SAVENCIA Reviews

Recently the company changed its name from Alouette Cheese USA to Savencia Cheese USA. Savencia is the name of the larger company in France and they are trying to spread that name around the globe. This has become more important than salvaging the US business. This company has major issues and management just walks around pointing fingers and making threats instead of putting a reasonable plan in place to fix the mess. Also, everyone inside knows that the company is close to disappearing forever so you can imagine what morale is like. While the company's competitors seem to be making strategic acquisitions and investments to set themselves up for future success, Alouette continues to just spin its wheels, talk in circles to each other, change direction weekly, and present delusional grand plans to the arrogant and clueless French "executives" that never materialize. A large part of the marketing department left the company back in the spring. My colleagues and I have never seen anything like it. In fact, the Mahwah office is basically running on a skeleton crew and many of us wonder if it will be open next year. There has been no leadership show from the CEO about the dismal state of the company. This scatter-brained hack is more focused on making sure he looks good to his French bosses who he's terrified of, rather than focusing on building the company and the employees back up. He actually called out an entire department in front of everyone at a company meeting last month. I honestly don't know anyone who respects this guy. Again, instead of putting a plan together, he just points fingers and wines that the company isn't doing well. His solution is cut more costs and make up new accounting practices to cover up his failure. He's no leader and should be let go immediately. CEO is not even the correct title for this position. He is merely the top yes-man for those French "executives" that dictate what is best for Alouette. Despite nearly a decade of showing little meaningful achievement, these people still think they know what's best. Basically they set up him nicely in the US and he spends the next 3-5 years saying yes to all of their ideas and demands. In return, he gets to call himself a CEO. We've seen this before. If you still want to work and be "successful" here, you need to fulfill some of the below requirements: - You're middle-aged and French. These people take care of their own, regardless of their horrible behavior. - You're a Yes-Man/Woman. If you go against Groupthink, you'll be shunned. - You have no problem pointing fingers and stabbing colleagues in the back. That is what the culture has become. If you are a decent human being and are not willing to sell your soul for a paycheck, then stay away from this dump. Your mental health will thank you.

Now on to the “bad”, which unfortunately is much more extensive: 1) Self- Absorbed: Remember those 70% of people who are good competent employees? Well the others are the complete opposite: back-stabbing, do-nothing people who constantly work to elevate their own status by taking credit and talking down about others. 2) Revolving Door: Usually when you hear that a company has people with 20-30 years of service you would expect it to be a great place to work, but in this case it is simply because they have nowhere else to go. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if almost everyone was looking for a way out, but when you work in New Holland, there aren’t many options to leave- I've tried. The Mahwah office is a different story- In 2013, they hired an entire new marketing and sales support team (around 12 people). Today, there is only one of the original people left with many interations in between. Additionally, we just lost our ENTIRE Alouette Marketing team in the past 4 months (two with 5 years at the company) because they had had enough. (Please refer to “Self-Absorbed” above for an idea of what the remaining Marketing team offers). Fun fact: The Mahwah office now has 6 people vs the 17 they had when they moved there 2 years ago. 3) The French Influence: If you think there will be a chance to be entrepreneurial and make changes for the better, please check you ambitions at the door. Why? Well that’s because all decisions are made by the French parent company and the new tyrant CEO*. I have sat in meetings where I have seen projects presented, the larger group of employees all agree it is a great direction, only to have the CEO tell them to change everything last minute because he or the French executive team doesn’t like it. They will not provide a reason or allow discussion and if you push back, it’s likely your job will be on the line**. * As a non- French employee your job is to be a worker bee- follow directions, don’t ask questions and keep your head down. If you do that, you will be just fine **This does not apply if you are French. For all French folks you will be praised for your work and it will be held as the gold standard for all to follow. You will likely be promoted to a higher level as were all of the French before you. 4) The Iceberg: The items I’ve touched on above are just the tip of the monstrosity that lies below the surface. I can’t go into every instance of the incredibly poor decision-making, but I can tell you that the vast number of issues with this place are due to the arrogance of the executives who run it. They know nothing about a subject, but insist that they are right. They watch good people walk and say they are better without them. They have a good idea for a product and then mess with it until they are 10 years too late. What should be a nimble, entrepreneurial company with the financial backing of a Dairy powerhouse is slow, lethargic company that refuses to support their products. They are their own enemy and frankly it drags down everyone else who works here. One final point of advice: I cannot stress this enough, but for anyone looking to come here, please save yourself the agony and look elsewhere. We are in need of more good people to help with the work, but since the management here will never be overhauled, nothing will change and you, just like all those before you will be looking for the exit.