Monsanto Company Reviews

Pros

Good benefits. Compensation comparable to, or better than industry standards. Very flexible with work-life balance. The company might not have the best reputation for their activities, but they at least try to treat their employees well.

Cons

Not a lot of room for advancement; most people in higher places seem relatively young and don't seem to plan on going anywhere else anytime soon. The company doesn't have the best reputation for ethics. .

Advice to Senior Management

You are treating your employees relatively well. Keep up the good work on work-life balance. People need to feel more upwardly mobile, rather than stuck in the same jobs with changing fake titles and small raises every couple of years

Pros

Monsanto is a good place to work. They invest in their employees, provide opportunity to advance and grow into new areas, and respects work/life balance

Cons

roles across the company change continuously. While this gives a lot of opportunity to try new things, it also creates an environment of often shifting strategies and varying degrees of competence.

Advice to Senior Management

The senior management should strive to develop greater stability in mid and upper managerial roles and strategy, particularly within the technology side of the company.

Pros

Great benefits, great vacation and holiday paid time off, yearly bonuses that typically pay out well. If you want to be promoted, people move fast.

Cons

Can be political at times specifically with promotions; high performers and high potentials get a lot of opportunity which is great for them, but sometimes others are forgotten about; if you're not at corporate, you're most likely going to need to relocate for a promotion or new role

Advice to Senior Management

Need to make better decisions about what projects/initiatives we really need to invest time/money in - get more focused rather than trying to do it all. The company would benefit by really focusing in and providing the resources to make programs successful instead of limited resources but tons of programs.

Pros

Good benefits/pay and work/life balance
A good company culture

Cons

Lack of rotational leadership development program
Bureaucracy

Advice to Senior Management

Better career development opportunities for leaders

Pros

Pay and bonuses are good
Company does well as an investment and with Wall Street
Committed to technology
Benefits are similar to other companies

Cons

It's all about who you know and the relationships that you manage
A ton of politics
Lack of accountability, leadership and direction
Borders of unethical

Advice to Senior Management

Review how money/funding is spent. I've worked at several other large companies and there is so much waste here, it's embarrassing.
Ensure accountability through less reorganization and movement. Everyone is a generalist now, no one really knows the details of any part of the business.
Focus on getting new computer and IT systems. I don't work in this area, but the support, the systems and the data capture is all very dated.

Pros

Cutting edge technology applied in a professional and responsible manner to develop new and innovative, consumer market driven products.

Managers have International Experience, are supportive and encouraging in all aspects of the business, whether it be in further training or flexibility in scheduling time off.

The Hawaii climate makes 3 complete cycles able within one calendar year, meaning a very intense and fast paced work environment. Always crops at different stages makes for a great learning platform.

Cons

Very intense workplace and long term focus on company goals needs good commitment and balance in personal attitudes of employees.

Some may find isolation of the islands a factor in choosing to relocate, something to consider strongly when considering a move as it is a big commitment to relocate and a lot of people struggle with the change.

Advice to Senior Management

Very happy with the management I have, great attitude to employees and performance is readily acknowledged and supported.

 Good focus on Safety is a prominent theme through every task

Pros

They strive to acquire some of the best talent in the industry
Plenty of resources made available to complete job tasks

Cons

Long hours, uneven distribution of work load between sales brands
Lower pay compared to other companies
Sales season seemed to get started earlier every year

Advice to Senior Management

Work on having a competitive salary in relation to number of hours worked. Gain more employee feedback and make sure employees see changed based on feedback

Pros

Flat organization and ability to voice concerns with management.
Diverse workforce and ability to learn from others.
Most employees are very loyal to the company.
Good team-based environment where networking is highly encouraged.

Cons

Mid-senior level leaders are constantly rotating and it's hard to keep up with.
Compensation practices are completely outdated and there's too much inequity.
Heavily matrixed and alot of time is wasted gathering unnecessary buy-in. This stalls important decisions and can block progress.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend less time on the failing employees and more time promoting successful ones.
Straighten out matrix and streamline reporting relationships.
Give re-orgs more time to prove success/failure before moving on to the next thing so that mistakes aren't repeated and successes can be fully explored.

Pros

- Highly talented and self-motivated group of people i have ever worked with (employees and contractors)
- Good benefits
- love to come to work every day!

Cons

- work life balance will take a hit if you are not keeping it in check
- slackers are given multiple oppurtunities to prove they are worth hanging on to and this does not help the morale of the other high performers
- promotions - don't expect it untill you have put in atleast 4-5 years and have a really good direct lead and a good relationship with his lead as well. (hate these Politics)
- salary raises , too few and too little

Advice to Senior Management

stop the continous re-org already!
when you ask for feedback especialyl for performance reviews- consider peer feedback instead of only the leads feedback

Pros

The problems that need to be solved are as fun and challenging as you'll anywhere else. If you are in a research organization, you have extreme flexibility and resources to create solutions

Cons

The Research Organizations are not IT Shops, and the difficulty to communicate about technological limitations and paradigms while balancing project work is at times a strain.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue trying to understand the challenges of your business from the information technology perspective