IBM Australia seeks ‘new vision’ from employee survey

IBM Australia and New Zealand is “defining a new vision” with an employee survey.

The “Organisational Culture Inventory” and “Organisational Effectiveness Inventory” asks IBM A/NZ staff to answer 120 questions about the organization. CRN Australia understands the survey is billed as “a powerful diagnostic and will help us understand where, why and how we need to take steps to create a better IBM for us all.”

It’s not hard to guess why IBM feels a survey is needed, because Big Blue’s antipodean outposts have not been immune from job cuts and relocations that have necessitated new ways of working and refinements in collaboration across teams spanning two or more nations. While recent big wins in Canberra suggest the company remains in good health, notable failures like the Census and Queensland Health Payroll remain visible symbols of the company’s recent history.

CRN also understands IBM suffers from internal tension worldwide as workers in traditional areas of strength like services see themselves as less-valued than those working on “strategic imperatives” like AI and cloud.

Into that perfect storm comes this survey, which asks IBMers to rate 120 propositions.

Staff are asked if they would recommend IBM as a place to work to friends and family. Another question asks if workers would recommend Big Blue’s products and services.

Other questions ask “To what extent …” workers:

• Support the new direction your organization is going?
• Are satisfied being a member of this organization?
• Expect to be with this organization two years from now?
• Feel IBM changes to meet customer needs?
• Feel IBM sets clear expectations?
• Will go out of the way to assist customers?
• Feel playing politics is necessary to get ahead?

Some of the questions in IBM ANZ's employee survey

Another section asks if employees feel IBM is colour-and-gender-blind when considering promotions and pay rises, or if personal favouritism plays a part in such decisions.

Some of the 120 questions seek personal experiences and opinions of IBM as a whole. Others ask for an assessment of the teams in which people work.

Participants are told that they data collected is anonymous, but will be analysed by a third-party company that devised and conducted the survey.