General Mills: Company Environment
Friday, September 11, 2009
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.
*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!
*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)
Labels:
blogging trip,
eat and greet,
General Mills
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I am amazed at how much companies are paying attention to bloggers right now! So they held a meeting strictly for bloggers. Very cool. This looks like it was a great event. Was it by invitation only?
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I really liked the pictures of the display and the cheerio rock garden. Sounds like a terrific company to work with.
ReplyDeleteSo first... a "Senior Vice President of the Snacks" Seriously? How does one get a job like this? I'm all in! ;-)
ReplyDeleteSecond... the cheerio rock garden proves they are creative and genius, right?
Quel- Yes, all of us in attendance were invited by General Mills and their PR company.
ReplyDeleteSondra- They do seem really committed to making their employees happy. I have more pictures coming!
Daisy- I know, right? The rock garden is one of my favorite pictures.
The rock garden is cool - looks like powdered doughnuts to me!!! I guess I go for bad food, not whole grain goodness ;)
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