Nestlé Purina PetCare Reviews

Pros

Opportunity to bring your pets to work, on-site child care, gym, and mailroom, beautiful campus, flex time on Fridays, career opportunities within the greater Nestle organization.

Cons

People's commitment to doing a great job can challenge the work/life balance.

Pros

Work/life balance
free parking for Cards games
people are friendly on the outside
team environment
bring dogs to work
potentially a fun category to do marketing in

Cons

Complacent Environment
*insular culture
*new hires came onboard this summer and those who moved up within Purina thought the VP of Dog was making a mistake to hire those individuals.
*new ideas are not welcomed unless they are very small scale - at times, the marketplace requires rapid change which Purina is not comfortable doing
*after 20 years of growth, Puina's growth has slowed and they do not seem to know how to respond to the threats from organic, legacy, or owner-prepared meals - Nestlé is not happy
*no best practice systems in place
*older employees are running their innovation group and are proud of themselves to simply be understanding the tactics of an innovative culture, but do not get the integrative strategy by which they achieve a true innovation.

Clique based culture
*Three main cliques exist: Wash U, Mormon, & Indiana U. - it is possible to fit in being outside of those cliques, but it is rare.
*St. Louis natives usually work there simply because it is a well known employer they can work for without having to move - in other words, the culture is apathetic, but friendly if you're apathetic too
*majority of employees are St. Louis natives leading to one distinct culture that does not match their broad & diverse U.S.-wide consumer base
*they believe they are the best - and this is not the case - they just had the benefit of "the first" founding the company - and now they are struggling to actually do real & true marketing in the face of some of the toughest category competition ever faced: healthy cat & dog food

Advice to Senior Management

I suggest having both the CEO & CMO retire and having the VP of Dog Marketing take over leadership responsibilities. With her having worked at Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and now Nestlé-Purina, she understands that there is not just one approach to CPG Marketing and likely, an insular culture is flawed. Although she is a Wash U undergrad, she very clearly does not favor Wash U MBAs, nor does she favor MBAs from her alma mater, Wharton - instead, she gets that a variety of backgrounds and experiences are necessary if Purina is to compete long term. She has exactly what Purina needs in a leader and those qualities are lacking in her two superiors - likely due to them both being near retirement age like 2/3 of the company so, naturally, why go through all the work to change the business just before retirement? They are attempting, but the changes proposed are too small and not sufficiently revolutionary to produce long-term growth.

Pros

Industry leader
stable company
passionate employees
international opportunities
good career development
strong work/life balance
employees are recognized for their contributions

Cons

One of the downsides of working at Nestle Purina is that because people like working here, certain positions may not open up as frequently.

Advice to Senior Management

I think that to stay an industry leader, the company will need to continue to focus on innovative ways to improve our business.

Pros

- Location - Downtown St. Louis has much to offer for restaurants, after work events, sports
- Beautiful, serene grounds serve as peaceful solace during breaks and arrival/departure from work
- Training and development - Curriculum that's purposeful and knowledge-driven
- Some of the biggest and best brands in each of the categories their products belong to
- Work life balance is practiced without issue or complaint
- Outside hires band together to commiserate over the politics - somewhat of a support group exists

Cons

- The team dynamic is very insular and cut throat on some product lines. Outsiders with diverse backgrounds or interests did not appear welcome. If you're not "one of us" then it's curtains.
- Managers are more interested in micromanaging than actually leading teams. They'd rather do the work themselves the way THEY want it done rather than effectively coach/guide direct reports.
- The devil is in the details. Despite hard work on a project or effort to provide a purposeful finished product, if the fonts and colors don't fit with the manager's attitude on that particular day then it's not rewarded as a job well done.
- Lack of interest in new ideas and approaches to solving problems or presenting new ideas. Funny, but it's not clear what exactly has been done in the past because there are no knowledge management systems in place. Still, it is expected that employees offer more of the same that's always been done to get better results.
- Performance ratings are given by the entire team, not just your manager or your manager's manager. This causes the culture of "be like us or leave" to come out in full force. Comments from coworkers that are purely subjective will make or break your future with this company. These are not based on your output or ability, but are based on whether you're chummy enough with the key influencers to be on their good side.
- Middle school clicks weren't as bad as what exist here. The politics are so murky that this place could be part of the Mississippi Delta. This isn't the same for all teams, you just have to hope you get lucky and land someplace that embraces who you are.
- Promotions are in waves and classes of people move up at the same time. Time frames seem slower than usual, but the responsibility piles on sans the title or increase in pay for more than a year beyond comfortable.

Advice to Senior Management

Drop the bad apples that have been there forever. They're the ones who have no experience outside of Purina, yet believe they are the princes and princesses of the Tower. They're the same ones that have no interest in coaching or mentoring direct reports to be better performers, and unfortunately they are also the same people who crack the whip yet do very little productivity-wise. They feel they've paid their dues in prior years on various teams they no longer work on. Drop the team performance evals for individual team members. The fate of one's career lies in winning a popularity contest, which is a crap shoot at best.

Pros

This company pays decent for this position, but the managers would rather have you miss a family members funeral than cover down for your position. Very lazy senior manages. if you can deal with that you will do fine be prepared to give all so you boss can go golfing.

Cons

Be prepared to alienate everything you have to keep them happy. This is a high commitmentthat pays well. Be prepared to be trained by a trainer that does not know how to train.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't be in a management position if you can't manage your own life. If you make an investment stick o it and give what you respect to receive.

Pros

I really enjoy and like the benefit package here.

Cons

The downside of working here is the way people here are promoted.

Pros

Autonomy, Trust, Independence, Emotion, Perks, Employee Discounts. Very relaxed environment where employees are free to make decisions and act in good faith.

Cons

Too relaxed! Sometimes it is hard to get responses from people. Probably not the organization rather than folks I was working with.

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing! I have really enjoyed working for the organization and have really enjoyed the people, culture, the perks of employment, and the experience.

Pros

Good work life balance. Market leader and wants to stay that way. Jobs are very challeging but they can also be very rewarding.

Cons

Nestle influence is starting to take away from a lot of the good things that made Ralston Purina a great place to work.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want to move up fast be prepared to relocate.

Pros

The culture at Purina is second to none. There are a lot of perks such as a workout facility, store, coffee shop, and parking for the Cardinals games. There is a strong work-life balance philosophy and rarely do you not see a smiling face greeting you in the halls, elevator, or the office areas.

Cons

There are a lot of people with many years in the company. This means opportunity to grow, but also very little attrition, which could slow new blood and new ideas. Because we are a heritage company owned by Nestle, we tend to be pretty risk adverse, which could be frustrating.

Advice to Senior Management

Please do not lose our family friendly culture as things evolve. It would be nice to see young leadership permeate throughout the company. As innovation becomes our hallmark, we should not lose new and uncomfortable ideas because of our aversion to risk.

Pros

Really talented people who are dedicated to their work.

Cons

Corporate headquarters is in St. Louis