Kraft Foods Reviews

Pros

Great place to gain valuable qualities to build your personal career. Recognizable brands allow for ease of sales as a sales representative. Reasonable salary in comparison to work load.

Cons

Management recognition given to employees based on relationship and not on overall meeting of job description expectations. Unqualified District Managers who were taken out of their positions in the past due to lack of ability to manage people, an then brought back into their position for another chance. Negative feedback by managers hoping to force a positive result. No credit to those employees when credit is due. Way too much focus on administrative duties and not on what is actually moving the business.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to those lower employees on the totem pole, as they are the ones dealing with your customers. Always have a management review that is taken seriously, on employee feedback on their current manager. Focus on sales, and not administrative duties to achieve success! If you hire those employees that have proven success in sales, and not those who can write pretty emails to become managers, Kraft will be more successful in Toronto.

Pros

Flexible schedule at times...minimal management involvement

Cons

No retirement plan...no employee appreciation

Advice to Senior Management

acknowledge when an employee goes above and beyond...a little positive feedback goes a long way

Pros

Great company culture. Great benefits packets. Offers multiple career paths.

Cons

You always have to be concerned for job security with mergers and acquisitions.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to lower level management and the he sales team. They are the pulse of the customer.

Pros

Tough, numbers driven environment. Honest.

Cons

Honest and at time intimidating

Advice to Senior Management

Do not destroy cadburry culture.

Pros

There is opportunity to advance

Cons

If you are not always kissing butt, you get forgotten.

Pros

People are generally nice.
Work hours are very reasonable and the work itself is not very demanding.
Base comp is very high compared to other peer companies

Cons

Toxic culture - very important that you are liked by people, however this evaluation is based on corridor talk and how the top mngmt guys think of you. You will only be told you have "problems" but never any concrete reasons why, specific examples or action plans to address. This basically helps retain the top mngmt as the #1 decider on your performance and avoids transparency. This is not like Kraft globally - survey results show UAE as having lowest engagement scores within the Kraft world.
Mediocore is good enough attitude. Really there is no drive here for excellence though a lot of back patting
Not a resume builder among MNC peers
Everyone stays in the same roles forever

Advice to Senior Management

A serious intervention is required to improve engagement. More transparency is required in how people are measured against values and less reliance on corridor discussions.
Too much of a "we are the best" attitude among senior managers when there is nothing to back that up - be it enagagement scores or peer reviews.

Pros

A big brand name
FMCG sector per se is alive and kicking so a good launch pad for marketing and sales people
Some of the senior leaders are inspiring/ good to learn from

Cons

Very hierarchical and bureaucratic
stone age processes and practices
will test your patience to do little things
bring in over qualified people into lower jobs
growth based on relationship rather than performance
in their own world oblivious to whats happening elsewhere
No real growth options as is common in mncs

Advice to Senior Management

Take a closer look at your next line... invest in people at entry level......spend more time outside cabins and conferences

Pros

the pay and benefits are good

Cons

0 work-life balance
terrible communication from above

Advice to Senior Management

Get it together

Pros

The business management and marketing experience is exceptional

Cons

It is a 500 pound gorilla and things don't change quickly

Advice to Senior Management

n/a

Pros

Great pay, great benefits (provided with expense account, car, phone, etc). Management recognizes value of great employees, something that is often overlooked

Cons

Sometimes worked more than 40 hours a week. However, being paid on salary this really didn't matter. Feels like school due to all of the rules and regulations have to keep up with.

Advice to Senior Management

Lessen the burden of the reps, increase of the merchandisers.