I am no longer at 3M but had this question posed to me and I had to be honest. So asking this thread, would you recommend 3M to someone who is a job seeker?
26 replies (most recent on top)
Run, run, run. 3M is a toxic company. Poor leadership. No future. Run.
Yes, if you want to be miserable. Innovate with no resources, market products with no budget. Get a 3 year even though you have overachieved.
Then, get laid off.
F this place.
Absolutely not. So unethical.
APAC here.
Answer NO.
With China declining I would think 3M is heading into a big downturn.
EMEA here. No.
Not because I was impacted by layoffs in 2023, but because this organization has nothing to offer.
My colleague absolutely hates our leadership above VP. He has seen first hand how horrible this leadership is to our team and other teams. He was on an interview panel and admitted to me he lied to the candidate and told the candidate 3M is a great place to work. He said he did that since our manager’s manager is extremely toxic and he was afraid of what would happen if he told the truth. The person took the job and is miserable. Others hinted at the problems but this colleague’s comments is the reason the candidate took the job. This colleague retired shortly after.
When will they find a replacement for the
TEBG group president
PSD division president
It has been vacant for months!!
No. 3M is a dead player and has been for a very long time.
You want to work in a job that allows agency. There is nothing you can learn at 3M that cannot be learned at any employer, but what you can and need to learn cannot be learned at 3M. You cannot gain the experience or skillsets that come with agency in a company that doesn’t allow agency.
Dead player institutions are full of dead players. People that can only follow a script. No skills in innovation. They put all of their points into charisma.
The skill they have is to sell someone else’s idea. Disguising it as their innovation. Things like Six Sigma, lean, Toyota manufacturing model, etc. So and so does it so we should do it. It is not that these are bad ideas. It is that they are someone else’s ideas applied in a different environment.
It doesn’t even mean they are not applicable. They say great artist steal. But they don’t tell you that the great artist innovates around what others have done. Poor artists copy. Dead players copy.
Or they hire a consultant because they aren’t even good enough to copy on their own.
About 35 years ago a man working for 3M invented a product. He had the idea, built molds and dies to fabricate the piece parts, assembled prototypes, tested them, took them to the customer who loved the product. It was then successfully commercialized. He didn’t work in development. He worked in Division Engineering. He had no responsibilities whatsoever for new products. He wasn’t told to do it. He didn’t inform management that he was doing it. He had agency.
Around the same time, a young lady was a production operator. She went on to become what is now called a VP at 3M. She was allowed to grow, flourish and contribute. She was allowed to have agency.
Neither of these folks could do the same at 3M today.
They were not unique. Agency was common at 3M 35 years ago.
My own first experience with agency at 3M happened almost immediately. My manager said you are now responsible for the product that makes the most money for the division. Go make it better. Improve costs, capacity and quality. Don’t sc--w it up. That was all the guidance provided. I couldn’t even ask how before he left. The how was my problem. Over the years I thought about this many times. What a wonderful gift he gave me.
You should not waste time in a job that doesn’t provide the opportunity to learn the things that can only be learned when you have agency no more than a bird can learn to fly by sitting in the nest waiting for further instructions or explicitly told to wait for instructions.
Now go fly.
Yes. Work for 1-3, maybe 4 years until you get one promotion. Develop your long-term goals during this time and build your resume. Externally network like crazy. Leave for your “dream” job which includes another promotion/more money, take your 401k which is well on its way and start the process all over again at the next company for the next 30-35 years. Thankfully I’m retired because that sounds exhausting!
You said, “All companies are having their troubles now and the grass is not that greener!”
Perhaps; however, the non-3M grass is not contaminated with PFAS.
I am unalterably opposed to recommending 3M to anyone who is seeking employment.
Full stop.
No way would I recommend anyone, not even my worst enemy to work there. It's sad to see it circling the drain with no hope.
I can't imagine the fear of being next to get cut. The fear of upper management making poor decisions. No innovation happening. No investment into the future, only paying off bad decisions in the past.
I left 3M about a year ago after watching the bloodbath of job eliminations. After some time in another company, I'll say there's good and bad about 3M.
Good:
The people - I had the pleasure of working with an amazing team who fought hard every day to win business. The technical innovation they dreamed into new products, the manufacturing challenges, the logistics nightmares, etc, they made the impossible happen. Working with those high performers gave me some incredible experiences.
Direct management - People here may dog on their direct manager, but I had some awesome leaders. High expectations but supportive. Willing to go to bat for you. My manager was one of the only things keeping me at 3M, and most of my cross-functional leaders were also stellar. Not all, but most.
Compensation - 3M does have one of the better comp plans still. Took a small pay cut to move.
Systems - Yeah, 3M's systems are bad. But they're not the worst. Inventory management, quality systems, etc. Some places have it worse.
Bad:
Layoffs - Are you next? You'll never know until you get the invite with HR and your VP for early in the morning.
Work/Life Balance - Do more with less. Support overseas operations & customers. It got to be a lot.
Executive Leadership - Hahahaha. Self explanatory.
Long Term Stability - No idea what is going to happen to 3M in the next few years, but it's not great.
Unfortunately, if you ask me, I think the negatives outweigh the positives and I wouldn't recommend pursuing a role there. I valued stability over those other benefits. I hope for the best for all my former colleagues still fighting the good fight. They're too dam talented and put up with too much for what I fear is coming their way.
Cargill is better than 3M but has its own issues.
I don't think it would occur to me to ask a laid-off employee for a recommendation on their former employer. Can you really expect an enthusiastic yes?
Absolutely not. RUN. 3M is an unethical company and the culture is toxic. Employees are not appreciated. Apply to Cargill.
Yes, if you need a remote job for double dipping. Just treat them the way they treat you, meaning don't give a damn.
apac here.
he-l no.
nothing left to be proud of.
those left behind are blind passengers or just waiting for their $
Not anymore! The good old days of pride and trust in the company are squandered and gone.
I would not recommend working at 3M after working there and other notable companies in the Twin Cities as a C-suite Exec. Problem is, there are a lot of employees at 3M who are intern to collegiate hires (20+ years of service) that were in golden handcuffs. “Were” being optimal language because with the pension decision, decline in employee stock purchase plan, continual layoffs, etc. they now realize the golden goose is no longer laying eggs. Sad thing is 3M had a fantastic total comp package that was unrivaled in the Twin Cities. As employees continue to get laid off they’re discovering that the rest of the world doesn’t offer similar benefits.
Best decision I ever made was leaving before the layoffs ramped up. I feel for those employees that are left in a directionless organization who clearly doesn’t give a sh-t about their employees.
Absolutely not. The company is rudderless and there seems to be no plan on how to correct things. Anybody who could help steer the ship or knows the technologies has been let go and NPI is not even on their radar. I’d stay away!
I would say yes. I left last year and wish I would have stayed. All companies are having their troubles now and the grass is not that greener!
No not the Monroe plant. The most toxic place I have ever worked and I am not young.
If they have no other options, yes but would tell them to stay for no more than two years. The 3M name still carries weight on a resume (for now) and is a recognizable name as part of the DJIA (for now). The culture is so toxic that they won't want to stay longer than two years anyways.
OP come to a Layoff forum to ask whether to recommend 3M as employer? Hmmm…..
Not anymore. Too many better options out there.