Anheuser-Busch reviews

3.5

54% would recommend to a friend

(1,436 total reviews)
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Brendan Whitworth

50% approve of CEO

43% positive business outlook

Anheuser-Busch has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 1,436 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Anheuser-Busch employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
Feb 6, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free (bland) beer, opportunity to make a lot of money if you are happy working overtime, you don't take your work home with you (you just never go home)

Cons

For new engineers right out of college they expect you to do mandatory overtime every other weekend. That means you work 12 days on and then only get 2 days off... and you're rotating shifts, so 2/3 of the time you're not on normal working hours. Also, the unions hate management, and you are a part of management, so they hate you. Management only cares about your up-time, and rarely supports you in a dispute with the unions. You leave work tired, unhappy, and bitter with just about everyone you work with. Don't get sucked in by the promise of lots of money in overtime... it's not worth it. I was told the four year retention rate is only 20%. That means 4 out of 5 engineers leave the company for something else.... Probably a place that respects their work-life balance

3.0
Feb 17, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- A truly global company with a global perspective. - Good execution of strategic plans. - Lots of opportunities for those starting their careers. - Processes are well-defined and documented.

Cons

- Lack of diversity; preference is for a very young (and green) work force that can be molded. Senior Management has very few Americans. - Lots of talk about their "10 principles", but a failure to live by them. - INORDINATE emphasis on cost cutting. - While they talk about a meritocracy and variable compensation, the main benefactors of this program are higher level management. Variable compensation at lower levels is mediocre at best. - Unless you are on a "fast track" you are not truly valued by the company. - Lots of turnover. - Failure to keep up their reputation for good corporate citizenship.

1.0
Nov 6, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This once was a company that showed it cared about its employees. Benefits package and salary under the old AB was at the 90th percentile of the Fortune 100 Companies. Now, it’s been reduced to the 50th percentile of the Fortune 500 Companies. There once was money to send employees for training. And there used to be recognitions initiatives that were more significant than a 10 sec advertisement on AB-TV. There was once an incentive to stay with the company regarding growth and promotion opportunities. I used to say I’m going to retire from AB. The only positive now it that it is not widely known that this company is going the way of Schlitz Malt Liquor, and it still looks good on my resume.

Cons

They are still wasting a fortune doing things poorly, they have the worst ERP implementation in town and pay horribly, and therefore they can only get sub-par talent today. The ideology of reducing scheduled preventative maintenance and overhauls and running equipment until it fails is very short sited. This would be great if everything failed at once, but a production line doesn’t work that way. Things fail at different rates. This is why the production efficiencies have dropped so much. Not to mention the current massive exodus of tenured staff has left very little resource to those who stay. Since the buyout, I am TWICE forced to do my job, and my boss’s job without an increase in pay or title. They first offered an increase in 3 years of service and age to encourage retirements of employees that had elevated salaries. Now, they are at again, offering another increase in 5 years of service and age to reduce head count and salary cost regardless if the knowledge and experience is an asset. This last big move has left no experience in the Saint Louis corporate offices to assist the resident breweries. You are left to meet the frequencies that are in place without the manpower or the personal to help with solutions. Downsizing, consolidation, and cost cutting is the name of the game at the NEW AB. Who cares if the early liquidation of over 400 years of valued experience has falsely inflated profits for the shareholders. But you can only cut so much before the product is affected. Like I said Anheuser Busch is going the way of Schlitz Malt Liquor. Sadly, the American born and brewed company has died. It’s only a matter of time before it’s just another cheap "made in Taiwan" knockoff.

Viewing 31 - 33 of 1,436 Reviews

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