Good benefits, culture takes some getting used to. - Anonymous employee Mars Employee Review

3.0
Dec 11, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Mars promotes a open, collaborative environment where top level management to the entry level associated are treated as equals. There are plenty of opportunities to move to different (lateral) positions during your career. The benefits are good for a company of this size, but not the best. Finally some of the of the most interesting and nicest people you'll meet are those who've been with the company 30+ years.

Cons

Mars seems to only recognize associates who are extroverts. Introverts, results \ performance based associates are typically overlooked for advancement if they lack the "schmoozing" trait. This results in many people whom you might work with being completely superficial about building friendships \ relationships. If it is discovered that you may or may not have any influence over someone's advancement, the relationship building seems to die off quickly with the more ...ambitious associates. Diversity is woefully sad \ absent. While there are some examples of women and minorities being promoted, minorities are pitifully underrepresented in middle \ upper management (if existent at all). Diversity of thinking \ thought is promoted, yet Mars management heavy culture produces managers who are all white males, uniformly dressed in the same color shirts, and are slow to think outside of the box. It literally is a group-think culture. Mars is middle management heavy. Which makes navigation much more complex than it should be. Which means that an idea, project plan or a proposal must be run through a gauntlet of managers first if to be given the green light. If one manager is absent or disapproves of your approach, plan for a delay. Until there is a consensus, your project is going nowhere.

Explore other reviews about Mars

3.0
Jan 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Company car (fuel card, insurance, etc) - Good benefits - Great brand exposure/understanding of CPG sales at the retail level - Annual sales meeting is fun, but exhausting - Simple job

Cons

- Micromanaged by leadership (EVERYTHING is tracked) - Extremely repetitive work (not much freedom in creating your schedule, same tasks over and over, etc.) - Dealing with retail management. If you don't have respectful store managers, good luck. A lot of your KPI's are out of your control and your experience relies on your store. - As DOZENS of other people have said, this is a merchandising job - not sales. You are responsible for placing product on the sales floor after consulting with the store (basically asking management who only views you as free manual labor). There is no commission/incentive for producing positive results. - SEASONS: this is the reason why you have this job if you're working with the Walmart channel. You have unrealistic expectations set from leadership to pack out hundreds of heavy cases of candy each holiday season after begging store management for space to place it. Most of the stores' back rooms are a complete mess and a lot of your product is inaccessible. Long days are expected with no additional pay. - Work/life balance: It is frowned upon to work the bare minimum of 40 hours/week. Your stores get backed up while you're on PTO. Overall: an okay role This isn't a bad job by any means, you just need to know what the role entails before taking this job. You need to relocate for any future opportunities within the company.

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Mars Response
5mo
Thank you for taking the time to write your review. We’re sorry to hear your experience with us has not been positive. We aim to support our Associates in every way throughout their time with us and are committed to their wellbeing and development. Please reach out to the independent, confidential team at ombudsman@effem.com, and we look forward to discussing this further.
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