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Its not a rumour :) its hard fact after today.

Could you elaborate please?

A quick survey round IBMers on my project suggests that pay reviews have not been cascaded although criteria has (should have been?) decided long ago.There are no huge concerns, however to be fair, I don't think anyone is expecting a windfall. But this is due to IBM's reknowned stinginess for reviews / bonuses more than anything else!

It would appear that there are no raises in areas that IBM do not wish to grow in the UK.Just business, if your joining said area then beware the climate as youll end up miserable :)

I got 9% pay rise yesterday. However, methinks they are trying to stop people leaving - as many have done in my practice....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/18/ibm_q2_2008_earnings/comments/Would seem that IBm are indeed not giving payrises and in the current inflationary climate, telling everyone else that all is well.IBM not yet learned the Internet, or simply Enron Accounting?Something is fishy here the employees are most certainly saying they have been told IBM has performed or is going to perform really badly.

Yes pay rises announced yesterday 7.5% - that'll doBTW I'm in GBS and I've certainly not heard any doom and gloom, utilisation is OK and contracts keep coming in...Though to be fair there have been a few departures of late...

Well here is the FULL impersonal email, enjoy... Just so you know , HR keep pretending to be an IBMer.IBM dont go near !Dear Colleague, This email is coming from me (as your 2nd Line Manager) because of the recent organisational changes in AS Delivery and the many resulting changes in manager:professional alignments. So far in 2008, we are not achieving our full potential and have missed our signings, revenue, profit and utilisation targets. Whilst we have improved year on year, we have fallen behind what is required to achieve our full year targets and as such (in common with many other lines of business within the UK) the budget available for salary increases in 2008 is much reduced. I therefore regret to inform you that you have not been selected to receive a salary increase this year. I am aware that with a PBC 2+ rating for 2007, this will be a major disappointment to you. However due to the limited salary budget available this year, it has just not been possible to include everybody with a 2+ rating in this year's coverage. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued commitment to AS Delivery. Please talk to your "NEW" Manager if you have any concerns. As we are now in the mid year review cycle this may be the most appropriate time for the discussion.

I got a PBC1 and am on the 5% of the bell curve that are the top performers, I got a 1% raise.IBM in Ireland have whole warehouses full of cancelled and returned orders, apparently its Q3 and Q4 that are about to result in big lay offs.Q2 was alright mind you as the stock options were exercised :)Id hold tight on any job applications right now as you WILL have less than 2 years service and not a leg to stand on.Unless your really really good, but then....

That narrowed down my choice, at interview I asked about this and was given a load of dross about growth markets and relative unit performance, but generally the huge profits were not passed on at all so a large round number for 90% of UK, effectiveley a 5% wage cut, average bonus is 4% for good performers out of a possible 12% so I chose Accenture.