process engineer

machine operator

manufacturing operator

manufacturing supervisor

maintenance supervisor

Essity

The transition from Wausau Paper to Essity saw a dramatic change in the on-site business culture which, in my opinion, was for the worse.  From my perspective, it went from an open, collaborative and supportive culture to one that is very much the opposite in nature.  Instead of being able to freely express ideas, opinions and alternate viewpoints without fear of reprisal, it became necessary to monitor every word spoken and written to ensure it would not be negatively viewed by senior plant management.

While Essity as a corporation has a positive and theoretically sound mission statement and core values; and it appears corporate leadership does its best to both model and instill these values; senior site leadership does not value or 'live' these principles.  From my perspective, it appeared to only apply to (almost) everyone else.  Which is disappointing because the plant had a very sound, experienced workforce that could have been accessed and engaged to help drive the business forward.  Instead, experienced, knowledgeable members were/are being woefully undervalued and underutilized with many opting to take jobs elsewhere or who have been downsized to cut cost.  

In the near term, the company as a whole appears to be in a good position relative to most of its direct competitors and is actively working to maintain and eventually grow it's share of the market.  But while the company's message is fairly employee friendly, there is no real loyalty to employees as they will eliminate positions without much apparent thought or concern if they feel economics dictates the need.  Would I recommend working for Essity?  I would with the caveat that one goes in with the understanding the company doesn't offer the greatest job security, the culture is hyper-competitive (me first) and that it be at a facility not located in Kentucky.

After nearly 5 years here I can tell you firmly not to come. There has been no improvement, not even an attempt at it. Every machine is being run into the ground by an overly stingy management and rigid run until fail system. Horrible bonuses, usually ~100 bucks a quarter. On swing you will work 7 12s with either 1, 2, or 4 days off after them (rotating your shift as well). On five day jobs you will work 6 12s. It's a constant cycle of hiring until burnout then firing so anyone with kids or a family need not subject them to that. There is extreme favoritism from both management and the union which has lead to cliches forming and causing massive issues, leading to even more turnover. There is 0 humanity inside these walls, where you will spend 50% of any 3/4 days of your life. 6 months of the year you will not see sunlight. Making 6 figures is cool, but working 3000 mandatory hours a year is not.  The union will never defend anyone that is liked less, no matter the situation. The union does not believe you exist before the probationary period is over, and for 3-5 years after that you're less than dirt. Vacation advancement schedule is worse than just about any other manufacturing facility in the area. Health insurance is pretty solid, they hold an fsa.  Company 401k match is about average for good manufacturing gigs. Pay is slightly above average for the area, but the union dues and horrible bonuses quickly outweigh the benefit. The company has made almost a billion dollars in net profit every year I've worked here and every year they spit on us and tell us we're not worth seeing our families.

They're hand book is all on the internet and they cannot provide and "accurate" book when asked for a print off of it, you will get the it can change at any day so what you get in this printed copy isn't and can't be used. The management is very two faced. I was once told to run a machine at a speed by my supervisor and higher then him at a slower pace because it had more issues when speeding it up. So I was directed to run it slower. 2 weeks later I was pulled into the office and spoken to by the same person who told me to run it slower to talk about my declining performance. I advised him he told me to run it and he completely ignored me over it and still wrote me up for his orders to me. The work place and the environment is very stressful running the paper machines, the machines are always breaking and they refuse to fix them correctly because it's not in the "budget" but will spend money to make upgrades to other machines that need to be fixed instead of being upgraded in different areas.

I came to Essity in Neenah hoping it would be the last job I ever had. I worked hard and took pride in my work. Now after a few years they have all but beaten that out of me. Machines break down and nobody cares. New problems arise daily and rather than fix them you’re told to deal with them even though they affect efficiency.  They will waste more time and money  just dealing with problems than it would have ever cost to just fix them in the first place. I only work there as a machine operator but I don’t understand how they can throw so much money away daily and still stay in business. It can’t be sustainable unless every other converting operation out there is doing it worse, but I don’t think that is possible.  There is no reward for being good at your job because no one cares and everyone gets paid the same. The only requirement is that you show up.  If you take pride in your work this isn’t the place for you. If you are only looking for a paycheck this is probably the place for you. 

Essity is a nobly intended company with EU and NA each under the same mission but functioning very differently. WU was a gradually built entity with some acquisition , as such the manufacturing fits together better and people much more align on core values.  

NA is much more a sum of its parts due to the growth by acquisition.  With only one purpose built mill, the other four a gathering of acquisitions, there is quite a bit of redundancy and mismatch in supply chain.  Same of management,  the leadership is still largely Encore paper veterans loyal to each other but overseeing not the small regional company that was but now the #2 AFH player in the industry.  The mindset and decision making process of leadership in NA reflect that.  Not leading the way but following.

A typical day for machine operators or maintenance at my particular facility which is closing in 2019 has involved following an increasingly micromanaged but generally undemanding routine the past several years. This has changed in step with being increasingly top heavy and the company has not been able to keep the trust or confidence of its employees despite many words to that end. Pay and benefits are far above average for the area and the company is generally sensitive to work life balance and very safety conscious, though not consistently well aimed or executed.

Great company to work for and pay rate is excellent. Problem is schedule and ability to be forced to work overtime. Work a southern swing schedule which is horrible. It 7 days on 3rd shift then 2 days of, 7 days on 2nd shift then 1 day off, the 7 days on 1st shift and then 4 days off. It’s a 28 day cycle that repeats itself so you memorize your schedule and what days you get off in that cycle pretty quick. Going word some sort of 12 hour swing shift would be much better especially since you have to work so many 12 hour shifts on southern swing anyways to cover for vacations. At least on 12 hour swing you get more days off and don’t have to work so long before getting a day off. On southern swing there is a span where you work 14 out of 15 days and it’s possible they could all be 12 hours of work need arises.

I did not learn much in the company as it's very old fashioned and resistant to any real modernization. Constant restructures and lay offs. I have never seen anyone being promoted but it's the same circle of people who move aroung. Either you know someone or you will go nowhere. It's more important who you know than what you know and can do. 
I've experienced here and there toxic culture and talking behind the back from managers. I've suffered from lack of leadership (managers literally disengaged from their management role)
People without the right sets of skills and competencies are in positions they don't  fit it.
I don't recommend this company if you are interested in developing your career and skills, in having real positive job challenges and enjoying your working time.

Under Wausau this was a great place to work. They seemed to care about the employees and had people in management that knew what they were doing. Now since SCA/Essity has taken over it shows. They have put people in management positions that don’t know nothing about the department. They had management tell employees they wanted them to quit. There’s now a lot of people that is looking for new jobs and they can’t seem to understand why. They recently tried hiring about 10-12 people and only 2 people put in applications. The only way to advance up in this place now is being a suck up cause that’s the only people they care about. The way it’s going I’ll be surprised if this place doesn’t shut down in or before 2021.

Often times employees are expected to run machines they've never worked on. Horrible quality of paper to run usually, machines break down fairly consistently (maintenance dept are a good bunch of people, but are shortstaffed, so usually youre waiting around for long periods of time). You think money is everything? This may be the job for you if you can put up with all the other BS. 
     Schedule is a typical mill - Southern (8 hr rotation), DuPont (12 hour), or 2-2-3 (12 hour). Management is ok - as long as youre trying. But that gets hard when things are constantly breaking down and you have a job to do. Frustrating!!!!!!!!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Process engineer 2 salaries reported	$92,500 per year
Machine operator 4 salaries reported	$23.07 per hour
Manufacturing operator 1 salary reported	$20.25 per hour
Manufacturing supervisor 2 salaries reported	$72,500 per year
Maintenance supervisor 1 salary reported	$95,000 per year

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