Pros
The office environment is great, nice cafeterias and coffee bars, lovely facilities including outdoor eating, gym, etc. Lots of charity work - blood drives, habitat for humanity, silent auctions, food drives, etc. High security on campuses, very safe environment. Fun events for staff. Encouraged health and wellbeing - walking meetings around campus instead of sitting, nutrition info in cafeteria. Some teams have a lot of fun, and creativity is encouraged in making your team stand out. Great benefits and perks - for employees. Decent compensation. Employees are extremely loyal to the company. High ethical and moral code. Incredible job security for employees. Team leads and managers are encouraged to (and, in my experience, do) facilitate very frequent one-on-one meetings with their employees, discussing projects, workload, giving advice and mentoring, etc. Most are very in touch with what their team is working on, very involved and hands-on.
Cons
Dichotomy between the old guard and the new - lots of "lifers" that want to do things the way they've always done them, and they are impossible to fire - Cargill is BIG on tenure, and even newer employees they won't fire, they just push them off on other departments so their incompetence travels. If the older team members don't like or understand a technology, good luck getting it. If they love a bad idea or something poorly rated, if they've given it the Go Ahead, you better drink the kool-aid and get on board. Consultants are bottom-rung and there is a VERY CLEAR distinction between whether you're a Contractor or an Employee, and you WILL feel it, moreso than anywhere else I've experienced. Get used to hearing about a perk and then hearing, "...but that's only for Employees." Some companies treat consultants as assets who bring their expertise to the team on a limited basis, and therefore are even more valuable. Here, contractors are expendable, temporary, and worth little, regardless of what they bring to the table. Due to their Promote From Within philosophy and the abundance of employees getting pushed off teams, it's nearly impossible to be hired permanently if you start as a consultant. They'll give the job to an incompetent employee just for applying before making a talented consultant perm - you'll be saying Goodbye to your gifted contractors and scrambling to find fixes, being told to Make It Work. Employees are golden children, regardless of talent, experience, or intelligence. Don't get me wrong, there are very talented employees who earned their positions, but they're more the exception than the rule. Speaking of "rules," those change often. REALLY often. Definite consensus culture, which is great when you need immediate change to a small team policy, but makes it impossible for department-wide decisions to get pushed through. Lots of hoops to jump through. Compensation isn't outstanding, considering the revenue of the company. More incremental raises based on tenure versus performance.
