I've got another Blog running that I call "I Think, I Like" In it I put content that includes books I'm reading, things about which I'm thinking or interesting stories I've read and enjoyed. Today, I added a great piece from Fortune on the story of a candy company called Mars. If you've heard of M&M's or Snickers, you've heard of Mars.
What I love is how Mars tells the story of the Seven "C's" of Employee Engagement.
Customer Capability (I'll count two "C's"' here)
What I love is how Mars tells the story of the Seven "C's" of Employee Engagement.
Customer Capability (I'll count two "C's"' here)
Mars boasts employees who love not only the products they make but also the office culture and the company's long-standing principles.
Every Mars employee gets a glossy 27-page booklet explaining the principles in action, signed with the names of 13 family members. The principles, righteously explains the booklet, "set us apart from others, requiring that we think and act differently towards our associates, our brands and our business."
"This is a company you're not embarrassed to tell people you work for."
Compensation
Within its various offices, Mars is shockingly transparent. When Fortune isn't visiting, the company displays on big flat-screens its current financials: sales, earnings, cash flow, factory efficiency. The data disclosure is designed to motivate employees whose bonuses are based on the performance of their respective divisions. Many employees -- the company won't specify a number -- get bonuses from 10% to 100% of their salaries if their team has performed well financially; the higher your rank, the more you have to gain.
Every Mars employee gets a glossy 27-page booklet explaining the principles in action, signed with the names of 13 family members. The principles, righteously explains the booklet, "set us apart from others, requiring that we think and act differently towards our associates, our brands and our business."
"This is a company you're not embarrassed to tell people you work for."
Compensation
Within its various offices, Mars is shockingly transparent. When Fortune isn't visiting, the company displays on big flat-screens its current financials: sales, earnings, cash flow, factory efficiency. The data disclosure is designed to motivate employees whose bonuses are based on the performance of their respective divisions. Many employees -- the company won't specify a number -- get bonuses from 10% to 100% of their salaries if their team has performed well financially; the higher your rank, the more you have to gain.
Career
Perhaps most significant, employees have great latitude for advancement, both within their divisions and in the larger Mars ecosystem; if you've had enough of Skittles brand management, you might find satisfaction in quality control of Cesar Canine Cuisine Sunrise Breakfast ("with smoked bacon & eggs in meaty juices"!).
Consider Jim Price, who's now the site-quality and food-safety manager at the chocolate plant in Hackettstown, N.J. Almost 27 years ago he began his Mars career as a janitor in a boutique chocolate operation in Henderson, Nev. His supervisor urged him to attend community college at night; Mars paid for tuition and books.
Connections
Many Martians get a mentor -- even the executives, some of whom go through a "reverse internship" in which a younger employee introduces them to social media. "This is probably the only company in which I was told, 'You're not investing enough in your brand,' " says Debra Sandler, president of the chocolate division...
Community
Connections
Many Martians get a mentor -- even the executives, some of whom go through a "reverse internship" in which a younger employee introduces them to social media. "This is probably the only company in which I was told, 'You're not investing enough in your brand,' " says Debra Sandler, president of the chocolate division...
Community
Outside the office, Mars encourages community involvement through two initiatives: Mars Volunteers and Mars Ambassadors. The first offers paid time off to clean parks, aid medical clinics, and plant gardens; in 2011, 9,600 employees volunteered 37,000 hours at 290 organizations. The second, a highly competitive program, allows a select few -- 80 in 2011 -- to spend up to six weeks working with Mars-related partners in remote areas; for example, six employees spent a week in Ghana with growers of cocoa beans.
Culture
Employees can, and do, recite the Five Principles as if they were handed down from the managerial heavens. They're cult as much as culture, but "they don't tattoo 'em on us or anything like that," says Will Turnipseed, a commercial sourcing manager
"We believe growth and prosperity can be achieved another way."
Culture
Employees can, and do, recite the Five Principles as if they were handed down from the managerial heavens. They're cult as much as culture, but "they don't tattoo 'em on us or anything like that," says Will Turnipseed, a commercial sourcing manager
"We believe growth and prosperity can be achieved another way."
Paul E. DuCharme. January 2013
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