Sonoco Products Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Sonoco Products full-time for more than a year

Pros – Salary/benefits package was above average.

Cons – Many companies have a salesperson "managing" employees. I have never understood this - being good at sales usually does not go well with being able to manage others. Only about 5% of any sales people I've dealt with have been decent managers. Plus, in this particular situation, the salesman was one of the poorest sales people I've worked had the misfortune of working "with" - poor understanding of the business and company we were associated with, worked off-site so usually MIA, condescending, untruthful (and bad at keeping track of his lies), etc. The other employees on-site were always worried about losing their jobs, and completely self-serving. Collaboration is a big buzz word - that's all it was there. Lots of lying and back-biting, in addition to purposeful non-sharing of information. No one wanted to work as a cohesive group.

Advice to Senior Management – Sales people are horrible general managers. If you have employees that are not on-site, have the managers check in with employees. It is not the employee's responsibility to initiate all contact. I was once told that if my manager hadn't heard from me, the assumption was "no news is good news." Sounds like a manager who's on top of things!

Former Employee – worked at Sonoco Products full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – "Small town" feel as you have opportunities to get to know peers across company. Current senior leadership has an interest in the well being of employees. Opportunity to quickly get responsibilities and grow.

Cons – Company has a history of downsizing and layoffs. The soon-to-be CEO (when current one retires) is only bottom line focused with not much regard for employees. Quality in some divisions is ignored with plant managers cutting corners. Matrix structure can be very frustrating when trying to satisfy 2 managers with competing objectives. Not a lot of opportunity to advance as company had all but stopped allowing transfers to other locations. Ok opportunities for hourly/craft personnel.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Sonoco Products full-time for more than a year

Pros – Stable company with good compensation

Cons – Small town cliques within employee base

Advice to Senior Management – Encourage established employees to involve newcomers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sonoco Products full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – The job itself is often challenging, interesting, and it does pay the bills. The commute is short. In my position I do enjoy a certain degree of autonomy.

Cons – Every year since being acquired by Sonoco compensation has decreased. Raises were skipped, 401k matching suspended and eventually partially restored in 2009 due to "difficult" times while the CEO's compensation increased by 45% to nearly 9 million dollars. Opportunities for advancement do not seem to exist. The safety program is out of control to the point of being smothering.

Advice to Senior Management – The current policies are a recipe for mediocrity. Provide a clear vision, opportunities, and incentives for employees. It seems that management is rewarded when we do well and receive incentives.. It would be good to give employees incentive as well. Provide clear avenues for advamcement.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sonoco Products

Pros – People, benefits and overall work environment is promising. overall job is enjoyable and easily manageable to fit into life. Pay is good.

Cons – Personal growth is challenging due to blue collar entrenchment of many leaders -- this needs to be corrected. Holiday pay for those working alternate schedules is non-existent -- getting a holiday off means you make it up another day.

Advice to Senior Management – look at long-term growth of all staff, better balance blue collar/white collar environments. No tolerance for harassment of any sort.

Current Employee – been working at Sonoco Products

Pros – pay is fair in comparison to other companies , good chance at advancement . Benefits are better than some employers in the area . Very good vacation packages , have 3 weeks after 5 years of service , plus 3 personal days a year.

Cons – Blatant favoritism , ever increasing workload on hourly employees , too many supervisors , too much safety talk , but the only time safety is improved is when someone gets hurt or several close calls happen .

Advice to Senior Management – Start listening to your employees , we might not have fancy college degrees , but we do have a ton of real world experience . Be more proactive with safety , its time to walk the walk , not just talk about it.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Sonoco Products

Pros – Job security - financially sound company with long and solid history

Cons – Senior Leadership is not in tune with the businesses it now owns. Short term decision making - business managed very short term. Far too much emphasis on centralization. Policies for policies sake, with no common sense or discussion to back them up. HR too powerful and misguided

Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the HR group, focus them on supporting the businesses not dictating to them.
Take a longer term view.
Recognize A players before they leave and manage C players out of the business