PepsiCo FAQ

Pros

Good pay rate at 18.00hr, overtime available , free drinks and lunch on occasion

Cons

Incompetent supervisors and no contact with HR, checks are always short and some weeks they forget to pay you, multiple employees have had to call department of labor, strict attendance policy for new hires but attendance policy is never explained, they can remember every time you were tardy but when you ask for your missing hours all of a sudden they have amnesia

Advice to Management

Fix your HR department, explain to your new hires what’s expected of them, PAY EMPLOYEES FOR THE HOURS THEY WORKED!!!

Pros

Health, dental, 401k, fringe benefits, paid time off, maternity and family leave.

Cons

No matter what time of day, someone is trying to get you to answer to them.

Advice to Management

Great room for growth if you want to improve in the company!

Pros

*Disclaimer* This review applies to salaried supply chain roles. Hourly employees or other departments may have different experiences. Good benefits, potential for annual bonuses and raises based on merit, 401k matching, pension contributions, great opportunities if you want to relocate every couple of years

Cons

Overarching theme: not a lot of bang for your buck, new college grads prioritized over those with more experience, education, and military vets. Bonuses/raises: although you get them annually, they're usually in the realm of 1.5 to 3% for salaried employees, which doesn't really offset inflation. These are merit-based which depends a little bit on your performance and a lot on how Pepsi as a whole performs. Since goals vary from site to site, if you're at a high-performing site but Pepsi has a bad year (which it has been), then you could potentially work your butt off all year but not get a meaningful raise or bonus. Job opportunities: I am an 8+ year Army Vet with multiple desirable grad degrees (MBA-Supply Chain, MS-Corporate Finance, etc) and was hired on as a front-line supervisor in supply chain. After 18 months, you can apply for jobs up to 2 levels above your current role (Pepsi has levels, much like federal GS jobs). This was initially attractive to me and I though I could move up to where I should be rather quickly. However, although I am qualified to apply for management and higher jobs, they haven't interviewed me for any I have applied for. On the other hand, there are numerous campus hires who have only been with the company for 2 years or less that have already been promoted and they were initially hired in at a higher grade than myself. Let's face it, a 22 year old fresh out of college has no idea what they're doing compared to a 30+ year old vet with more education and more time with the company. The company is more focused on new college grads to promote within the company it seems. Mobility: On the supply chain side, there doesn't seem to be a lot of upward mobility. We just underwent a restructure and some executive positions were actually eliminated. This would suggest that you (a) wait it out until a higher position in supply chain opens or (b) you switch over to a different function (sales, safety, HR, maintenance, etc.) and try to work your way up that way. I'm not sure how one could bounce back and forth between functions and work their way up the pay scales without having the requisite degrees/experience to work in those fields, however. Work/life balance: You're only guaranteed Thanksgiving day, Christmas day, New Year's day, and 4th of July every year (could be more or less, depending on your market). You will otherwise be working 50+ hours a week even during holiday weeks, if not more. Even those few days you get off, you'll still be working to make sure nothing fails.

Advice to Management

Find the right balance between people and profit. Your employees will appreciate more holidays off and be more productive. Focus on the talent within your organization. Just because someone is a new grad with new ideas doesn't make them valuable. Likewise, just because someone has been with the company for several years doesn't mean they deserve a promotion. Look at your employee's credentials and education and pay and promote them accordingly. Other companies will pay them a whole lot more and treat them better so you should also.

Pros

There were great insurance benefits.

Cons

The hours were sporadic at times.

Pros

flexible schedule, autonomy in your role, really was what you make of it, good direct managers, get to meet lots of different people, good benefits and compensation, company car, strong company

Cons

limited structure, poor (to no) CRM systems in place so it was very difficult to manager your accounts and points of contact, get used to the door being shut on your face (literally), lots of driving, large territories, felt like I worked on an island since theres limited contact with co-workers throughout the day, sales were not direct so its hard to ever measure progress or if a client buys in