Miserable - Anonymous employee 3M Employee Review

1.0
Nov 30, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Getting the brand name on your resume. Pay and benefits seem relatively competitive. Some really great people.

Cons

Slow moving, bureaucratic, and nearly entirely driven by internal political games. The majority of management within 3M is made up of "lifers" who have been here for upwards of 30 years, most riding out a pension, who are unwilling to let go of outdated and ineffective methods of operating. It is next to impossible to get up to speed quickly as a new employee at 3M due to the sheer size and the disorganized complexity that is the organizational structure. Unless you get lucky enough to know someone who knows someone, you'll never be able to get what you need to do your role successfuly day to day. Transparency is entirely absent, critical decisions are consistently made behind closed doors leaving out any opportunity for feedback from vested parties who will end up being affected. Lack of communication is rampant and results in constant project delays, scope misalignment, and a persistent lack of trust between employees and their chain of management. Effective prioritization and project managment is nowhere to be found. Prioritization does not seem to be taken seriously and is completely devoid of reason, priorities are changing so often and so inconsistely nothing can ever be fully accomplished. Every shift happens at break neck speed and is always something reactionary to achieve short term goals, and never proactively looking at what long term consequences they will have to the business. To say 3M is practing Agile in any meaning of the word is comical. Top talent is being hemorrhaged left and right and it's only getting worse as time goes on. This is creating a snowball effect that is causing remaining employees toughing it out to be overburdened without any type of acknowledgment or assistance in terms of compensation or additional resources. Burn out can be seen at every turn and I fear what that will mean long term for the health of the business.

Explore other reviews about 3M

5.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good company to work for.

Cons

Large corp culture for employees

4.0
Jun 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation is genuinely competitive — one of the stronger-paying manufacturing roles you'll find in the area. Benefits package is comprehensive and well above average. The retirement account and stock options are a real standout, especially for a machine operator role; 3M clearly invests in its employees long-term. Day-to-day, the people on the floor make the job. Coworkers were hardworking and easy to get along with, which goes a long way in a production environment. Upper management is what you'd expect from a large corporation — a bit removed from the floor — but that's pretty standard for a company of that size, Not a deal breaker.

Cons

The shift schedule is rough. Rotating between 12-hour days and nights on a swing schedule sounds manageable on paper, but constantly flipping your sleep schedule takes a real toll over time. Work-life balance is difficult to maintain when your "days off" are often spent just recovering and readjusting, and you can easily miss out on normal life things — social plans, family time, errands — simply because your schedule doesn't line up with the rest of the world that week. Upper management can also be a friction point. When people who haven't touched the machines in years (or ever) come to the floor with strong opinions about how things should run, it creates frustration. The folks actually operating the equipment day in and day out develop real expertise, and that doesn't always feel acknowledged from above.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All