Kraft Foods Reviews

Pros

Strong brand name in corporate world

Cons

The manufacturing side management really needs to stop behaving like the are Gods

Advice to Senior Management

Set goals clearly, so employees know where they are headed in terms of work.

Pros

Good learning opportunities. Smart, interesting people, fast paced environment

Cons

Relatively bureaucratic, can be difficult to drive change

Advice to Senior Management

Encourage a more entrepreneurial environment

Pros

Strong culture of decency, ethical leadership
Good salary and benefits
Collegial environment
Work flexibility
Exposure to strong business practices
Great place to learn

Cons

Successive downsizings and organizational redesigns have dulled the enthusiasm of remaining employees
Hierarchical, slow decision-making, low employee participation in decision-making
Low level of product innovation.
No sense of "constancy of purpose"

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to employee surveys. The leadership problems are well-known. Make an effort to be responsive to employee input - they care deeply about the success of the company.

Pros

Kraft hasa great stable of brands that hold historic significance in the United States. Project based work is very fulfilling when you can see the end result of things you work on make it to the market place.

Cons

As a finance professional, our function is a support function for marketing and sales and we can often be made to feel like less valued contributors to the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Eventually the pendulum of cost cutting swings both ways and you get what you pay for. We have been slashing head-count for the better part of a decade since going public and management seems firmly at the beck and call of shareholders as opposed to taking a balanced approach to foster employee security which would pay better long term dividends for the company via increased employee loyalty

Pros

There is tremendous opportunity for advancement since Kraft Foods promotes from within.

Cons

The work load is enormous and the work hours are extremely grueling particularly if an employee has a family.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to the stress level of your employees. When they say they are extremely overworked and need assistance, pay attention and help to provide interim resources to help them.

Pros

I enjoy what I do, in assisting colleagues from others continents of the world. There's never a dull moment in what I do.

Cons

Sometimes, the managers micromanage. It is my hope that we as employees, will have some autonomy to take measured risks at times in what we are engaged in.

Advice to Senior Management

There needs to be more training for the managers for whom adminstration of people is not their primary background or training. Then they will make more effective managers.

Pros

There are a lot of options and you can succeed in the buisness by learning from the employees. There ar many locations as well.

Cons

You have to work on off-shifts in Manufacturing. Sometimes the maintenance crew is a little mean to new employees coming in.

Advice to Senior Management

I would advise people to enter the food industry because there are a lot of engineering opurtunities and it can result in a favorable income.

Pros

Large company, varying opportunities, good benefits

Cons

Large company, sometimes gets siloed

Advice to Senior Management

Improve communication with employees, especially communication from middle managment

Pros

Work Life Balance is promoted. Interesting facility and opportunity to learn about the food industry and how the company reaches out to support the community. Kraft is a very active part of the community providing support to Food Banks, Recreation Centers and much more

Cons

Communication is not forth coming from management. If management would communicate more it would unify the facility and drive more productivity and a positive environment.

Pros

The benefits package were good - medical, dental, vision. Co-workers were friendly.

Cons

They micro-manage their employees to the fullest extent. They were unwilling to work with my personal situation, and had me traveling all over the central Florida market. I had a personal family tragedy that occurred, and they gave me a few days off for my immediate family member's funeral. However, I wanted to get back to work soon after, but the company was unwilling to work with me in regards to travel. I needed to stay close to my family because we were all grieving and needed each other during that difficult time. It seems like they place more importance on newlyweds and individuals with children, rather than someone who lost one of their closest family members. I understand if individuals have children, but to place more importance on newlyweds above my situation is just absurd. Overall, they breached their contract stating that I would be residing and working out of Pinellas County. They had me in Citrus County averaging 3 weeks out of a month.

There was no defined career path. I placed high priority into the quality of my work, and performed well, and in turn their was no reward in this regard.

Advice to Senior Management

Place more compassion into your employees' overall well-being. Work with them during difficult situation, and try to be accommodating to their needs. Give your employees a defined career path, or a particular goal for them to attain to reach to the next level in the company. Reward your employees for their performance, and open up job opportunities based on performance rather than solely basing it on what is available at the time. If there is nothing available reward them with some kind of compensation to gain a higher retention rate of your employees. The bonuses that are offered are chump change, and not worth the effort that your employees contribute to the organization.