General Mills Reviews in Phoenix, AZ Area

Pros

Large stable coroporation with good people. The total compensation is slightly above average, but is nothing to write home about. There are some opportunities to play the game and rise to the top fairly quickly.

Cons

Management is young and inexperienced. Most managers are still focused on his/her career as opposed to developing or enabling those whom he/she manages. This also causes a lot of "middle-management" syndrome where a manager feels important becuase of information he/she may have and is unwilling to share. Too many levels of management create prohibit change or innovation. Due to the large size of this company, there is always the battle of networking and politics that over-rides any merit based promotion structure.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more in-tune to the workforce. Sr management does well as explaining the tactics, but lacks in ability to show the big picture.

Pros

Salary and benefits were decent. If you're willing to work 50+ hours a week then there is opportunity for growth.

Cons

They are very regimented in their ways. There was not good communication and interaction between managment and employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to feedback from your employees. Analyze the skill sets of each individual to customize their career path.

Pros

The people hands down. Of course there are your exceptions to the rule and unfortunately its all in upper management. The company does take pride in the products they offer, both in terms of value and quality. Just cant beat that especially given the depth and breadth of the product portfolio.

Cons

The politcs of promotions and career experience. It's definitely about who you know more often then the work you produce. You definitely have to over communicte career desires without bruisng any egos and making sure you are getting quality experiences and exposure which is becoming less and less of an opportunity.

Advice to Senior Management

Really put people first or talent will flee at the first opportunity. Hole people accountable when they are underperming as a motivating managers. Its not always about moving product.

Pros

General Mills is a great company to work for. They focus on developing their employees for senior management. The career paths are well defined and if you are a top performer, the opportunities are endless. The training and development programs are great and provide you with all of the tools you need to succeed.

Cons

At lower levels, there is some immaturity due to the large amount of new hires fresh out of undergrad. Also, the company can somtimes be too focused on recruiting diversity to the extent where they will bring in an inferior or incompetent new hire because they are of a unique background.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue looking for the top performers and developing them into leaders.

Pros

Challenging projects and the people.

Cons

Speed in which to resolve issues

Advice to Senior Management

Great leadership and direction

Pros

Great pay, work life balance, and benefits.

Cons

Extremely bureaucratic, conformity expected, innovation and creativity not really encouraged

Advice to Senior Management

Be interested in employees personal development rather than being self-serving