We’re truly humbled to, once again, make Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list. We’re the highest ranked Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company to receive the recognition – a point of pride for us.
If you join Nestlé Purina, you’ll quickly find that we don’t have napping pods or pool tables, or other workplace fads. What we do have is history, heritage, winning performance, a company mission that is full of meaning, and a work culture that is something that we are all protective and proud of. It’s a recipe passed down from the 1890’s. And we all know there’s nothing like an old family recipe. But for us, this one’s no secret. And by the way – maybe we don’t have sleeping pods, but we do have a world-class campus headquarters and best-in-class benefits and plenty of other perks too.
Ingredients to a Best Place to Work culture
Walk your talk
Purina sets out to enrich the lives of pets and the people who love them – we’re a pet care company. So we surround ourselves daily with the very subject our work lives are built around: pets. Employees who work at our St. Louis Headquarters can bring their dogs and/or cats with them to work each day (as I write this, my Siberian Husky is staring at me from across my office). Our four-legged pals sit by our sides at work lightening the mood, decreasing stress levels, and increasing productivity. We know #PetsAtWork isn’t the best solution for every company, so find the connection between your daily work and your forever mission. How can you show the world you’re acting on your promise? Walking your talk.
Empower your people
No salary or benefits package can buy an employee’s passion. How does Purina empower its people? We enforce autonomy and ownership of every employee’s work. We provide the platforms for idea sharing and brainstorming. We recognize individuals and teams in a varying ways throughout the year for the work they do because it’s the daily to-do’s that make the big impact. In short, we treat our associates like adults. We focus on outcomes over frenetic activity. A dental appointment is not a concern. Delivering great results – that’s implicit at Nestlé Purina.
Give your employees a voice
Our associates are the true source of our success. So, we develop numerous ways for them to provide input; our internal way of talking about it is to Stand Taller and make ourselves and our company better. Examples include an associate who organized stretch breaks during the workday. Another recognized the emerging growth we have with pet care entrepreneurs and voiced the need for a partnership with small pet care companies to drive industry innovations. Everyone can weigh in; it becomes infectious.
Give more than you receive
Our employees are all heart and always have been. We have a community service tradition at all of our locations that spans the 125-year history of the company. We support nonprofit organizations that are close to our associates’ hearts. We have our eyes on work-life balance and the ability of our associates to manage it by making strong choices. We are constantly re-evaluating our benefits offerings to keep in tune with our society – a best-in-class paternal leave policy, a comprehensive 401K matching program, and a retiree engagement program for those who don’t want to lose ties with us when they leave.
Never stop improving
It’s a “dare” from our founder – knowing we can always do it better and challenging ourselves to do it. We’re always working on the next dog or cat food/snack/litter variety before the previous one is even released. Our work never stops. Our people never stop developing, which requires a deep commitment to continuously training employees in their areas of expertise and areas of interest. We also offer unparalleled career opportunities. Since we are part of the world’s largest food company, you can have a career in pet care all over the world, or even explore the many other businesses that are part of our greater Nestlé family. The world is truly your oyster at Nestlé Purina if that is your desire.
Above all, be genuine. Genuine in your business partnerships, work relationships, your promise to your customers, and your giving philosophy.
For more on who we are and how we do what we do, visit our Glassdoor profile to learn more.
