The following are coming from the perspective of working in the St. Louis plant. I cannot speak to what the corporate side is like.
-Lack of diversity throughout all salaried departments (I one of only a few POC throughout the entire plant that was salaried); No programs, initiatives, or mentorship to help POC navigate organization. As well as questionable comments and practices among management. The number of comments I got about my hair being long... it's 2021. This should not be something normal into today's corporate workspace.
-Lack of investment in the plant facility. For the largest plant in the company, a $6.5 million annual budget is nothing. Batch records and data is still collected on paper. Any time someone wants to use data to prove the need for an improvement, days of data mining and entry must be completed first, which can be quite frustrating when management will usually say no due to cost control. This also could be said for any equipment or building drawings as the system to access this information was highly disorganized. Furthermore, there was a lack of urgency surrounding safety improvements and projects.
-Lack of communication and disorganization. Major plant announcements or departures of high ranking individuals in the company was heard from operators before management. I once learned I was taking over a new part of the plant from my coworker and not my manager.
-At times, a toxic work environment. A former coworker days after I was no longer with Sensient, told me "You are so lucky". This directly shows how negative of a work environment that it is. It is tough working in an environment where almost everyone would rather not be there. There is no joy in waking up each morning to go and work in a place where you know your efforts will not be appreciated or valued.
-Finally, lack of structure and development. One on ones were often a waste of time. I want to get to know my coworkers, but a one on one is supposed to be a time for an employee to voice things that they need in order to better do their job, not to hear about what your manager and their family did over the weekend. Goals and reviews reflected more of the manager's needs and did not always align with what was needed for the role at hand. Also goal discussion would happen at the beginning of the year and then never again until December.
