General Mills Reviews

Pros

1. Good level of independence
2. Very good culture of inclusion and work life balance
3. Cross functional opportunities
4. Leadership training

Cons

1. Too much responsibilty and entitlements given to recent college graduates that foster a sense of arrogance and a poor work ethic
2. Departments and divisions can operate in silos
3. Promote based off of relationships - extremely political

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more attention to your supply chain and plant leadership teams. Their leadership and production can and will make or break your company

Pros

The people are by far the most attractive part of working at general mills. the caliber of the group is impressive.

Cons

publicly traded company with responsibility to the share holders... slow to move towards sustainability and within the market

Advice to Senior Management

saying work life balance doesnt mean its happening

Pros

Great people to work with, very talented people throughout the company, good training opportunities, they do care about work life balance, great facilities.

Cons

Promotion pool can get and stay full for a long time, strong performance reviews do not drive promotions, performance calibration system is demotivating.

Advice to Senior Management

Change the performance calibration system, reconsider how the constant push to network drives promotion decisions.

Pros

Company is committed to health
Company provides opportunity to make a real difference in what people eat
High ethical standards
Senior leaders listen to nutrition scientists
Company has improved healthfulness of many products
Pays more than any other job for dietitians

Cons

The Bell Institute is an "unusual" function at General Mills so many colleagues understand our role and may not appreciate the value we provide
We work harder than people in other jobs -- longer hours, higher quality work expected
Because there aren't many places for us to work in the company, we might not have as many promotion opportunities as product developers or marketers

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to value health and support initiatives to make the portfolio healthier

Pros

Workout facilities and health coaching and other services available. Good benefits, and in many cases flexible work arrangements are available. Many opportunities both domestic and international.

Cons

It is a large company, and it is easy to get bogged down in trying to keep tabs on all divisions/operations. There can sometimes be an overemphasis on classroom training.

Advice to Senior Management

Be flexible and agile. Try to take on new challenges at as fast a pace as possible. Now is a time when people are looking for information about the products they use, share it and bring the transparency to as many things in the company as possible.

Pros

Incredible responsibility
Intense project management experience
Competitive atomosphere

Cons

Inward-thinking
Challenge to truly become global company
"Minnesota Nice" mentality expends tremendous amount of emotional energy
Elongated pipelines to promotion

Advice to Senior Management

Truly build towards global mentality and not mini-Minneapolis'es around the world

Pros

Benefits, vacation, 401k, good place to work, most people are friendly, flex time

Cons

boss takes credit for work you do, no job descriptions for non-exempt employees or career development plans

Pros

Good benefits and nice people

Cons

Decent locations for plants, some plants arent as good as others

Advice to Senior Management

None necessarily

Pros

The people leadership that you learn is great. I learned from a lot of great people.

Cons

They pride results more than people. Had an ops manager who cared very little for his people and were just there to get things done. Not the norm but they were not dealing with him. Kiss up and Kick down.

Pros

Great work-life balance, great benefits package, very high ethical behaviors. Managers tend to be very good at what they do.

Cons

Rather political, career progress based on perceptions rather than real results. Way too much time spent in meetings, with very slow decision making.

Advice to Senior Management

Find ways to speed decision making and simplify processes. Give better feedback to employees about challenges to the way they are perceived by others in the organization.