Thread regarding 3M layoffs

I mean you are completely wrong on that one bud...

factory operatives are not eligible for the GSEPP, as a manager nobody has even mentioned it to new starts for the last ten years

posted from earlier:People working at the bench level or in production, have zero to little prospects for career growth in 3M. This has been the case for at least 20 years now, imho.

3M is lucky in the sense that is located in an area (upper Midwest) where there has always been a steady stream of high quality technical folks joining the company because of the proximity of top tier universities and also because of Mid West mentality where one is typically ok with working in a place, even though with diminished career prospects, close to home.

People decided to stay put for a long time and put up with upper management shenanigans, since they had more or less a steady Job that was technically challenging.

However, the new bunch of people that 3M had hired in the last 5 to 7 years have really turned the table, by flipping the bird to so called loyalty to 3M.

They know that pay is less, career prospects are low and the company is a sinking ship. Hence the higher than comparable attrition.

3M Science advocacy is meaningless now. If someone is looking for an exciting career in industrial R&D, this is definitely not the place.

In every plant I have worked at in USA, production operators have been eligible for GESPP. I worked in a union plant in the early 1990s and a good share of the operators were doing payroll deduction for GESPP. I recall one of the maintenance electricians had over 1,000 shares at that time. I spent several weeks in that same plant doing project work in 2017, and on an almost daily basis one of the operators or maintenance techs would announce the stock price during the lunchroom conversation.

If you're seriously interested in GESPP, talk to your local HR. If they're worthless or non-existent, ask people who've worked there a long time or try contacting HR Helps on the intranet (3M Go). If you're outside the US, maybe there are country-specific laws or labor/union agreements that prevent you from participating. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

To the poster who was unhappy he/she didn't have AIP - Trust me, you're better off without it. The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. As someone who's on that side of the fence I can tell you that it's all just smoke and mirrors.

I know of some new joins who started the GESPP from Y2018. Sad to say they are sitting on a big loss.

I believe GESPP is considered a "benefit" (even though lots of people have lost money the last 5 years). Hence, it's a negotiation item if the site is unionized. Not sure if that's the case but I remember this discussion happening one time when 3M acquired a small company that had a unionized site.

To: @vmv+1mwy7401
Copied directly from https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/

"The GESPP offers eligible employees an opportunity to make monthly purchases of shares of 3M stock at discounted prices through convenient payroll deductions. The price for shares purchased under the GESPP is fixed at the beginning of each month and represents a 15% discount from the average of the high and low trading price of a share of 3M stock on the first trading day of the month. Eligible employees may choose to contribute 3%-10% of their eligible compensation."

Are factory line workers not considered eligible employees? If not, it's certainly misleading to use the term "General Employee" in the title.

If you joined this company pre2000, this is definitely not the company you joined. It has everything to do with the leader at the top and the people he chose join him in leadership.

Just looking back at the leaders since the 1980s gives a telling story.

I started working in the mid 1980s.

Lewis Lehr - great guy and featured in Built to Last book. Believed in McKnight principles. Sparked the move of businesses to Austin that later got reversed (mostly)

Jacobsen- bean counter focused on costs but at least didn't get in the way (which is a core part of the McKnight principles). Probably cut some costly perks that worthy of being cut. Before him, the shareholder meeting was a food fest with many giveaways.

Desi - caring guy whose main strategy was to get out of the data storage business. Probably a good move but those who were exiled to imation would disagree.

Mcnerney- 1st non 3Mer. Insatiable drive to cut costs at all expense. Smart guy and probably a good businessman but terribly arrogant self-serving leader. He started the slide into oblivion.

Buckley-good guy overall although supposedly had pretty bad morals. Could have saved the company but for a stubborn board who wanted him to be Mcnerney with a British accent. Worst mistake was aearo acquisition.

Inge- he's like bad wine whose flavor gets worse with age. Almost like skunked beer. He looked pretty good at the time and sure could talk the talk. It's come out lately that his biggest drive was to prevent an activist investor takeover when it was the rage on WS. Unforgivable sin was appointing mike when they HAD TO BE better options.

Mike- what more to say that what's been said here. Of all the leaders, he is by far the most incompetent and aimless.

I've often wondered what would have happened if Desi had been replaced internally. Or if Inge and Mike had been forced out by an activist investor.

Retired now and just happy 3M hasn't taken away the retiree medical. Hope to make it to Medicare before then.

This truly never had to happen which is why it pains so many to see what has become.

I work on the bottom rung of the ladder as a factory operative , even we see the mess our supervisors and managers are in , we have lost track of how to treat the real workers properly, we don't get paid well anymore and have no bonuses or GSEPP or AIP, we don't have a defined career plan or development tools, we are seen as expendable,HR doesn't exist unless a manager wants rid of you. A big problem is having a manager with zero people skills, it is a dying art how to treat with respect your employees. This company was a once proud place to work in, the next opinion survey is going to show up the unhappiness and rock bottom moral the place is at right now, although i don't think the survey will be done for a couple of years as Corporate HR will not want to see how $hit the place is to work for now