Contessa Premium Foods Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Very nice and safe office
Non executive management and staff are nice and friendly

Cons – Too hostile environment, mean upper management, not true leaders as they only blame other people working for them. No appreciation.

Advice to Senior Management – Be appreciative. True leaders take responsibility of the result, share credit and take the blame. They are doing the opposite.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – This company pays a fair salary for the position hired for. Good benefits such as health, dental and vision. 401 K program and vacation package.

Cons – Difficult working enviroment. Lack of leadership from the CEO and his management team. Offsite backstabbing of anyone who is not present at that particular party or get together. Very insecure and paranoid upper managers. ( made me wonder what they are hiding? ) Promises not kept. Would not recommend anyone to work for this company.

Advice to Senior Management – Some of the management need therapy for anger management in a hurry before they hurt someone more than just emotionally with tirades!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – The salary was competitive and the benefits (medical, dental etc) were also comparable to other companies. The new plant they built is eco-friendly.

Cons – This place is micro-managed, people are treated like they are disposable and there is a general climate of fear and mistrust. Even managers are treated with little to no respect. The environment is cold, wet and unsafe for the employees. Employees are sometimes expected to work up to 6 or more hours straight in 40 degree cold without breaks. All the floor employees are temps, maybe of questionable legal immigration status, and even people with years of experience and dedication are just terminated at the first mistake they make. This is a very cleanly organized eastern bloc labor camp.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn to allow the people you hire to do the job you hired them to do. Quit supporting a culture of fear and intimidation where mean behavior is rewarded. Hire some of the temps that have been dedicated for so many years despite the tyrannical way they have been treated. Try listening to your managers. Get educated on how the world does business these days. It's the 21st century and people aren't treated like chattel anymore.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – Mid level management is generally nice. Some employees were friendly enough. Occasional free samples and products. Discount on products.

Cons – Although mid level management is generally nice it does not mean they act in a professional manner or promote/compensate employees fairly. I believe part of the reason for that is there is a high level of fear in the office at all times so management really has no control over decisions and is constantly afraid for their own jobs. The CEO often berates management and employees over the loud speaker. The CEO has a very heavy hand in all decisions in every department and does not trust the educated professionals he employs. He seems to be more concerned with becoming a celebrity than actually running the company and makes employees do personal errands that are not appropriate. Excellent job performance reviews will not get you a raise or promotion because several company policies are in place to make sure no one moves ahead. There is absolutely no room for growth in any of the departments.

Advice to Senior Management – CEO needs to trust the experts he employs. Management needs to stand up to CEO or this company is doomed to fail.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – Money is the only reason to be there. The company has no redeeming value to an employee.

Cons – It's a horrible place to work. Long hours and little to show for it. Everyone is afraid of the CEO who never stops yelling. The turnover is huge because no one can stand the stress. Only brown-nosers can survive.

Advice to Senior Management – Some positive reinforcement would be nice.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – The products are quite good and the company professes to be environmentally responsible.

Cons – Very hostile work environment. No training aside from the sales department--you are expected to just find your own way without much direction or support. The CEO is a madman, so there is an atmosphere of fear that causes employees to throw each other under the bus to avoid getting screamed at.

Advice to Senior Management – Give positive feedback--not just negative input. Protect your subordinates instead of sacrificing them to the CEO.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – Basic economic survival is the only reason to work here. In trying to be fair, this company does pay a decent wage and is competitive with the benefits package. If they offer you a job don't be afraid to negotiate salary. They can be good at that if they think you have something to offer. The technology they potentially have at their disposal is state of the art.

Cons – Employees are not allowed to use their talents, knowledge or expertise in any area. Extremely micro managed environment. It does not matter if you have a degree, a proven track record or anything else to offer. You will not be allowed to use it to help the company in any way no matter how much you want to. Expect to get contradicting instructions and prepare to be demeaned professionally at every turn. People are not trusted here. This place causes people that work here to stagnate in terms of how the rest of the business world operates and if you work here you will become duller and lose your ability to perform well at other companies when you eventually return to the real world of business. It is like being institutionalized. Imagine spending time in prison where you are treated like a lesser being and then having to re-assimilate into society after that and you will get an idea of what it is like to work here. It is unfortunate because this company has so much potential if only they would allow the employees to participate in doing what they pay them to do. This place is a poster child for a demotivator poster. I actually really believe the CEO and management actively try to demotivate the workers.

Advice to Senior Management – Try using 21st century management practices or at least evolve to a 1990's level if that is to uncomfortable. Employ the teachings of Deming and embrace the use of technology (Internet) or try communicating with employees. You don't have to pay people more money or put up with poor performance, just try trusting people to do well and understand that they may make mistakes. If you trust them and they can't do the job that is their fault, but if you don't trust them and they can perform if you get out of their way then shame on you. Also, check the profanity at the door. Joking is one thing, but just going off on an obscene rant is not good. Quit rewarding evil behavior and just cowing people into saying what you want to hear. Sometimes what needs to be said is more important than what you want to hear. The only reason this company, with all its potential, can't be a world class performer is the poor and closed management style it uses.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – The company pays 100% of the health insurance cost for employees

Cons – The pay is horrible.
Having to watch managers text, put make-up on, take personal phone calls, and shop on the internet while you work off the clock as you're not allowed overtime.
John, the owner screaming at you, saying the "f" word ALL day and making many employees cry and upset. The man is an insane nutcase!
Start giving raises and bonuses again - its been 4 years!
Stop lying telling people you promote from within and that there is a ladder at Contessa! There is no ladder to climb - if you are looking for advancement - look somewhere else.

Advice to Senior Management – If and when you have another layoff, layoff the RIGHT people next time!! Make sure some one who knows what people do is incharge of the decision and not an executive who looks at numbers only! You lost a lot of your best employees and you know it.
Make sure employees are getting paid for the work they do, so many of them work off the clock!
Listen to your good employees - you know who they are.
Get rid of John, make someone who actually knows how to run a business take over.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – The pay is okay and so are the benefits. Some of the people are okay to work with just like any job.

Cons – The environment is full of employees that are treated like servants and driven in fear and mistrust. Only a select few that are very good at kissing up to the owner are treated like human beings. The rest are ridiculed, belittled, bullied and looked down on.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn to trust and communicate with people that work for you. There are bad people in the world, but your employees aren't usually the bad guys.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Contessa Premium Foods

Pros – A handfull of people are helpful, courteous, team players and nice to work with.
Occassional free giveaways!
A decent Christmas Party when they decide to throw it.

Cons – Certain managers lack people skills and are often rude and regularly say "I Don't Care!" The CEO curses nonstop like a sailer with Tourettes syndrome. The CEO and a certain department manager do not support their hard working staff; there is a definite lack of respect and appreciation. There is lack of communication that often leads to mistakes and finger pointing. Everyone is so afraid of getting screamed and yelled at by the CEO. He can make you feel soooo small!

Advice to Senior Management – Send your department managers to management training IMMEDIATELY. There, hopefully they will learn how to properly motivate their staff, show appreciation and concern when required and earn a degree of respect from their staff/boost the extremely low morale. Demonstrate to the CEO that despite his position of power, harsh language and dismissive treatment of his employees is damaging to morale and extremely unprofessional. On top of that, they should separate sick days from PTO -- another morale deflator.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend