machine operator

brand manager

process engineer

mechanical engineer

scientist

Kimberly-Clark

The company is a mega business that could care less about their employees. People with mental health problems are often made fun of by other employees. The HR department doesn’t seem to do anything for employees that are struggling. The matrix system they have for medical leave takes for ever to tell you anything if you are approved for the leave. And if your not approved even if you have a all the documents you need you will be let go. They also have a weird system for attendance that even the higher-ups don’t understand. All they know is when you get 3 to 5 strikes your out. It’s way to complicated for any human to understand. That’s probably because everything to deal with attendance is automated. Theres little you can do to change the strike because theirs not one person who can help. 
The environment itself toxic. When you fist start you take classes on what goes into the diapers and how the machines makes them. The class is very nice. But the second you are on the machine really leaning how to run it you are in this state of panic. If your lucky like I was, you will get a trainer that teaches you and won’t blame you for mistakes and will help teach you how to fix them. If you get a bad trainer you are not going to be taught anything and will have to learn things by yourself. If anyone makes a mistake you will be blamed because you are the newbie. They won’t take the time to teach you how to fix the machine, they will do it themselves and expect you to watch and immediately know what to do if it happens again. You can be let go if they see that you are not preforming at the level they want. If you get no trainer I hope you like talking to people because that is the only way you will ever learn anything. Your training will be kicked to the curb, and you basically become on operator with out the training to run anything. Everything will be your fault and they will make sure you know it. Pray to god you are fast at adapting and learning because you will be given no slack. I will say that if you are lucky you will be put on a friendly machine with kind people who will help you grow into a good operator. But those kinds of people here are far and in between at this job. The people that work here and last the longest are not the best kinds of people, not all but most. So if you like the feeling of being in high school with all the clicks it might be a good fit. But if you are like me and want more of a work place environment that helps employees grow it probably won’t be for you. 
Lastly the swing shifts are the worst. 3days on 3days off is honestly a great ideal thing to have. Except when you will be changing from days to nights. If you have depression, anxiety, or any form of mental health problems, a consistent sleep schedule is really important to keep you sane. The constant shift from days to nights might break your brain to the point you can’t really function at home. But if you can make it to work that’s all that matters. If you are suicidal at all, please for your own safety don’t work here! All those thoughts will be amplified and harder to shake. This job will make you feel unwanted and scared to talk to anyone about your disorder. There might be very triggering things said on the lines by other employees and if you can’t handle very disturbing jokes that can be at your expense please for your own safety don’t work here. ( also kind of a side note if you are an SA survivor, please be warned about the jokes, and just abysmal things that can be said about survivors. It can be very difficult and painful to navigate through.) there seems to be no accountability between employees about these remarks. And like I said earlier HR will be of no help. 
Safety wise the company is very good at trying to not be at fault. It is thrown in your face when you get injured and they really only blame the people who get hurt. Rushing in a big one they like to throw around when people get injured, like they don’t tell you to go faster, but you better be fast. No one wants to report injuries because they don’t want to get a write up. The company is always telling you just how many people get injured and how it makes them look bad. It’s frustrating to see how an the image of the company is more important the the employees safety. This is not to say that they don’t try and take measures to stop repeated injuries, but it will always come at a cost to the people working on the lines. 
There’s probably more stuff that I strongly disagree with about in this company but I don’t feel like getting into all the details of just how bad the community of this place can be. 
I will say that they do pay enough to get by with inflation, which is very nice. The benefits are so so but they work and 4O1K is good. There is ways to move up positions in the company, and that can be very nice if you are planning on building a career in the company. The job itself is not very hard once you get used to it. I’m sure that the people that fit in with the company and can handle the schedule will do great things. My experience with Kimberly Clark might not be your experience. But I have watch new employees stay and so many leave because of the things above. The turn over rate is awful. Be careful with the people  you trust and just be careful with your own mental safety. Know your limits before making the jump into this job. 

Its a large plant. Be prepared to do alot of walking. Be there early every single day. If you forget your badge might as well go home for the day. 
I was a conveyor and electrical maintenance tech. (Electro-mechanical tech)
I didn't actually work directly for Kimberly-Clarke. I worked for dematic a logistics specialist company. We Handled most all the maintenance work and the automation and conveyor systems. 
Kimberly Clarke is a huge facility. If you are lucky enough to work directly for them. Then you will get access to all the amenities. They give you a discount on your medical if you use the on-site gym for 40 mins once a week. More for twice. Alot of people noped out. It's a ok gym for a nice chunk of yours and your family's health care discount. Also no the family is not allowed. 
They have a fully stocked fresh bar for lunch most days. Cafe that serves hot meals. Except on Sundays. We would sneak out to there on Saturday to eat. If you work for DHL or Dematic you have other break rooms no where close to what kc has. But that's the one your stuck with if you ate non kc. 
From what I could tell 18% of the work is monitoring your equipment you are assigned. Keeping logs and samples of the product for qa. And typical operators work. 22% Is maintenance experienced mechanic and electrical work and trade work. The last 60% is fork lift drivers. 
Be aware of your surroundings at all times. The fork lift drivers are driving in reverse 99% of the time. And they are absolutely hauling butt. There are no fly zones. Meaning you cannot under any circumstances be caught on those areas unless you are in a vehicle. Very possible term otherwise
There are a few safety rules that are subject to immediate termination if caught in violation of them. It sucks that it's no warning process but it's for good reason. No worries if you accidently ended up violating one. A co-worker would likely check you immediately. And let you know. 
Plus if you are breaking those violation your either a knit wit or seeking workers comp claims. Which by the way you will not get for those violations. They are posted on every wall in every part including exterior walls around the plant. 

A company that brings alot of resources to it's employees, but the work culture is not one that inspires problem solving for success, or taking initiative. Many mid-level (facility, not corporate) positions are filled with people who have difficulty performing in those positions due to lack of sufficient external qualification. (For example, many of the jobs that require a very fine attention to detail are filled with people who are physically incapable of seeing fine print on some documents due to their old age.) A lack of clear direction from mid-low level management also provided confusion among the general workforce due to their insufficient ability to communicate specifically what was expected of the lower-level employees. Some employees working in the offices did not know how to use MS Word or MS Excel effectively. It also frequently cuts jobs based on length of service, where the people who've worked there with the shortest terms of service are cut first. (It makes sense in one direction, but the stand-still mindset of the culture there isn't moving when the people that can instigate change are often kicked out.) It was also witnessed on numerous occasions that numerous "knee-jerk" reactions were instilled by the leadership team in response to certain situations where their solutions for problems were very brash and poorly made. Some capital investments were poorly executed in their development and failed to perform due to poor management and leadership communication with a workforce that doesn't want to learn new things."That's the way it's always been" isn't going to keep up with today's extremely dynamic consumer market, and that comes from the majority of the operations, maintenance, and some support workforce since they've worked there for so long. 

The good news is that the corporate culture is working towards reform all the way down to the lowest ranks, which is really what that workplace needs. The facility is working towards reforming it's culture, and so it's headed in the right direction, but is going to take more time, and hopefully not so much that the corporation sees the plant as non-profitable due to it's inability to deliver the results it claims it can deliver.

In my experience, a typical day at work consisted of checking in with shift super so he could let you know which machine you would be bounced around to( being trained on all machines  doesn't benefit your career growth) with no compensation for being trained, then having to face ridicule because you are book smart not experience smart, being called names and having the load of a few employees dumped in your lap just so they can watch you fail , or blame you. Going to break to have employees talk bad about you and your expected to be happy go lucky. The harder you work the more they take advantage of you. The company motto is hurry up and wait! Employees are fine with sitting around for hours doing nothing, when there is always cleaning to be done. Some of the management are absolutely wonderful people but there's the majority that is the good old boys club and if your not in with them your out. Plan on name calling and condensending leads. If you have thick skin and can handle it more power to you but a job isn't worth it when you dread going in and are bullied by your co workers . It doesn't matter if people say things jokingly or not when they say it a hundred times it's not a joke. I have never felt so out of place, misunderstood and so low as much as I did there. I have never felt like I couldn't endure another day like I did there . I have never had mental health issues and depression until I worked there. If you have anything about you that isn't what society consideres normal I would just stay away. This could be such an awesome place to work if they would weed out all the toxic leaders but they are too many and day people don't see the issues that go on with shift workers. The hours aren't so bad if they were straight shifts instead of rotating every three days it's not good for your health and no one cared about the health of employees. You get a break every two hours for a half hour and it makes the day fly by. The cafeteria is terrible no healthy choices , 99 percent of employees are living off of energy drinks and preservatives or gas station like food. People walk around like zombies it's not healthy. Don't have any emergency or let anything happen with your health , working with matrix on your absences is a joke and you get 6 points your out no matter what the circumstances. If you want to live a long healthy life this isn't the place for you. 

Kimberly Clark is a great company but it seems to be losing it's ability for solid growth.  There are obvious market impacts but the inconsistency in management and employee development is a more serious underlying issue.  

There is little to no employee training/development which inhibits KC from harnessing the full potential of the staff that they presently possess.  Instead, employees constantly apply for roles without proficiently performing their present jobs.  This is permitted by judging an employee's abilities on meeting objectives rather than job performance which does not directly reflect their ability to perform their present roles.  Once an employee obtains a new role, there is no required or managed transfer of knowledge to the incoming candidate so the there is an unnecessary learning curve that impacts overall performance.

Employees holding positions are not groomed for development; for example, if a role utilizes analysis skills - there is not attempt by Kimberly Clark to develop data mining skills in software such as Excel or Tableau.  You would think that it is in the better interest of an organization to develop their staff to optimize performance.

Another matter of concern is the decision making process.  There is too much time spent on meetings to make decisions rather than delegating and executing.  This causes a tremendous delay in achieving results and demoralizes staff when their input is passed over to others that are not as familiar with matters.  The overuse of the 4 Step Problem Solving process (4SPS) is another way that too many meetings are scheduled and time is consumed of staff members.  The 4SPS is commonly used to enhance personal objectives and tasks employees with attending meetings where they have little overall impact and are taken away from performing their roles.

The lack of development and proper employee vetting has created a culture where more effort is invested by employees to find their next role instead of excelling at their present roles, resulting in sub-par results.

KC's orientation is done very well, a great deal of detail and information is given to a large group during the two weeks of classroom training, lectures, and video's.  Mostly union people from the mill facilitate this time period, but KC staff, various management individuals along with the Mill manager also have allotted time of which they are scheduled to provide their expectations.  
You will hear statements such as "you will be respected here at KC, because we need you!"   Encouraging statements such as these along with a very polished orientation leaves you believing that you can let your guard down a bit and feel that you should be able to fit in to this manufacturing culture where many that are hired have little to no experience working around large machinery that has to meet daily production goals.   It's great that downtime is planned to keep the machines in good order, safety is said to be paramount at all times, quality is just under safety, again all of this is measured and reported.  However, during the course of a shift you witness the opposite numerous times and ask yourself what did I get myself into.  I'm a very intelligent person and picked up on and learned the techniques I was to learn but not from the people who were to teach me, I was just fortunate enough to have meet those not on my crew who saw me struggle intercede with kindness and respect.   I cannot promise that you would be so fortunate, as great is this was I was often left neglected by my own crew.  
Remember, this is a union environment...KC management has their rules and policies but so does the union of which some are in stark contrast, so to get along with your union brothers and sisters you follow theirs even at a cost to your own values.
KC goes through many new hire's they do have a problem keeping this mill fully staffed, for many different reasons, I'm just sharing mine. 
Just my opinion, from my experiences.

Worst place I have ever worked!!

-Management doesn't listen and only cares about your political standing with everyone around you. Perception is reality good or bad.

-Hard work does not pay off, it's all about politics and who endorses you.

-Management will lie to your face to make themselves look better 

-Management does not support engineers or have their backs. Whenever their is a discrepancy between operations and engineering, management will say "perception is reality" and throw you under the bus

-Throwing each other under the bus is a company sporting event!

-Operations constantly say they don't need engineers and belittle and condescend them  

-They constantly belittle millennials for not knowing anything because they have no life experience. Sr. Management even openly mocks millennials calling them snowflakes.

- If you are young and extroverted do not work here  your soul will quickly be killed and sucked out of you. Everyone is an introverted hermit crab that are extra crabby.

-Creativity is crushed by the phrase "we tried that before and it didn't work" or "that's not what we normally do"

-Dont bother thinking outside the box management only cares about how well you think inside the box, then if done (politically) well enough they will help endorse you to another box.

-Do not ever break a safety rule or you will be thrown under the bus and fired, unless you are a political chosen one that can do no wrong.

-KC will say they care about safety  but all they care about is money. Safety is just a way they cost save. Think about it, how much does an injury cost a company? Prevent that injury and how much money did they just save?

-They value your devotion to the company not your personal well being or improvement. They will strongly suggest moving locations and leaving family, friends, and connections behind rather than getting certified, or going back to school. I saw several engineers discouraged from going back to school and they ended up quitting and going anyway.

-Look up how they used TRUMP tax cuts to fund the largest company layoffs in history.

Overall I really enjoyed working at Kimberly-Clark.  Most of the people I worked with were great!  I typically worked 9 hour days, but there were certain days of the monthly cycle in my last department where it wasn't unusual to work 10-12.  I learned a wealth of knowledge about Supply Chain (customer service, distribution, transportation, planning, forecasting) and Customer development.  My favorite part of the roles was working with the customer teams out in the field.  The hardest part of the job was changing and sometimes unclear objectives and team vision.  It was nice having perks like working from home one day a week and Friday afternoons off in the summer.  There are many diversity groups like Women's Interactive Network, African American Employee Network, etc that were great for learning and networking.  The benefits were pretty good, although they have been declining over the years.  There are plenty of roles for career advancement, if you know what you want to do and are willing to work hard to move up.

What I didn't like was that management changed frequently and many of the new managers did not do a good job.  Having inconsistency from managers in a role can cause stress, confusion, and can slow down team members careers.  Some team leaders did not provide good constructive feedback throughout the year, which resulted in some team members receiving less than stellar performance ratings at the end of a year, as a surprise.  They also do calibration for reviews, so even if you are doing a great job, if all of your peers are doing a better job, then you get dinged and it also affects your raise.  It was also frustrating that it could be very difficult to move into new departments unless you have friends in management in that area.

The work environment is highly reactive, with daily challenges arising from persistent operational and personnel related issues. The manufacturing machinery is outdated and has not been proactively maintained for quite some time, reflecting a focus on meeting production numbers at the expense of long-term sustainability. Many tenured employees seem disengaged, staying primarily for the financial stability until retirement. Employee morale overall is low, with many expressing dissatisfactions and a willingness to leave if comparable opportunities arise. There are some that genuinely care about what they do each day, but my fear is that most are growing tired of KC doing the same thing each day and expecting a different result.

The senior management team possesses strong technical expertise in the site manufacturing processes, having transitioned from engineering roles, however, their leadership effectiveness is limited by challenges in areas such as consistency, accountability, and leading by example. This has created a disconnect between stated values and actual practices. While the "intent" to promote accountability is often communicated, the execution tends to shift responsibility to disproportionately to lower-level staff and without them actually having the support of upper management to be successful.

A broader visibility into these operational and cultural challenges at the corporate level is necessary to drive meaningful change. By prioritizing leadership development using a top-down approach, investing in infrastructure, and fostering alignment between corporate goals and daily practices, the organization could improve morale, retention and overall performance. 

Too much stress for the position as I was the Subject Matter Expert due to the length of time I was there; the request form process began with me and I left the knowledge I had built when I left the company; didn't care if the team I left behind used it or not as I was constantly fighting with the other team members to follow the request form process.

I felt that there was too much unfair treatment by management for entire team, however, I learned a lot to add to my skill sets for the future. It was simply time for me to leave as the stress was too intense and affected my health.

Project mgmt. was the best part of my job as I assisted with the building of a web-based request form where all employees using the request form process could be involved and multiple emails didn't have to be received, then try to match them all together for one request; the request form tracking system was pristine and you would always be able to tell what stage of the request form process was in at all times.

Didn't feel the work/life balance was good at all. Due to the extreme stress I was under by working long hours just to try to stay ahead of other team members who refused to follow the outlined processes made me look like I was incompetent and unwilling to collaborate. The stress was the all in all problem which led to many other issues personally and professionally.

At one time this was a GREAT company to work for; but with all the competition between the older employees being beat out by the younger employees. It was the older employees who knew all the history of the company but younger employees didn't care about the history and management support wasn't supportive at all. Many left the company because they didn't feel like they had a choice.

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