Kraft Foods Reviews

Pros

Career advancement.
Development within the CPG industry.

Cons

Different managers have different "ideas" of the steps and/or experiences required for career advancement.

Advice to Senior Management

Be a mentor for young, high potential employees. It's easy to get "lost" in the system.

Pros

Big company, Recognized, Exciting job. I have no real complaints about the company. Good job atmosphere. Very communicative organization. Extra Benefits

Cons

Long hours, no extra hour pay. I had to travel around Europe and with the cost savings, they expected employees to travel without optimal conditions.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer bonus packages to employees
Reduce work load, i sometimes had to work during weekends
Be more active
More meaningful rewarding system

Pros

Good pay.
Good benefits.
Good hours.
Great Brands.
Company car replaced every two years.
401k.
Trade show travel is fun.

Cons

Politics at corporate level weren't great. Not enough flexibility with development funds. Hard to get rebates for customers. Too much red tape.

Advice to Senior Management

Loyalty to employees could be better. They cave in to legal and compliance too often in lieu of supporting long time employees.

Pros

Fast paced withGrowth opportunities
Good Training

Cons

Company is splitting which can be a con or pro
Long hours

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Lots of long-term employees provide evidence of great company with great brands, good compensation, challenging experiences and strong management team that focuses on employee development.

Cons

More recently, however, new management and ex-pats are moving here, creating a very political tone, strong emphasis on cutting costs, and no interest in the people who have helped build the brands and the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

You've lost your focus on who has made the business strong: it's employees. Quality of employee work equates to the amount of care they feel from their management. Tallented exec team needs to question actions immediate below them.

Pros

Kraft employs amazingly talented people with whom it's a privilege to work. The brands are top-notch and, though well-known, have tremendous upside. A global perspective means lots of opportunity to learn and to have an impact.

Cons

Constant local leadership transitions over the years have made it difficult to know where the company is going...and how it will get there. Company needs to commit to a vision and make the short-term decisions (often costly) that prove intent to deliver against the vision.

Advice to Senior Management

Make sure your entire business system can support your ambitious agenda.

Pros

If you don't want to wait tables or be a bar tender, there is no better job to work at while going through college.

Cons

You tend to never hear about how well you do. You are often sent off to do jobs on your own and the store manager complains over silly things and then you get in trouble over silly stuff.

You hear much more about what you have done wrong vs. what you have done right.

Advice to Senior Management

Tell your employees you appreciate all the work they are doing. And perhaps tell them you understand some store managers are picky and to know we do our job well.

Pros

Salaries are competitive, If you can fit the mold of the Kraft employee then you will do well (just observe), It is a global organization and opportunities are present to experience it. Finally the company has realized it needs to be technologically competitive and has made a big investment in technology (SAP). Kraft has grown through acquisitions which means there is always something exciting to work on.

Cons

Too many frequent changes in the organization, Consumed with "Marketing" as opposed all functions which means being in Marketeers get all the attention. Consumed with cost cutting and the targets Wall Street has set for the company. Too much preoccupation with people losing their job. That does not allow employee to perform optimally legitimately want to do well for the company.

Advice to Senior Management

The most precious asset you have are your employees at all levels of the organization. Stop acting as if only the top tier matters.

Pros

Pays very well. Overall people were nice. Hours seem to be fairly reasonable.

Cons

Senior management seemed to have an agenda but no one was allowed to know exactly what it was until the day off. For instance the company splitting in two was announced to the media before employees knew anything about it.

Pros

job security. Once you're in, you're in.

Cons

pay is not ver competitive