Campbell Soup Reviews in Philadelphia, PA Area

Pros

Campbell's vision and mission, the challanging and rewarding work, the support I had by management as my career progressed and the feeling of pride in our products, customers and coworkers.

Cons

Sometimes too many layers, managing by objectives and being asked to force rank my direct reports. Working in the city of Camden.

Advice to Senior Management

Mid level management needs to develop trust skills for the non-management employees. Value is there and is untapped at times - begin to build a relationship and when review time comes - do not let the one or two errors distract you from seeing the hundreds of positive happenings.

Pros

Company has a very loyal workforce, many multi decade workers still present. Compensation is very competitive within peer group companies

Cons

Progress is hard to come by in R&D, and is gained more by those willing to play politics, or from the old school network

Advice to Senior Management

Keep looking at what your competitors are doing to grow their business, and be willing to invest to keep relevant to your changing consumer market

Pros

Relatively stable, traditional company
Recognizes importance of workplace diversity
Historically strong cash position
Employees demonstrate great pride in the Company's products

Cons

Marketplace reality vs. growth expectations of management in a challenging consumer environment
New management and changes in direction TBD following retirement of Doug Conant, a well established and much respected CEO

Advice to Senior Management

Its all about the people - set clear expectations and establish a reward system that drives intended behavior
Stay the course when it comes to strategic objectives
Establish realistic goals

Pros

given lots of responsibility
friendly helpful people
work life balance
lots of soup

Cons

somewhat disorganized within R&D - not always easy to find the info you need

Advice to Senior Management

keep those summer hours :)

Pros

Opportunities are there for the asking/taking
There is a awareness on what it takes to have an engaged workforce

Philly is a great city

Cons

Words and pictures externally began to diverge from where the people and money were going internally; not focused on what it would really take to win longer term

Employeed burn out as roster has constricted

Camden..

Pros

Work/life balance is encourage, though not fully supported in all departments.

Cons

Slow to make decisions, penny wise/dollar foolish on some decisions. Manufacturing driven organization first and innovation focused 2nd

Advice to Senior Management

Look to lead, not follow the other CPG's. Focus on innovation.

Pros

The most open, warm environment I have experienced. The people are genuinely nice and want to see the company succeed. The Former CEO did an amazing job leading the company. He knew nearly everyone by name and would make it a point to walk around and talk to his employees every week.

Cons

Its very difficult to move from one area of the firm to another. Also, the brand management team are the "gods" of Campbell Soup and can be difficult to work with.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to make Campbell and family-friendly, warm environment. Work on building employee training and allowing employees an opportunity to advance.

Pros

Really great people, with a good culture of respect for employee's.

Cons

Need more dynamic senior leadership willing to find growth drivers. To stuck on old success, versus being innovative.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to take more risks and be willing to change.

Pros

Campbell's challenges the individual to strive to make a difference.

Cons

Company tends to be too conservative.

Advice to Senior Management

Strive to make a difference. Put in the work.

Pros

competitive salary, friendly colleagues, easy commute from Philadelphia (against traffic!), forward thinking company, stable company, flexible, reasonable. Also, my department was very trustworthy. They allow you to work from home when you want/need to. As long as your work gets completed, they're not concerned about where you work. That's very important to me.

Cons

Some senior executives, while nice, are very behind the times.

Working in Camden isn't exactly idea, but the company has done the best it can with a bad situation. The city is really lousy, but Campbells has really made the work environment as nice as they can to help make you forget that it's a bit lousy beyond the borders of the office campus.

But still, I'd rather work in Philly where colleagues go out for a drink after work and socialize. That's a big benefit of working in an office that I missed while I worked there.

Advice to Senior Management

More attention could be paid to employee moral levels. I know this wasn't the norm, but for a while I was miserable because I worked with someone who was a complete idiot. I mean, mind blowing stupid. But the company invested too much money to get them to the company to acknowledge they messed up, so the moral for the rest of the department dropped dramatically. There was very little I could do about it though. Anonymous peer reviews would have been wonderful.

Also, the reviews that are meant for employees to rate their managers is a bit silly. It's a god idea, but especially for small departments it doesn't work well. I know of a past manager (who has since left the company) who pressured their employees to give them top marks on those reviews.