territory manager

scientist

intern

packaging engineer

learning and development facilitator

Hills Pet Nutrition

Typical up and down factory work, some relaxed days, some intense days. There's people available to learn whatever you need, but you can't expect the business to provide you any important knowledge. 

It's very office-centric and you'll see that if you're a production worker, if you're qualified to be promoted for something and have no degree, expect to see someone brand new in the position you wanted unless it's the advanced technician on a shift that people don't want to work.

They love promoting their benefits, but as things get more expensive, the pay hasn't progressed, it's the worst paying pet food job in the area and when you're making less money and your venefits get more expensive, then it's easy to start feeling the pain. The tuition benefit has probably been the same for a decade or more where back then it could pay for decent school like an engineering degree, now you're lucky to afford 3 classes a year while being expected to work as many as 60 (or more) hour weeks with potentially very little warning. We are constantly understaffed because of these reasons.

There is a great culture of work and teamwork in the plant, it's what has kept myself and others working there for a long time, so little is communicated and management has an entirely hands off approach to expectations for new hires, that some people figure it out by watching and learning or they do not and then possibly never fit with their team because they don't have the same minimum expectations for themselves that others do. 

Management are good people generally, though most are so removed from the actual manufacturing part of the job that they have no idea what's going on with it. There's quite a bit of turnover from them being poached to other companies under Colgate or other plants or even positions within the plant.

It's very relaxed for the most part outside of the hard days. You get guaranteed a 30 min lunch with 45 minutes extra for other breaks or a long break, management doesn't tend to be too worried about how much time you take as long as you're getting work done, there's free coffee that you can come off the floor to have whenever that isn't considered in that, well maintained areas to spend non working time due to a cleaning team which also extends to the manufacturing floor.

The 2-2-3 schedule is terrible, they are the only plant left in the network that maintains it and have suffered in staffing because of it. Most new people aren't happy about working their 6 months of training on days, getting dropped in to nights and expected to be fully capable of being a good operator without support or advanced technicians, working overtime weekly and not having the experience around them to succeed. It ends up making it a sink or swim environment and everyone who sinks tends to just leave instead of sinking while and working extra 12 hour nights

Forced overtime, inadequate accountability in management, false promises, boast regular pay raises biased on performance but will always be the very minimum of a raise possible. Neglected departments. Short staffed to begin with while corporate pushes harder deadlines and management bends over backwards to make it happen without looking if manning allows it making it an unsafe work environment. Forced overtime to meet these production numbers only effects the production employees not the salary so none of the planners and other departments that set these requirements are required to work these 6-7 work weeks with 12 hour days. Employees are getting ready to make a mass exodus even though we have informed them of unsafe work environments and false promises are causing workers to mass apply elsewhere, managements response was "well they haven't left yet."
In response to this state of emergency the highways are closed and they're still threatening the employees safety and job security by holding to normal policy attendance. I commute for this job like most of the factory does and there was little to no considerations for employee safety in a Kansas issued state of emergency.

Great products backed by science, you can really stand behind what the company produces.  Intelligent and friendly co-workers that are passionate about what we do (most of them!).  Company is caring, ethical, stable, and working very hard to be more progressive.  Bring your dog to work day is every day at the corporate office, which is a lot of fun!  Hardest part of the job= there is a lot of change taking place to help us be more efficient, and the pace of business is very fast.  There is so much work you could work around the clock if you let yourself.  However, the company is very supportive of work-life balance, it's more a matter of setting your own limits.  Some groups at the corporate office have summer hours, and work-smart options (can work from home and flex your start/end time).  Best part of the job= opportunities for continual learning and development.  Being a part of Colgate means you have a lot of opportunity (globally) to experience new things if you are willing to work hard.

Worked through a temp agency. Was told that had a good chance of getting on to work for company full time permanent. Went through phone interview with a third party company and if they liked what they heard, then you would have face to face interview. Was denied job. Will tell you that they found someone with more experience, which in the face to face interview, the HR tells you that your resume looks impressive. Most of the employees were nice, but there were higher ups that wouldn't acknowledge your presence, unless they needed you to help them out. Some treated you differently and some treated you like you were one of them.From application process to the end takes forever. Be prepared to wait over a month to find out anything. The company doesn't really care about if they hire the temps even though they already know your work ethics.

A typical day at Hill's is driving sales, customer service and contacting customers.

I learned that anyone can be replaced with someone willing to work for less. Character, honesty and loyalty are admirable but don't expect to get anywhere by doing the right thing.

Management, there are some really good managers.  Senior leadership is professional, approachable and would do well if interrogated by congress. 

Work place culture is like a beautifully wrap gift that once opened is an overdue light bill with a cutoff date posted for tomorrow.

The hardest part of the job, managing ambiguity.  

Most enjoyable part of the job short term assignments, working with creative and highly skilled individuals, and helping the community on company time.


.

Poor management from the operations manager down. Constant changing schedules, either due to lack of work (in some cases) or due to poor decision making on higher ups parts (switching from 12’s to 8’s, different days, etc). As an employee at this plant you will not be valued, and will often be treated poorly. The equipment in this facility is far from new or efficient, leading to breakdowns often and more time spent at the plant to “make up for production loss”. The pay is alright, and if you hit your goals the bonus’s are good, but be prepared to work a lot of hours with little to no help, as this facility doesn’t want to hire any help. The operations manager will come to your area, find anything wrong he can (even if there really is no issue) and will belittle you or make threats on your job. It’s a toxic place.

Be prepared for no one wanting to train you UNLESS you train on day shift. And be prepared to receive NO help from the other operators. I promise you, If it's not their line, they'll sit on the magazine on the bagger and be on their phone - LITERALLY for hours sometimes. It doesn't matter if you're wet with sweat working your hardest to keep your line running, your co-workers WILL NOT CARE OR HELP YOU. Management likes to tout about being "all-inclusive" but the HR department is probably one of THE MOST alienating departments I've ever noted in a work place. Everyone talks behind your back (Management too).

Get. Follow gmps. Get oass off from previous shift, double check everything when they leave, people will absolutely try to throw you under the bus so cover your butt and double check everything. Hardest part of job, lack of respect among workers, management,  lazy people, and no accountability 
from management.  Follow sops. Produce your orders. Clean your area, go home. And don't take it home with you. 

Hill’s can be a wonderful place to work and make a career. But it depends on whether you are salaried / hourly and management / office  vs. hourly / lower tier employee.  
Working in the office / professional areas at the HQ, you will be treated as a valued employee. Working as warehouse or Technician positions, you will be treated as someone to be micromanaged and untrustworthy. There is little to no advancement opportunities in the tech positions, unless you are a management favorite in these departments. 
If you can keep your head down and stay away from the tattletales and gossips, you will do just fine.

Not a good place to work. Management and HR does not care about you. They get paid their high salaries to look the other way. The overtime is ridiculous and they don’t feel sorry for you working 6 days a week 12 hour shift. They get to work their 8 and leave. New hires don’t know their butt from a hole in the ground. They cut your quarterly bonuses down to nothing. If you don’t  have a degree wave your advancement goodbye. No growth at all. They post a management job and they already know who they want to choose. But they will entertain themselves by interviewing you even know they know already your not getting the job. No one will fight for you in this company. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Territory manager 1 salary reported	$75,500 per year
Scientist 4 salaries reported	$93,875 per year
Intern 4 salaries reported	$27.25 per hour
Packaging engineer 1 salary reported	$26.00 per hour
Learning and development facilitator 1 salary reported	$80,000 per year

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