Onboarding is a joke! All the senior leaders know this, and they openly admit that they are bad at onboarding, but they don't change it. On my first day, there was no one to greet me in the office, not a single person! I had to find IT and show myself around. My line manager was in another time zone, and I didn't speak with them for 6 hours, but that time I was close to tears. Especially when I explained during the interview process I suffer from anxiety. The pace is incredibly slow, if you come from a company where things happen quickly, Mars is not for you! The culture is built on 'connections', i.e. If your face fits and you know whom to speak with you will go far. New career opportunities are not often publicised. You need to know who to speak with. Sometimes no process is conducted, i.e., going through an interview process with other people, it is just a tap on the back with 'Hey, do you fancy this role I am recruiting for? Sounds great. OK, the job is yours People have worked on Mars for 20-30 years. You may see this as a good thing, but it isn't! Half of the people couldn't get another job in another company if they had to! They have only lasted as long as they have due to the length they have been in the Company. Diversity is lacking. They don't take it seriously at all. On social media, they do a lot, but internally they do very little, it is all lip service. Internally, all of the policies reference gender (he/she) and are not gender-neutralised, the Associate resources groups, have no senior leaders leading them, and no budget to do anything, which makes it pointless. Communication internally is terrible and there is no sense of community. The segments don't communicate effectively with each other, and each segment is trying to do the same as the other, but no one wants to work together as the whole of Mars is decentralised. You can move from Sales into HR (or P&O as they call it) without experience, they encourage lateral moves, which some might say is good. Not when you have a complex case, and your line manager hasn't a clue about HR processes or procedures. The company is very America-centric. Most, if not all the employee benefits are US-based, with very few in the UK. You are not allowed to change roles in the organisation until you have completed your 'time in role', which for most it is 21 months! The policy is so outdated, and the people who wrote it are out of touch. A huge amount of people leave with less than 1 year of service, if they get past 3 years, they are seen as in a job with Mars for life. Associates are encouraged regularly to leave 'positive reviews' on Glassdoor. They may as well force everyone to do it! If you want somewhere to grow your career, I would not advise Mars, there is nothing about the Culture that I would say would drive me back, I would rather be unemployed.
