Editing Lotus Software (section)

==Corporate culture==
[[Image:MitchKapor.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mitch Kapor]]]]
Lotus's first employee was Janet Axelrod, who created the Human Resources organization and was the central figure in creating the Lotus culture. As she continued to build her organization and play a central role with senior management, she eventually hired [[Freada Klein]] as the first director of employee relations.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 1995 Lotus had over 4,000 employees worldwide; 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 initially adopted a very hands-off, laissez-faire attitude toward its new acquisition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.strategy-business.com/article/18930?gko=264ad|title=Post-Merger Integration: How I.B.M. and Lotus Work Together|last=Rifkin|first=Glenn|website=strategy+business|access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref>

However, by 2000 the assimilation of Lotus was well underway. 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

Lotus's headquarters in Cambridge were initially divided into two buildings, the Lotus Development Building (LDB) on the banks of the [[Charles River]] and the Rogers Street building, adjacent to the CambridgeSide Galleria. However, in 2001, President and General Manager Al Zollar decided to keep the lease of LDB. The subsequent migration of employees across the street (and into home offices) generally coincided with the final departure of employees from the company.  Later, IBM's offices at 1 Rogers St supported mobile employees, the [[Thomas J. Watson Research Center|Watson Research Center]] on [[User interface]], and [[IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances|IBM DataPower]].