1. Processes are a mess. Everyone does things their own way, and information inevitably is lost, outdated or just wrong. You have to run around the company to look for people who may have the answer to what you need. Very likely you will get different answers from different people. 2. There's a lot of talk of the Five Principles, which I have yet to see actually reflected in people's work. Especially the first principle, Quality, was sorely lacking. (Not talking about the products here, those are great.) I requested a standard contact from Legal once, and what they sent me was truly shocking. Barely readable. I requested prices for some items from Sales, and was later told these were too low to bring to a customer. After I had brought them to a customer. 3. Mars prides itself on being a people-centric workplace, but I did not have that experience. After a reorganization, lots of longtime loyal Mars employees were fired, even ones that had been promoted only weeks earlier. After the fact, leadership never talked about the many, many people who were no longer with us. Try to bring it up, and you will be quickly shut down with some corporate spiel. 4. High levels of burnout permeate the organization. People who are on leave for psychological reasons are talked about in hushed tones. I know at least two people who are still with the company that feel like their job is sucking the life out of them. 5. Snakes in the grass. I was sad to see so much political maneuvering and active undermining for personal motivations. It seems acceptable in Mars culture to go over your peers' heads straight to their boss to make complaints about them. 6. Mars/RC is an old-fashioned FMCG company that doesn't cultivate digital know-how. There is an increasing need in Sales to keep up with online grocery retailers, and a dire need for some online marketing expertise in Marketing, but the few talents that could move the company forward go unappreciated or worse, are seen as threats.
