Fantastic company for those who mean serious business - Anonymous employee 3M Employee Review

5.0
8 Jul 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

What I like the most about working at 3M is all the incredibly smart, hard-working people you get to meet and work with. There's not a lot of time or money spent in frivolities here, so if you want silly perks, huge admerch budgets and a lot of fun & games, this is definitely NOT the place for you. On the other hand, if you're not intimidated by science, you want to learn a lot, get your hands dirty and handle very complex products often harshly challenged by cheaper, crappier versions of them, this is the place for you. People in general are very nice and you can make friends here however. If you're smart and work hard, you will find a lot of opportunities to grow, but they seldom come to knock at your door. You have to network and sell yourself, which is very hard for some of us and very easy for those who often deserve less. Overall, a great company, more diverse than most because it's Global, but with work to do in the diversity department still.

Cons

2 things: - I wish 3M tried harder to detect and recognize work truly well done and good employees. In general (there are exceptions), if you're not as talented a self-promoter as you are an employee, don't play the squeaky wheel game wisely or have an Ivy League education, you might be eternally overlooked for promotions or sexier assignments (my boat is more rocked by increasing responsibilities than increasing pay, but that's me), no matter what your successes and accomplishments are. This can be especially true with women and minority employees. In the company there are still big pockets with a total old boys' club mentality - I wish creativity and thinking outside the box was rewarded and encouraged beyond the R&D functions. Considering our budgets, it is very important to be creative in all functions, especially Marketing. We need more doers and more people willing to think and do things differently.

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3M Response
5y
Hello, Thank you for your review! We are happy to hear that overall you enjoy working here, but are concerned to hear that you feel there is a "boy's club" mentality and that some management is manipulative. We would encourage you to sit down with your HR partner to talk through these concerns. We really appreciate you sharing this with us.

Explore other reviews about 3M

5.0
15 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay and coworkers were friendly

Cons

Rotating shifts were not for me

3.0
10 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company investing in new products and higher growth markets

Cons

Over the past five years, there has been a significant decline in employee loyalty and incentive programs. Equity compensation, such as stock options and RSUs, was previously accessible to mid-level managers but is now strictly reserved for directors and above, reducing long-term incentives for a large portion of the workforce. Additionally, an increase in micromanagement and administrative red tape—particularly regarding strict scrutiny on all spending—has hindered productivity. The frequent practice of cutting budgets to meet short-term quarterly Operating Income (OI) targets is ultimately compromising our long-term revenue growth.

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