Lotus Software - Corporate Culture

Corporate Culture

Following in founder Mitch Kapor's footsteps, Lotus has always had a reputation as a progressive company. Lotus's first employee was Janet Axelrod who created not only the Human Resources organization but was the central figure in creating the much respected Lotus culture. As she continued to build her organization and play a central role with the senior management, she eventually hired Freada Klein as the first Director of Employee Relations to help with her emphasis on ensuring a fair workplace. In 1986, Lotus was the first major company to support an AIDS walk. In 1990, Lotus opened a daycare center for the children of its employees. In 1992, Lotus was the first major company to offer full benefits to same-sex partners. In 1998, Lotus was named one of the Top 10 best companies to work for working mothers by Working Mother magazine.

In 1995, Lotus had over 4,000 employees worldwide and IBM's acquisition of Lotus was greeted with apprehension by many Lotus employees, who feared that the corporate culture of "Big Blue" would smother their creativity. To the surprise of many employees and journalists, IBM adopted a very hands-off, laissez-faire attitude towards its new acquisition.

However, by the year 2000, the inevitable assimilation of Lotus was almost complete. While the mass employee defections that IBM feared did not materialize, many long-time Lotus employees did complain about the transition to IBM's culture (IBM's employee benefits programs, in particular, were singled out as inferior to Lotus's very progressive programs).

Lotus's headquarters in Cambridge used to be divided into two buildings, the Lotus Development Building (LDB) (on the banks of the Charles River) and the Rogers Street building, located adjacent to the CambridgeSide Galleria. However, in 2001, then President and General Manager, Al Zollar decided not to renew the lease of LDB. The subsequent migration of employees across the street (and into home offices) generally coincided with what was probably the final exodus of employees from the company. Today, IBM's offices at 1 Rogers St supports mobile employees, Watson Research Center on User interface, and IBM DataPower.

The integration of Lotus into IBM continues. Today, it is a software brand in IBM's Software Group. Within Lotus, there is still a strong sense of unity. Many former Lotus employees, though they have moved into and embraced IBM, still identify with Lotus and see themselves as part of the Lotus community.