Global Citizen's Portfolio

IBM has announced the Global Citizen's Portfolio, a new package of capabilities, integrated with existing IBM programs that will provide IBMers with valuable tools to enhance their expertise and careers within a globally integrating economy.

The Global Citizen's Portfolio addresses a rapidly integrating world that favors countries, companies and individuals who understand that economics, expertise and open business environments make work flow. For individuals, the most important factor is expertise.

But the nature of expertise has changed drastically — and continues to change in tandem with the ever-quickening pace of technological advances. People no longer acquire or cultivate expertise in the way they once did. To be competitive, any individual, company, community — or country, for that matter — has to adapt continuously, mastering new fields and new skills.

Companies, communities and countries need to recognize this change — as do the individuals that comprise them. The Global Citizen's Portfolio lays the groundwork for a new set of tools enabling individuals to take control of their economic future.

The initial set of programs in IBM's Global Citizen's Portfolio include:

• IBM Personal Learning Accounts (previously Matching Accounts for Learning): This program provides IBMers an additional resource to enhance their skills and careers as they compete in a dynamic global marketplace. U.S. employees with five years or more of service can contribute up to $1,000 per year to an account earmarked for education. IBM will match 50 percent of employees' contributions when qualifying educational expenses are reimbursed. Contributions and applicable earnings are held in an account until employees are ready to use them for their education. This program has been piloted in the United States and will be expanded globally, based on local skills, training needs and government support for education.
• The Corporate Service Corps: This program will provide leadership development experiences for IBMers, exposing participants to the 21st century context for business — diverse cultures, policy environments and societal expectations. IBM will team with non-governmental organizations to place small groups of employees from different countries and business units together, outside of the office structure. They will build relationships and work on some of the world's toughest problems, such as enhancing global economic opportunity and access to education resources. The Corporate Service Corps will be global from the outset: Approximately 600 IBM participants over the first three years will be drawn from all over the world. Project destinations will be in emerging and developing countries.
• Enhanced Transition Services: This will create bridges for IBM employees to opportunities in government, nonprofits, educational institutions and economic development organizations. Building on the success of IBM's Transition to Teaching initiative, this new program will create public/private and civil/private partnerships. It will identify which skills are needed in high-demand areas, and then help IBM employees develop second careers in these fields, to contribute to their communities.

These are the first in a growing set of capabilities that will evolve over the years and adapt to the various regulatory, cultural and economic conditions in the markets where IBM does business around the world.