Pros

Outstanding company to work with. Great benefit package and a continuous improvement atmosphere permeated the company, from the top down.

Cons

over the years there has been a concentrated effort to streamline and eliminate cost and redundancy which has led to some positions being eliminated.

Advice to Senior Management

continue to manager and direct the company has it has been. The work culture is positive in spite of some downsizing.

Pros

Great training courses and experience managing not only marketing but the business
Promote from within mentality
Good benefits
Stable company
Compensation gets good as you move up
Cross functional work experience

Cons

CP is not innovative - lags miles behind competitors - just look at our website!
Too many meetings
People switch almost too often off of brands and leave messes behind. Little accountability for results - too much focus on execution
Old school dress code
Middle management are not effective at managing and mentoring people. They are too busy doing their own work and achieving their own goals
Allow people to take vacation when requested (save for 2 months a year). Right now, there are only a handful of months where this is not frowned upon

Advice to Senior Management

Modernize the brands and invest in new media - not just TV and print.

Pros

strong brand name, stable, people have strong team work spirit. you can have the individual development plan negotiated with the manager and work against it. A caring company.

Cons

pay is not competitive compared to peer CPG companies. local managers' competencies varied across different countries. In some of the market, Colgate becomes the follower of P&G, and the strategies keep change or the time. Lack of long term strategic planning. Sales driven. Marketing is relatively weak. The degree of localization is low. Glass ceiling is even exist for local senior managers.
Foreign managers do not necessary show the respect to local employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Have fore-seeing strategic view. Respect local talents

Pros

Colgate is a well-respected company with global effects. The best reason is stability and the opportunity for gaining career information.

Cons

communication is not the best in our group

Advice to Senior Management

please keep everyone up to date on the happenings of the company

Pros

Financial results are strong, low debt and job security.

Cons

High vacancy rate, lack of work life balance.

Advice to Senior Management

Re-focus on being the best place to work - as defined by the employees.

Pros

Friendly, tight-knit community. People who start with the company tend to stay with the company for a long time.

Cons

It seems that people don't have many opportunities to move within the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Restructuring occurs too frequently.

Pros

Colgate Palmolive is one of the most multinational companies in the world, and offices exist in many, many different countries. With strong performance, Colgate is a good company to develop an international management career.

People that work in the company are generally very nice. Within such a large company, there are always politics but in general, most people including management, are very approachable.

The pay and benefits are comparable to most other CPG companies. If you need to raise a family, Kansas is an inexpensive place to do that.

Cons

Conservative and bureaucratic. Management by consensus is a common practise, making it difficult to implement changes quickly.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow more decision making in the lower ranks. You've hired strong people to do their jobs - trust their judgement. Speed to market is key and with so much bureaucracy, this important competitive advantage is often lost.

Pros

Colgate truly understands the work-life balance. This is stressed by senior management and true for all employees. Some departments even include programs to work from home. While there may be exceptions during times of go-lives or product launches, management recognizes that we are a toothpaste company and work should not interrupt family life on a daily basis. The benefits package are fair.

Cons

Management's understanding of who is really performing the work and providing the greatest value to to company is often misguided. Promotions are far too political and not based upon merit.

Competition for retaining employees is a challenge due to local competition. Management only views other consumer goods companies as competition for employees, not recognizing that many skills are easily translated to other industries. Despite this, turnover is still relatively low, since it is a good company to work for.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on the employees, for it is the employees who make the firm and are its future. Improve efforts to retain employees, including improved internal training, and merit based promotions.

Pros

Colgate is a very efficiently and well-managed, very stable company. There are lots of opportunities to grow and stay with the company for a long time if you so choose to. The benefits are above average, not as good as some other companies but definitely competitive and more than sufficient for most people. The people are smart and quite capable. If you absolutely need to work in NYC then location is ideal. If you are doing relatively well then international assignments are a big possibility. It's a good place to come in as an early hire as it is a family environment for those who fit into the culture, and for these people you can develop your career there as a lifer.

Cons

Colgate in general is very stiff and bureaucratic and extremely hierarchical, especially if you work in the NYC office. There are too many layers of management, especially in Marketing which is the decision-making function in the company. Colgate is also very formal environment where you need to wear suits every day, which creates a lot of good "corporate soldiers" and people unwilling to push the status quo or play beyond the party line. Senior management can be very into the details and there too many demands on employees to analyze everything to the minutest details. Also, there is general lack of risk-taking or letting employees make decisions, for marketing people it is not an entrepreneurial environment at all. It is very difficult for people who did not grow up in the culture to integrate, and there are some employees that really should be let go due to performance issues or inability to manage others who continue to stay in the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management is very strong from a general management and pure business perspective regarding the financials. However, there is general lack of leadership development and learning to inspire others through leadership capability vs a top-down hierarchical approach. Also, it would help tremendously if employees were allowed to have more autonomy in making decisions, especially in marketing, although it would be a very difficult thing to change considering the entrenched management style of the company.

Pros

Most marketers are attracted to Colgate due to its Manhattan location - not many CPG companies are in the city. That means you get bright ambitious, fast-paced people to work around you. It's also an international company and there seems to be some, limited opportunities to move around globally. It also provides a strong brand name for your resume. Because it is such a lean organization, you will be given lots of responsibilities and exposure.

Cons

I wasn't prepared to work 80 hours a week - as an ABM, you get thrown in - sink or swim - you are expected to perform without any real support. (Although if you come in the global program, you get more measured time to adjust). It is a lean organization with both retention issues and continuous shifts within, which means lack of transitions. It is a traditional, conservative company that is steeped in 'processes' which means you're continuously working on the next presentation cycle and do not have time or focus to be proactive about furthering the brand. Your day is filled and overbooked with meetings and you don't actually start working until the rest of the world goes home starting around 5.

Advice to Senior Management

Value employees more - keep with industry standards and provide 3 weeks vacation, not 2 to people with experience and Master's degrees (- it's abusive). Make managers more responsible for the development of their subordinates instead of task masters who are always trying to cover themselves. Reassess all the processes - many of them are hampered by vital cross-functionals that have no incentive to help marketing and lack accountability. Why after so many iterations for each process, does everyone start painfully over again?