Pros
I have been working at Sargento for more than 10 years and it has been very enjoyable for the most part. I have worked with the same folks for that whole time which has been nice as we have built a nice working relationship. The benefits are really good compared to others that I have had. The Christmas Parties and Company picnics are fantastic. The company works hard to be innovative and industry leading. Depending on the project or initiative, management works to get employees involved in the process to get a better understanding of how the change may impact the employees. Management typically treats employees fairly and respectfully. The company tries to communicate when changes are coming down the line but don't always share specifics, but at least it is not a total surprise. The foundation of the organization appears to be holding true to how the founder(s) initially setup the company. The company hires good people and treats them like family, most of the time. Just like any family there are always one or two that don't hold the same values as the collective group.
Cons
Sargento is going through a "midlife crisis" right now. They are growing into a larger force in the marketplace and are struggling with how to strategically do that without losing the sense of who they 'want to be', but in doing so, they are not realizing who they are turning into. The politics in the manufacturing department have increased steadily for the past four years or so (right around the time a long tenured VP retired). Folks then started to jockey for positions and it has turned into a winner-takes-no-prisoners atmosphere in management. The manufacturing folks are left holding the bag, supervisors are setup to fail and bad managers get promoted (all while good managers are stuck in the middle). Good supervisors don't stick around long enough and bad supervisors are around too long. When we finally got a really good manager who doesn't play the political game, the company (rightfully) promoted them and the jockeying started all over again. We are going though major changes right now as an organization and there does not seem to have been much input from the production side as not much is going well with these changes. Too often folks are picked to lead projects that have no clue on what the impact of the project will be and does not even have the decency to ask for input from those it will affect because they want all the credit if it goes well but will point the finger at production if things don't go well. All this creates infighting among 'established' production employees and 'new' production employees. If you are not part of the click then you are left to defend yourself