Showing posts with label eat and greet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eat and greet. Show all posts

General Mills: Company Environment

Friday, September 11, 2009

(Quite the ego boost!)

The trip to General Mills was great. One of the reasons I was excited to go is because our cabinets are full of items from their product lines. I'm pretty nerdy when it comes to 'behind the scenes' type of events and going to the corporate office and Betty Crocker test kitchen is right up my alley. I was really impressed with the company, on several levels.

(Boogie of Mommy Daddy Blog)

*They took excellent care of the moms who had their babies with them. There were portable cribs and swings available and diapers and wipes. They hired another van and equipped it with car seats. To me, that was thoughtful and I'm sure it was appreciated.


*The hallways were full of art by local artists and displays with the history of many of the General Mills brands. The office building is surrounded by green hills and a small lake. There are tons of outdoor spaces with tables and chairs for the employees to enjoy. Many of the walkways have floor to ceiling windows. They've created a great space for people to work in. No sterile halls and fluorescent lighting there!



(Cheerios rock garden, I love it!)


*The corporate culture is amazing. They have on-site childcare, a credit union, hair salon, mini mart and gift store, full service cafe and a place where employees can order full meals to go. And those are just the things I noticed.


Last week, I was reading the latest issue of Business Week magazine, and they named General Mills one of the 50 best places to start a career. They're ranked #12 (up from #24). Last year, 68% of their entry level new hires were female. That's impressive. I'd be curious to see a further breakdown and know how many of those 68% were women of color, and then to know how many women of color the company has at the executive level. They've created an environment that is perfect for working families, which unfortunately seems like a rarity these days. General Mills is the type of company I'd happily dust off my briefcase for.

*Diversity isn't just a phrase in the recruitment brochures. Walking through the building and seeing so many different types of people was so refreshing! We were introduced to Kim Nelson, Senior Vice President of the Snacks Unlimited division.

She's been with General Mills for 21 years (which means she started working when she 9, obviously). Kim has an impressive bio and is involved with several organizations for women in business. I also met another Kim, Kim BowSundy. She works in the marketing and diversity departments and pointed me toward Feeding Dreams, a charitable project that recognizes everyday citizens and their impact within their communities. I didn't get to meet Shirley Dollard, the director of the Betty Crocker kitchens, but I wish I had. To have more time to spend talking to these women would have been amazing!

Even though we're already a General Mills household, knowing that this is a company that really does walk the walk makes me feel even better about putting their products in my shopping cart.

More about the test kitchens and photo studio coming soon
(Some photos are from the official event photos on Flickr and some are mine)

Missed Flight, Ramblings and My $2 Outfit

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I should be on a plane. I missed my flight to Minnesota for the Eat and Greet. I've never missed a flight before! But, lemons to lemonade. It's a beautiful day and I took advantage by taking a walk. The San Diego airport is across from San Diego bay. I walked along the bay, over the bridge into Point Loma and now I'm using the free WiFi at Starbucks.

I'm bummed I have to go straight from the airport to dinner since I got a great dress and new shoes. Which reminds me, I actually made money on the dress. It's not an interesting story, but I have much time to kill.

Monday night I went to Loehman's on a whim. I only had half an hour until closing so I was doing the shopping bee (flitting from rack to rack) and spotted a cute dress. I didn't have time to try it on but figured for $26 I could always take it back.

At the register, I remembered I had a store credit. But, it had been in my wallet so long all the ink was gone. The salesperson was so nice, holding it up to the light and asking someone to help read the impression. Because of the credit and my birthday month discount, I got $3 back!

Combine that with the shoes I was going to wear (from Payless) and my outfit was only $2! I will definitely be entering that outfit into the Bargainista challenge @SDBargainMama and @bargainbabe have going.

Well, that didn't take much time. Anyone have news to share? I've still got an hour.
 
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