Maple Leaf Foods Reviews in Mississauga, ON (Canada)

Pros

Company culture and values are very strong. It is a great place for new grads. It offers job security.

Cons

Due to SAP implementation, everyone is so busy and usually employees don't know where the company goes. Currently, the IT department is outsourcing/cosourcing many positions which makes everyone feels unstable.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the motivation and 2-way communication

Pros

People is nice
Development opportunities
OK salaries
Good location

Cons

Since a few months ago, we can see "OUTSOURCING" written all over the place, the company claims a "CO-SOURCED" program with Accenture, but in reality now everybody is leaving, it's sad to see such talented people leaving so fast. Not a good place to be for IT. Previous to that, it was a great place to work but now, there are more consultants than employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to the people you are hiring as Directors and above, they are comming with "new" ideas and zero values and they are walking all over the employees who have been loyal and productive to the company for many years, they break all the rules and nobody does anything to protect the employees. Our leaders may not even know what's going on on the floor.

Pros

Work life balance
Flexibility
Open culture
Great people
Location is accessible

Cons

Lack of promotions
Poor pay
Values management trainees over regular staff
Hard to make cross functional moves
Too top heavy with management

Advice to Senior Management

Value internal candidates vs. going external to fill positions.

Pros

Lots of opportunities to learn new technologies and interact with several teams.
Great immediate management and support from the director level.

Cons

Overtime expectations are very high. No compensation for after hours and weekend work.
Increases are not generous while performance review process is lengthy.

Advice to Senior Management

Compensate information technology staff fairly for after hours and weekend work. Listen more and talk less. Reduce the number of levels of management. Get closer to your staff!

Pros

great people, good work life balance

Cons

very poor and unfair compensation
great deal of bureaucracy/politics
poor recognition and rewards

Advice to Senior Management

Open your eyes and understand why so many people are leaving your organization (for the above three reasons predominantly). DO something about it, especially within Six Sigma. Current (new) management is terrible and is not communicating to their employees in the slightest. A great deal of uncertainty in the air is fueling this mass exodus.

Pros

learning opportunities
challenge
people
canadian company
strong brands
corporate values

Cons

changes do happen all the time (and mostly for very good reasons), need to be able to handle it

Pros

MLF is a very fast paced company that is consistently changing. There is not time to get comfortable with a process as it will change quickly. Values are very strong through-out the company and supported from the top down.

Cons

The pace can be overwhelming and some people get overwhelmed by that. While things change quickly there are a lot of people who are change resistant that slows down progress.

Pros

Strong brand, great people, decent processes and above average compensation. There is also good bottomline orientation and good culture of business analysis.

Cons

Weak in consumer insights and innovation, short term approach to problem solving, marketing and sales coordination lacking, less investments in building brands, too many people changes in too short a time

Advice to Senior Management

Look at the longer term in decision making, spend behind power brands, solve brand vs private label strategic directions, drastically improve margins by selling poor lines and acquiring profitable ones

Pros

Very strong training programs, Well respected brands, clear and consise corporate values that are actually used and not just a plaque on the wall.

Cons

Too many layers of managment hard to get things done with all the processes in place. Reorg. too often

Advice to Senior Management

Watch the smaller players, as they are eating your lunch. You are too internally focused

Pros

The work-load is light
It is easy to shine there. A room full of dim-bulbs
If you like challenges, you will find many

Cons

The company is not profitable
Idiots get promoted.
Those who excel at their jobs get squat
Training is promised, but denied.
"values" are valued above productivity - explains a lot
The company buys profitable companies and destroys them
Unless you quit, you will never get a substantial salary increase.
There is little incentive to excel, or to help the business.
There is no vested interest in any employee to help Maple Leaf Foods excel.
Once management knows that you will work hard for a menial wage, they will exploit you. You will have un-paid over-time sucked from you, while your technical skills are locked in a cage, and training is with-held.

Advice to Senior Management

Everyone in management needs to have some basic real-world business skills. Michael, you are surrounded by yes-men, and sycophants. You need to indiscriminately fire 50% of your management. (Directors / Sr Directors)
  You need to read up on Parkinson's Law. It applies to your organization, and it is going to bankrupt you, and your family.
  The organization needs some solid long-term vision, and leadership. Someone who will make the hard decisions, the right decisions, and hold to them until the work is completed, and payback is realized.