PepsiCo

Employee - Director

Loved this company and retired from it at aged 50. Would have stayed if the next role didn't require so much travel.

Employee - Director

People work hard and as long as you aren't a slacker, you will do well. That said, the culture was changing for the better away from having to be seen at all times

Employee - Vice President (VP, SVP, EVP, etc.)

The company culture is unique. "Assume positive intent" and diversity and inclusion is a big part of the culture there. The HR Operations dept and leadership has been problematic but most other places and departments are very happy environments

Employee - Director

Is a place that always felt good and real.

Employee - Manager / Senior Manager

While Culture can been defined in many different ways by experts, for the purposes of this survey, culture in my mind, is an “unwritten” momentum that manifest as a sweet spot, at the intersection of interactions and interventions. by releasing the right dosage of interaction and intervention energies, depending upon the context. Interaction is nothing but conversational exchanges among peer groups whereas intervention is a instruction to change the narrative of those conversations from leadership. This sweet spot culture spectrum, spans from intangible cues (like badges, symbols, unwritten water cooler conversations) on one side of the spectrum to the explicit interventions (like rules, policies, guidelines, instructions, command etc.) on the other end. Most companies’ culture index falls somewhere within that spectrum and PepsiCo in my mind falls somewhere in the middle (or 50% mark) of the culture spectrum. If I have to give an example of PepsiCo culture, it is highly competitive culture that, when it comes to being part of the top team, one has to fully in believe in the vision of the top leaders (or you are out) and there is nothing in between. That said, a culture is deemed a best culture, only when a company figures out a cultural momentum of a exhibiting situational culture indexes (like leadership) as per the situation -- and this perhaps is an opportunity area for PepsiCo to improve upon.

Employee - Manager / Senior Manager

Should provide opportunities based on competitive skill and talent and not on the bases of premium business school.

Employee - Manager / Senior Manager

While PepsiCo is doing lots of things right, if I may, I have three suggestions to change and they include, but not limited to are 1. While PepsiCo’s current “talent management system” has a good process in place to identify their top talent, that process in some cases is prejudiced, to hire/promote leaders mostly from the pool of MBA’s from top 10 schools only. Granted the top 10 schools have some great talent, however, research has consistently proven that there are always some hidden gems buried deep within regional schools as well -- rightfully so, most innovative companies in the silicon valley these days, have started casting their net wide (into regional schools) for their top talent. An implication is, PepsiCo like other silicon valley companies, must change its talent management system and start casting their net wide to hire/promote the so called hidden gems from the regional schools(including international schools), over and beyond their top 10 schools. 2. While PepsiCo’s current “performance management system” has a good process in place to assess the performance of their employees, that process in most cases puts tremendous pressure on managers (especially the middle managers) to fit their employees into a bell curve within their consensus based calibration process culture. An implication is managers, in some cases gang up and agree on their favorites beforehand and then use the calibration sessions to build justifications in reverse for their favorites, as opposed to truly assessing the performance of all employees. An implication is, PepsiCo must consider changing their performance management system with a coaching/learning driven performance enhancing system, as explored by few leading edge companies. 3. While PepsiCo’s current succession panning system has a good process in place to identify their future leaders, that process in some cases again is skewed towards performance (which is already flawed as explained in my earlier point), without giving enough weightage to potential, as research has consistently proven that performance and potential are two sides of the same coin called “HUMAN CAPITAL VALUE”. For example, while assessing the financial capital value of a company, most valuation methodologies assess value based on future projected financial performance (which is potential) and not based on past performance alone. However, when it comes to assessing human capital value, most companies including PepsiCo, assess employees purely based on performance (which is again biased, based on the opinion of few). This is where I suggest that PepsiCo to balance performance and potential within their succession planning system, especially when selecting future leaders to run the company including their BU’s.

Employee - Vice President (VP, SVP, EVP, etc.)

The ability to retain talent was a huge issue during my time there.

Employee - Manager / Senior Manager

A place that is hard charging with a nice casual/professional mix. Very high ethical standards.

Employee - Director

Know the people, company-wide culture is important; but individuals with their own agendas and incentives play a key role.