General Mills Reviews

Pros

Competitive compensation
Good company perks in Sales group
Well known & respected brands
Great benefits
Opportunities to get experience in different functional roles

Cons

If you want to advance in Sales, all roads lad to Minneapolis
Large company, slow to implement change
Culture is good and the surface and prefers conflict avoidance
Hard to grow and develop on your own path

Advice to Senior Management

Be accepting of strong sales people who want to take an alternative career path and don't try to force them into the mold.

Pros

Smart people, marketing driven organization, great facilities, interesting projects, ability to work with really talented cross-functional people/learn a lot about running an organization, managing a P&L.

Cons

Pretty competitive, but often times behind back. There is still a lot of face-time involved. Silly meetings before meetings, that sort of thing. Senior management doesn't always stick to decisions, lots of politics.

Pros

Benefits, rotation programs to allow movement across the organization

Cons

Change in characteristics/behaviors that are valued by senior leadership

Advice to Senior Management

Rwturn to core value philosophy

Pros

The people, they hire some awesome folks that will become your friends outside of work too
The benefits
Rental Incentive
Car allowance or company car
The work life balance
Community service involvement in the Rogers office
More laid back attitude in the Rogers office than other offices

Cons

The bureaucratic nature of the company is out of control. Promotions are being based off tenure in role or time with the company versus performance. We're losing really smart, innovative people because of it.
Some jobs are incredibly boring.
Staying in one business center limits your career path options. Minneapolis is a must if you want to advance your career.
People are always worried about little things like what time you leave or what shoes you're wearing. Not as much in the Rogers office as other locations but it is a company wide issue.
Senior management makes all the decisions and doesn't appreciate when younger employees interject their true opinions.
Lots of managers like to do things the way they've always been done before and have no desire to innovate and provide something new.
Recognition of truly great work needs to be more than just an email. Make people feel like they truly earned a big pat on the back from the company.
No one in senior management likes to take responsibility when things go wrong. There's always a ton of finger pointing.

Advice to Senior Management

Clean up the beaucracy and work on advancing the best and brightest so they don't leave. Encourage senior management to stop worrying about little things that don't matter, to innovate, take responsibility when something goes wrong, and listen to the opinions of younger employees. You hired these people from the best undergrad business schools so start trusting their opinions are well-formed and educated.

Pros

Their on-boarding programs are very nice in the fact that they allow new hires to really experience different parts of their business. They do a good job of getting you exposure both to Senior Management and in front of customers.

Cons

There aren't many downsides to being at General Mills. There are plenty of opportunities. One thing to be careful of is to make sure you are on top of openings that do come up and keep on top of your development. It can easily go by the way side.

Advice to Senior Management

Be careful not to micro-manage your new hires. Guide them in the beginning, as that is expected at any company at any level. However, when the time comes, you need to make sure you don't hinder the development of younger talent.

Pros

The perks are great! They are really good about work/life balance. Family time is respected and flexibility is encouraged. We are able to work from home when necessary. We can attend occassional school functions and it isn't frowned upon. The company really works to help you become the best employee you can be.

Cons

The main negatives are that the pay isn't always the best. But, they balance that with the perks. Sometimes, not making 6 figures is ok when I have more flexibility and great benefits. It evens things out a bit, and I think GMI knows that.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't forget to work with the lower levels. Those people who are non-exempt still have a lot to offer. A great deal of those people under level 12 have college degrees and are great assets to the company. Sometimes, the leadership can overlook them and focus more on the 12+ and I think it is a mistake.

Pros

- Good brands to put on your resume
- Flexible work time (i.e. can leave at 5pm and finish rest of work from home)

Cons

- Highly bureaucratic / political organization. This organization is not a meritocracy. Cannot challenge management. Must support upper management's ideas even when they are not the right thing for the business
- Mills claims to be innovation but their idea of innovation is more along the lines of taking a big box of cereal and putting it in six little boxes than actually coming up with a truly innovative process or product
- Rotations are long. It will take you 3-4 years of rotations before you get a real promotion.

Advice to Senior Management

Remove the bureaucracy in the organization. It's hindering the company from growing faster. Instead of growing the company is continually persuing mediocre ideas thought of by mediocre management.

Pros

-Company very focused on training and developing talent. There are a lot of classes and programs in place to ensure that new hires are on-boarded quickly and effectively into the new organization.

Cons

General Mills can be a slow moving organization at times. A lot of emphasis on building consensus and influencing the organization through gradual change.

Due to the matrix organization, there is a fair bit of politics that occurs when it comes to assigning new roles and impacting change.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to emphasize talent development, but find ways to make things more transparent when it comes to assigning new roles or promotions.

Pros

Work on top food brands, exceptional training, good pay and strong benefits, original strategy and creative in Canada, "Tier 1" profile.

Cons

"Minnesota nice" atmosphere, have the carrot dangling in front of you...but watch out for that large stick.

Pros

Career Developement and mentorship programs

Cons

Lack of International Expansion and no too many opportunities outside marketing