Run. Run Far, Far Away. - Anonymous employee Mars Employee Review

1.0
31 July 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The casual dress code, benefits, and bring your pet policies are all fantastic. Fellow associates are dedicated and have a great team mentality.

Cons

Where to begin? First, the 'Five Principles' are baloney. Management is all imported from other CPGs after they burned out there, so the churn at the top is epic. The number of reorganizations during my time was staggering - so brutal that people were even told they would be doing the exact same job in the new organization but at reduced compensation/career level. The company has a fantastic parental leave policy, but, if you actually take it, you're labeled as 'not committed to the organization.' Senior leaders operate with an extraordinary level of secrecy, even with a company that allegedly prides itself on transparency. We all learned that if management was at an 'offsite,' it meant yet another re-org was coming. Even if you were a high performer, the constant stress of wondering when the next shoe would drop was overwhelming.

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3.0
2 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Company car (fuel card, insurance, etc) - Good benefits - Great brand exposure/understanding of CPG sales at the retail level - Annual sales meeting is fun, but exhausting - Simple job

Cons

- Micromanaged by leadership (EVERYTHING is tracked) - Extremely repetitive work (not much freedom in creating your schedule, same tasks over and over, etc.) - Dealing with retail management. If you don't have respectful store managers, good luck. A lot of your KPI's are out of your control and your experience relies on your store. - As DOZENS of other people have said, this is a merchandising job - not sales. You are responsible for placing product on the sales floor after consulting with the store (basically asking management who only views you as free manual labor). There is no commission/incentive for producing positive results. - SEASONS: this is the reason why you have this job if you're working with the Walmart channel. You have unrealistic expectations set from leadership to pack out hundreds of heavy cases of candy each holiday season after begging store management for space to place it. Most of the stores' back rooms are a complete mess and a lot of your product is inaccessible. Long days are expected with no additional pay. - Work/life balance: It is frowned upon to work the bare minimum of 40 hours/week. Your stores get backed up while you're on PTO. Overall: an okay role This isn't a bad job by any means, you just need to know what the role entails before taking this job. You need to relocate for any future opportunities within the company.

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Mars Response
5mo
Thank you for taking the time to write your review. We’re sorry to hear your experience with us has not been positive. We aim to support our Associates in every way throughout their time with us and are committed to their wellbeing and development. Please reach out to the independent, confidential team at ombudsman@effem.com, and we look forward to discussing this further.
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