machine operator

maintenance technician

packaging operator

packer

control panel technician

Mars

In my experience, MARS Petcare under Staff Management (SMX) was initially a great place to start work, and gain warehouse experience. If you are considered for employment (which is very likely), you can establish an orientation date with SMX to acquire knowledge on tasks, safety measures, and other important information about employment there. You get floor experience, and compensation through orientation, as well. Most of the people here were good to work with. The overall floor management was very good, and easy to get along with, as well. Once you become closer with the people who work alongside you, it is easy to hold conversations with them while working effectively, which can really keep you from becoming bored, especially on slower days, and this is the best part of the job.

On good days, tasks here, such as packing and/or palletizing can be very easy---even for a new floor employee on his/her first true work day; however, it can be very repetitive, and inexperienced workers may become a bit dizzy after working on the conveyor lines. The hardest part of the job was when the conveyors are sped up to get shipments out on time, or when some of the packaging sealers get jammed. When situations like these occur, the entire conveyance/workplace can end up being a colossal mess, which could mean cleaning it up, as well as finishing up the packaging afterwards. On the other hand, experienced workers can be very helpful, and some of these bad days can be avoided altogether despite the obstacles, and malfunctions. However, when a major malfunction occurs to the point where the product is no longer being processed, employees may be sent home early.

The worst part of the job was its unusual scheduling being unbalanced, and the new "Forced Overtime Policy" at the time was what mostly urged me to resign, since it was becoming increasingly detrimental to my job/life balance, and college schedule at the time.

Overtime hours were requested too often, and sometimes, overtime hours were sometimes requested for some employees already having extra work days added to their schedules. For example, if an employee applies to work for about 32 hours a week (4 work days), sometimes they get an extra 8-16 regular work hours added to the schedule, (5-6 work days, or 40-48 hours) on some weeks. On top of that, the employee might be requested to stay overtime, which could mean a total of 40-60+ work hours a week. This can be good for some employees deciding to actually ask to stay overtime, but can be abysmal to those who have busy lives outside of work.

All in all, employment was good here, and the overall experience was worth it. If you are not in college full-time along with other crucial responsibilities, would like to have robust job security with decent pay, and/or have no work experience, employment here is definitely worth considering.

A work day began by first working the current list of patients with outstanding medical fees. I would call all listed phone numbers associated with the patient and attempt to make contact with them. Once contact was made, I would interview the patient and see if they qualified for any state or federal run assistance programs, such as Medicaid or SSI/SSDA. If they were found eligible and willing to accept my help, I would then either mail or hand-deliver our authorized representative packets to them and have them complete them. I would then take the information gathered and apply that patient for medicaid and/or SSI/SSDA (depending on eligibility). If the patient was approved I would then hand over the account to my supervisor, who would then bill the account to medicaid and the outstanding fees, or at least a portion of them, would be paid. If a patient was found ineligible or was denied coverage, the account would be given back to the hospital and a financial aid application was sent to the patient for completion. In this job I learned excellent customer service skills and developed confidence in talking to new people in a cold call scenario. I also learned how to utilize the hospital documentation program, EPIC. My direct supervisor was a dedicated woman, and was very diligent in her dealings with patients and the hospital alike. Our team was small (only 3 people towards the end of the contract) but she still managed to guide us to the goal of saving the hospital over one million dollars in derelict medical payments over the course of about 4 years. I found the hardest part of the job to be fighting with the state agencies, such as Job and Family Services, for approval for the patient's medicaid cases. Often times the patient would not be able to provide all verification's in time and we would require more to get everything JFS needed to make a decision. I would say the best part of the job was the ability and necessity to  travel to patient's listed address, in order make contact or secure AR packets. This allowed me to meet a diverse mix of people, most of which were very kind and appreciative.

MARS is a very well known company. They have a great assortment of brands, but the poor culture behind it creates an atmosphere wrought with trust issues.

Speaking only to the Petcare side of the business: Who you know and how much you pump up their ego will determine how far you go here. I hear the hallway conversations and see the efforts to undermine the long hours of those who don't align to the culture that currently exists here. From marketing, design, engineering, sales, directors, managers, no one is immune from the small group of people who influence the leaders that run this business and undermine the success of anyone they don't like. 

It's like Survivor: Peer reviews are scathing and wrought with charged language. My most recent reviews from fellow scientists and engineers were not focused on my projects or progress. The shots taken on my character by people with whom I do not interact with on a project basis are outside of the stated lines of the review process. The review process is completely anonymous now and I can no longer see who provided the review without my directors consent.

Lost Time: I feel that the last three years have been at the expense of my family and there is no work life balance. Taking on extra projects, filling in the gaps in the work others fail to complete, and driving results, only to have the minutia of those efforts criticized by others who took no ownership of the work load but wanted to be a "part of the team" when the work was looked upon as being a "success".

If you challenge the status quo you may be targeted by a group of associates who seek to push you under the bus while promoting their compatriots as the doers, movers, and shakers who can "get the job done the way we want it done".

It's not just the "what", it's the "how". Two words that have taken on a negative connotation for me and many others I have befriended since joining this organization in 2012.

Best of luck to the many friends I have made here, I am close to accepting an offer with another company. I wish you much success.

The first 2 months working there was fun. Meeting new coworkers and making connections with them, meeting people around the world and what not. I don’t know what in the quality of that workplace has changed, but is awful. Overwhelming, stressful, and god awful. You have people getting fired for reaching 8 points, meanwhile other associates have 10 points and still get to show up without any trouble. Another thing is the rule to be able to close the two days from Friday-Sunday. Extremely inconsiderate for people in school who would prefer a flexible schedule, not to mention the hassle it takes to change your availability. Associates are also immature, constantly talking about other associates, causing meaningless drama and petty arguments. Managers talking about associates in a nonprofessional and appalling manner? People in training to be a MOD telling associates if they have a family emergency they’ll wait until their 15 minute break to tell them? They’re so strict on phones in pockets, yet they can have their phones in their hands on the floor watching tiktoks, or a apple watch on their wrist. Sometimes they would leave the store open past 10pm, actively inviting guests to shop the huge floors in a severely desperate attempt to make the sales goal, putting more pressure on the associates especially if not enough go backs are completed in time. The rate of employees quitting and getting fired is very high here.  But the solution is to just hire new associates and just keep hiring them. You talk to someone one day just to find out they quit the next. Day after you got a group of 20 people doing onboarding and more people coming in to do an interview. There is no community or family here. Its just a big clutter of miscommunications, chaos, unnecessary stress, and the most inconsiderate attempts at making money. Meetings were barely conducted until one of the managers got fired and they started to act like they care. Don’t even bother with this job unless you want to go crazy.

You start your day off with a meeting. The meeting is nonsense. Just to let you know that we're going to pass on a problem to you that we could have fixed on our shift but did not want to. I believe what I've learned is it's not about what you have accomplished. But what to claim you have done even though you have not. Management has all the best intentions. But management would need to be on site to make any of their plans come together. But of course their salary. And salaried employees are there as few hours as possible. So none of the plans ever come together. Workplace culture is of high school type groups. It is not of teamwork. A lot of the groups also hang out outside of work. And due to that they shut out others and that is mainly so they can try to help each other out behind the scenes to get positions and advancements. The hardest part of the job is the schedule rotating schedule. And also just because you're on a rotating schedule doesn't mean that it's not going to change because it does constantly. You may be moved to another team you may be told oh by the way next week you need to come in during days. So basically making plans is almost not encouraged. But they do have a lot of time off via the benefits so you can take days off at a course losing your overtime because one day off will then change your paycheck by $500 because you lost your overtime because you had to take your time off via vacation via sick time via PTO. Most enjoyable part of the job is the tempered environment. Most of the time you are in a 70° workplace due to food standards. Of course until you work during shutdown and they turn off The HVAC and then it becomes extremely stuffy or extremely cold depending on the time of the year.

One of the weirdest places I've worked. Loads of benefits. 3 weeks vacation, 5 days sick time, profit sharing, paid sick leave (80%), they feed you all the time, Christmas gifts, and a lot more. 

Yet management only gives night shift 25 cent shift differential. Which is really low, most places give at least 50. Management also favors dayshift much more in terms of staffing and meetings. Meetings were usually scheduled for the start of the shift but if you were on nights it was scheduled for after shift making us stay until 8am. Making a long day longer.

 Also staffing, with the low shift differential turn over is high on nights. We were always short handed and my manager didn't seem to care. For over 6 months we had almost no new hires while working 50+ hours a week to cover other vacancies. Some even worked 7+ days forced OT due to the lack of hiring. 

Job titles won't save you from forced OT. You will be forced to work a position that makes 4+ dollars more without the pay. Most operators don't even do operator work. Most drive forklifts. Which is a better paying job. Called this out and yet still wasn't paid as a material handler. Servicers do the work of the Senor Operators without pay.

Cross training only means you get to do the job when it's vacant(without pay). Not that you are next to get the job once it's available.

The managers hand out the best paying jobs out to their favorites.
Just spend a lot of time in the office and you'll get a good job. No hard work needed.


Lots of good things too

Ok pay for the area
 
Profit sharing. 

Lots of OT on night shift if that's your thing.

And they also throw Pizza Parties all the time! In case your 12 and still like pizza parties.

While employed at M&M Mars, I have gained knowledge and skills pertaining to the operating and maintaining of machinery. I have also gained leadership skills as I served time as a floor supervisor for the staffing company at M&M Mars. 
During my time at my current employer, I have developed great relationships with associates as well as temporary employees, and have learned how to work in a team environment. I have also developed the mentality and ability to make unpopular decisions that benefit the business. I have learned that to gain respect, respect must be given. 
During my time as in a leadership role, I would assist the second shift supervisor with pre-shift meetings. During these meetings, I would create a job assignment list and place employees in different wrapping departments and positions as necessary. I also would discuss different safety topics each day. 
While on the floor, I would assist employees and co-workers with a number of jobs such as the waste and rework initiative and training new employees. I would also assist machine operators with duties such as operating machinery and stocking supplies. I would eventually move into this role as a machinery operator for Staff Management.
When I was hired as an associate with M&M Mars, I began operating new equipment such as Sig high flow wrappers and Serpa case packers. I have since moved on to the role of Kappa, and am responsible for the quality of wrapped and unwrapped production. This jobs consists of determining the product meets quality and business standards on shift.
I have taken part in case studies and 5S programs as well. The data that I have gathered I have conveyed to Supervisors and Value Stream Managers whether directly or indirectly, in hopes of increasing production and quality.

Friend, If your looking for a job to meet your financial needs this is a good job option, but if your willing to aim higher and push further and want to advance this is not a place that shows or promotes easy movement to those with dreams/options. If your reaching for certain education goals or have awesome past experiences they are not received here because its Mars. If you already have a Bachelors or higher you may qualify after three years of service if you make it that long. Mars as a whole is fantastic and a global pillar, but the culture at the Cleveland Tn location has changed so that people are not noticed for the quality hard work and efforts made daily anymore. A typical day is overwhelming and I felt over extended daily even though I was a stronger operator. Most of the management is dry and unconcerned while the few that do care do all they can to keep the best ones going. Since the culture changed by hiring 250 employees in a six month time, the NEW culture or other operators are not willing or become reluctant to help you when really needed (NO TEAM WORK). Ethnicity is at it bare minimum. I was one of two Hispanic males out of over 600 plus people. I achieved more in two and a half years than most operators achieved in Ten by work extreme hours. I was engaged, apart of four Site teams, and the end result by not having team work assistance I faltered and was fired. The most enjoyable part of the job is tasting white chocolate when its possible and seeing kids smile at the store when the purchased our products. I can whole hardheartedly say pray before you make this location your new home. Because like the saying goes ( You have to enjoy your job before you enjoy your life )...Happy Job hunting Friend.

I absolutely loved what I did for a living. I enjoyed going to work. I loved the people that I worked with. I didn't mind working swing shift because I enjoyed spending time at work with my "family". I learned a lot from a lot of different people there. How to do certain things to make my job easier and even learned jobs even though it wasn't my job duty.

 The hardest part of my job was dealing with the leads. I hate to say anything bad but at the end of the day it was the only thing that bothered me. The leads played sides. and by that I mean, if you was not a filler operator. They made your life a little harder. A couple years ago they created the "lead" position to help out the manager. They claimed the lead was to fill in a position if someone was not at work, help with paper work, or assist on the floor. Well once these associates became a lead, it changed their character completely. Some acted as if they was the manager and others just went on power trips and became extremely rude. Ever since then I feel as if the company as taken a turn for the worse. I see a lot of associates unhappy or don't like going to work. I see managers wanting out of there along with many other long term associates who have seen the dramatic change in this company. Overall Mars is a great place to work. I will not bash the company. Over the last 3 to 4 years I will say the Company has changed and not exactly for the best. 

The most enjoyable part of my day was making sure my equipment was running top notch to ensure I wasn't creating any down time in the factory. I took pride in running great numbers.

A typical work day started with a team meeting with the rest of the reliability department. We went over the major, minor, and upcoming issues with equipment, systems, and preventative maintenance. We then split into our areas and took ownership of getting our objectives completed on time. I was in charge of utilities, boilers, and compressors. We teamed up on anything that required more than one associate, and if there was production downtime, we all teamed up to resolve it and get things going. When I was first hired, I had very little knowledge and training, so I had to learn a lot about electrical and steam. I was able to team up with a co-worker who had over 40 years experience in boilers and steam system management, and learned the essentials quickly. Management was great. They supplemented my on the job learning with multiple classes on steam, electrical, PLC and reliability training as it came available. Management's role was basically to support us, the team, and get us the resources and manpower we needed to work according to the company's core principals. Within 3 years I was able to take full control over al the steam and utilities. I would say the job was very difficult at times, including working in all types of conditions, including temperatures above 130 degrees for long periods of time. I really enjoyed working there and the experience I gained was invaluable!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Machine operator 19 salaries reported	$24.29 per hour
Maintenance technician 17 salaries reported	$36.90 per hour
Packaging operator 6 salaries reported	$25.19 per hour
Packer 10 salaries reported	$37.50 per hour
Control panel technician 16 salaries reported	$42.50 per hour

Working at Mars: Company Overview and Reviews

Mars

Mars Ratings

Popular jobs at Mars

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected