SC Johnson Reviews

WFH Policy: If the current policy wasn't so archaic and depressing for employees, it would almost be laughable. Despite overwhelming support, upper management has refused to update the policy, which currently allows someone to work from home one day a week, ONLY if they live 20+ miles from campus. They cite that we're "better together" without any elaboration or explanation. It's very much a "butts in seats" culture. Sustainability: While Fisk has been flying around the world, posing for pictures and swimming with garbage, the HQ offices switched to reusable bags at the company store and installed recycling containers just within the last year. Prior to that, everything went right in to the garbage. With the company waxing poetic about improving the earth, you would think that they'd support reducing the emissions it produces driving to the office 5 days a week. Salary/Bonus/Promotion: Starting salaries are good, but the bonus structure and COL raises are not. Forced rankings create frustration and resentment among employees. Raises are minimal, even if you score high. Promotions are hard to come by, can take a long time, and are often seen as political. Covid Response: Embarrassing. Went through multiple rounds of attempting to force employees back in to the office while numbers were skyrocketing during the holiday season. Unsure why we are being forced back to the office now, instead of waiting until the vaccine is available to everyone.

This is sad to write because I used to love working at SCJ. The company went so far downhill in 2020/2021 and the strongest, most talented people in NA have all quit. The organization is hurting yet leadership will not address any of the problems below: -The most reactive company. Never proactive & always reactive to competitor innovation. Years late to trends. Unsurprisingly, continues to lose to competition. It's impossible to change ways of thinking or the status quo here. -Meeting schedule is terrible. Many people are in meetings from 8:30-5 daily and have no time to do their work. This results in either people not being engaged in meetings and multitasking or working late into the evening to make up for lost time. There are also some meetings that go on for an entire day! Completely unnecessary. -Over the past six months, so many spots in marketing are open due to everyone quitting, which has resulted in leadership moving people into positions they don't want just to fill seats. So many people quit because the position chosen for them was far from what they wanted to pursue. SCJ left them with no other option but to leave. -So many people quitting led to extra work being dumped on remaining teammates. Several teams lost half or a sizable portion of their team. I know people at different levels in the org who took multiple mental health days. People were really struggling and morale was low. -Company culture of fear. People are afraid to speak their mind and always package presentations into what leadership "wants to hear." It's ridiculous. Knew so many people afraid to speak up with ideas or a negative reality about a business knowing they'd never receive a positive reaction or that a VP would make a bizarre comment calling them out in a large meeting. -COVID was handled SO BADLY. I could write an entire review on COVID alone and probably will, it was a mess to say the least. Employees did not feel heard nor cared for by leadership and there were so many mishandled communications, meetings, return to office plans, you name it. It was horribly managed and policies were noticeably different from competitors who were reasonable. From trying to force people back into the office only a month or two after COVID was discovered in the USA to Chicago employees "needing" to be back in the office and promptly being evacuated due to a shooting in the area days into the spring RTO plan - and being the only company back in the office in the vicinity at the time - it proved that SCJ does not care about its employees. I could go on and on...the COVID treatment at SCJ was appalling and if a media outlet heard about it at the time it would easily have made prime time news. Sad but true. -Large internal planning meetings. They create so much stress and no action is taken afterwards. NAM, IGP, etc. = awful. You'd think the stress and workload would be for a business-critical customer meeting but no...this is to present to colleagues. So backwards. -Company does not know how to collaborate. There are always arguments between marketing and other teams. People point fingers instead of working together to solve a problem. It is so unproductive. -No transparency when there are real business issues. Problems are communicated at the last possible minute (ex. Pest allocation) which often screws over Sales and importantly our customers. It also damages trust and credibility with customers. -Serious, serious problems with evidence reported by employees with no HR resolution. From inappropriate comments with sexual tones to gaslighting and bullying. -Zero training. Wish I were kidding. Good luck in your first few months, you'll be overwhelmed. -Noticeable inequity between roles. People given same title and pay for vast difference in workload and responsibilities. -Little positive recognition/feedback. Heard of many scenarios in which managers took credit for ideas of direct reports instead of giving them visibility to leadership. Rarely felt like my work and ideas were valued. -Only want to work in marketing? Only want to work in sales? Good luck to you - you'll never be able to and will likely work in at least one role you hate due to the rotational nature of the org. Customer marketing seems to be a catalyst for many leaving and despising their job. -Every competitor offers flexible work from home options. We have been working more than ever before over the past two years given demand for our products. Trust your employees to do their job at home, even for an extra day a week. To those considering working here, accept an offer elsewhere until they fix the many issues at hand. My happiness and fulfillment at work has improved tenfold after quitting and joining another company.