Pros
Superb health and dental benefits and vacation time. Training and promotions come with time and excessive effort from the associate. If you are willing to write extensive and detailed information about yourself and your work endeavors and are able to highlight your skill sets and politicize your efforts to upper management, you will succeed at Mars/Mars Petcare. Compensation is top-notch, but often at the mercy of upper management decisions, sales target numbers (gross sales volume) and the high stress that comes with meeting each of those targets.
Cons
You must be willing to move, relocate and/or change roles every 2-4 years. Mars likes to "reorganize" or "realign" every 2-4 years, so you never get too comfortable in one position, especially if you are in a sales or customer support role. The Mars culture prefers younger people (under 40) to work at Mars. As you age over 40, be prepared to be released or realigned. Mars likes to think they are run by the 5 principles (responsibility, freedom, quality, mutuality and efficiency). However, the only time the 5 Principles are discussed is shortly before the associates take their employment Gallup survey each year. Upper management wants the Mars family to believe that they run their organization by the 5 Principles, but ask anyone who has been let go by this company to tell you if they were treated fairly or according to the 5 Principles. It is really shameful what they do to companies they buy out--they immediately disengage associates and associates lose their passion for the businesses they once loved. If you are seeking employment here, try to find someone who has worked for another company that was bought out by Mars and you will gain a deeper understanding of how intolerable employment is at Mars. Mars is now a mini-P&G because so many associates migrated from that company. This company does not do a great job promoting women and has very little diversity (meaning people of color) and does not seem to respect or value the contribution of Veterans in their company. Further, this company does not value tenure, so even if you have been performing exceptionally well for many years, you will still be considered for realignment and reorganization if the company decides a reorganization is in order.
