General Mills reviews

4.0

81% would recommend to a friend

(3,895 total reviews)
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Jeff Harmening

81% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

General Mills has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 3,895 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The General Mills employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

4K reviews
4.0
Jun 16, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

People are kind, smart, and hardworking and you get to work on iconic brands. Brand Management is the 'hub of the wheel', driving strategy & leading xF teams.

Cons

Brand has gotten away from brand building and demand generation and rather spends a ton of time doing project management work & getting pulled into everything but the kitchen sink,

3.0
May 30, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company is full of highly engaged, intelligent and hard-working people. The culture has historically been very positive and although has started to slip is still better than most. Fantastic work, life balance.

Cons

General Mills is primarily a marketing company that also manufactures food. Senior leadership is either uninterested in or unaware of how to compete effectively in a highly competitive industry with tight margins. As long as margins remain healthy and operations are easy, they will remain in the market. However, if conditions become challenging, they typically maximize profits before divesting assets. Examples include Yoplait, the Jolly Green Giant brand, Hamburger Helper, and Suddenly Salad. Declining sales have resulted in company restructurings every three to four years in an attempt to restore profitability. UPDATE...Holy smokes, 1 week after writing this review Genral Mills announced another restructuring which will result in job loss.

2.0
Feb 28, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Loads of benefits - massive website dedicated to benefits from typical health and dental to family leave, tuition reimbursement, adoption and legal aides. So many things available its easy to forget some. Fair market pay - based on National avg NOT regional. Doesnt take into account COL in places like the NE US or SoCAL US. If you start with them out of college you get bathed in "The Enterprise' system". Meaning you get to (and are pushed) move to a new position every 18-24mo. Churn and burn movements where one never is in a space long enough to fully MASTER the position - but you get to keep moving up and along the career ladder

Cons

Loads of time wasted on meetings where feedback and input is not considered. They do NOT value category/industry/accounts/field experience or knowledge ESPECIALLY if it is not inline with the "marketing research" results the marketing team (each member w less than 2yrs experience working on the brand or products or industry) has settled on after sampling 600 customers. Growth is not through innovation or development - no one is on a brand or team longer than an average of 2yrs so brand teams never have the full pressed history and knowledge of the brand, its customer histories, or industry knowledge. Growth is done through price increases, smaller packaging, or acquisition of companies to expand the enterprise's portfolio. Market share, share of wallet, household penetration is constantly eroding. Acquired companies that were once known for quality, value, and growth are ruined by General Mills. Watched this occur MULTIPLE TIMES - The acquired staffs are laid off, or pushed out, they are not considered for career moves within the enterprise as overwhelmingly already established (started career w Gen Mills out of college) internal candidates have already been chosen/groomed before internal job postings. When the acquired staff members can't move up or given even an phone interview chance to move around the career ladder they leave, which is the goal of "The Enterprise". Eventually the acquired staff is slowly laid off as poor strategy moves by VPs lead to declines in sales thus requiring cost cutting or a need to "pivot" resources. Marketing Teams that have been working on the brand/product/category for less than 12mo put together plans that are signed off by VPs and Sr VPs even after vocal push back from sales teams and major account buyers. Changes hit the market and experience loses of $300M and major losses in market share or retail footprints the marketing team members and VPs have been pushed along the career ladder to a different brand/product/category (no accountability) and then layoffs of lower sales teams occur. Making food the World loves - They don't care about quality. They don't care about health and well being of consumers. They replace high quality ingredients and production standards with lower cost inputs to improve their "holistic margin management" HMM. Carcinogenic dyes and preservations are used where permitted. The company KNOWS better, they have the data, they have the ability to do better - they ACTIVELY not only chose to put out lower quality but actively lobby and work with the governing bodies (FDA in the US) to use known toxic ingredients to have lower costs - remember they are only making $$ and "growth" for shareholders by inflating prices and cutting costs because they are losing product turns. It is more important for the company to LOOK like it is supportive of diversity and social causes than to live it. The "Enterprise" does NOT actually promote real diversity and inclusion, only that which is surface level visible (i.e. percent of non-white, non-male, gay, etc of staff make up and groups on internal Facebook style media). There is no room for diverse ideas, or inclusion of varied experience - 100% group think and confirmation that it is BAD for business! Don't disagree with a strategy a superior has presented, push back and get pushed out/held back.

Viewing 292 - 294 of 3,895 Reviews

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