Coca-Cola Refreshments Reviews

Pros

Great brand & marketing -- impact on local businesses

Cons

lots of changes, lack of flexibility

Advice to Senior Management

Keep pushing forward

Pros

3 weeks vacation
paid holidays off
consistent job schedule
low stress work environment
easy to make bonus incentives
helpful human resource team

Cons

inflexible work schedule; hard to take time off for appointments during the day
task for job very monotonous; lots of policies in place that can use updating to make job more effective

Pros

Good pay, but not phenomonal, weekends off, and the possibility for a trimester bonus. The co-workers are good people, too.

Cons

They are taking away our company cars, and not nearly compensating us enough for their loss. The variation between large format and small format routes are glaring. Management micro-manages quite a bit.

Advice to Senior Management

Either bring back the company cars or compensate us appropriately. The micro-managing of priorioties can get ridiculous. Just let us sell, and let us be.

Pros

Recognizable company that looks good on the resume. Great brands. Decent training and a lot of good skills acquired. Fair pay and vacation time.

Cons

Work/life balance is horrible. You could work 70 hours a week and not accomplish all that they want done. Taking away company cars and fuel card and the allowance being given is sub-standard. Employees taking a big loss on that deal. If you use a vacation day during the week, you are still expected to work ahead and hit the same number of stops (how is that really a vacation then?) Be prepared to put in some hours during your vacation as well. Our pricing structure is completely off and customers are sourcing our products elsewhere. Some of the initiatives are completely unrealistic.

Advice to Senior Management

Get out in the field to see what we are up against and how much time is truly needed to accomplish what you are wanting us to accomplish.

Pros

Outside sales. My customers make it all worthwhile.

Distribution is much improved. Our customers can expect their deliveries on time and in full.

Cons

The new auto policy will cost Coca-Cola Refreshments a sizable portion of their sales force--and will make recruitment and retention nearly impossible.

Support from pricing control and the contracting department is virtually non-existent. Senior leadership is completely disconnected.

Advice to Senior Management

Rescind the new auto policy that requires me to buy a new vehicle that is worth $18,000 every five years. It is immoral and it will be nearly impossible to hire and retain new sales people.

Focus less on "sales capability" and more on support staffing levels and training.

Pros

Job stability, great brand, ok benefits, 3 weeks vacation

Cons

Extreme micrimanagement, unrealistic expectations, no appreciation for your work, company does not want your input they just want it done and their way, end up having to finish surveys and emails at home on your own time, loss of company cars, bonus lowered but expectation and workload increased.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to let us sell and be ourselves not robots. Do not micromanage us so much and let us be account managers. Need to understand we don't have the time to sit on these tablets all day. Are we account managers or do we work in a cubicle? Need to come out here and work in our position and see what really goes on in the trade every day and the challenges we face. Reward us for our successes not chastise us for the little things. Give us better incentive to sell, don't take from us and expect us to do more.

Pros

Great Coworkers and flexible hours

Cons

Corporate greed has taken over since the merge and they have no respect or value for their employees. Taking away company cars and ONLY offering us a variable monthly allowance maybe up to $270, MUST buy a car 5 years new only for their tax write off, MUST be within their car category in regards to price which is $18,000 and that allowance is suppose to cover the monthly payment, business insurance, and maintenance. Then on top of that they are only offering .20 to 21.72 cents a mile for gas when the Federal rate is over twice that.
Trying to make us be the same, tell us how to sell, back our cars in. Their technology has created more time with the Help Desk to get things fixed or even started. Keep piling more and more onto us without any respect for our family time. We can't keep up our plates are overflowing with no end in sight.

Advice to Senior Management

That our customers are not all the same and we can't always sell to them EXACTLY the way you want us to in the 10 steps.

Pros

Best Reasons are: a wide variety of data tools at your disposal - Category and Shopper Insights galore - brand leadership in multiple categories, strong brand loyalty, opportunities exist for career development.

Cons

Downside is the management team, while they seem well educated, and have a high level of expectations.....the reality is, they know nothing about the day to day business. The size of the company creates an abyss, and it is often impossible to get quick answers. Job standardization in the frontlines are also leading to a lack of common sense sales force....and a frustrated customer base.

Advice to Senior Management

Evaluate the missed opportunities that our current DSD service model is delivering, and not just the cost savings....empower people to take risks and foster an environement of new ideas. Also, stop trying to 'sell' to employees when dramatic policy changes are made (i.e. loss of company vehicles, or compensation changes) tell us the facts like grown ups....and it would not hurt to re-evaluate some of these Vice Presidents on customer teams.....they know SO Little about the day to day....I wonder how they got into their role (and our National customers feel the same in many cases)

Pros

Good starting wage (even though it is now going down since CCR was formed), Good Benefits compared to similar sized comanies even though they are getting worse as well.

Cons

Good old boys club, not about what you know its who you know, promotions and positions changes are given to who is liked best now who is truly deserving of it (whether it be years in the company or just a certain manager likes you). If you have the right friends you will go far but if you rub someone the wrong way or work a shift that is not as visible to your superiors (i.e. a night shift), your contributions will most likely go unnoticed or credit taken for them by you manager.

Pros

The culture to succeed above and beyond the norm.

Cons

The lack of knowledge and competency of the district managers and managers.

Advice to Senior Management

continue to train the managers