3M is a baby boomer dressed in millennial's clothing. On the outside they seem really hip and trendy, but you soon learn the inner workings of the company are still that of a behemoth Fortune 500 company; change is hard to push and there is a lot of red tape to get some things approved.
My main complaint would be the lack of vacation days provided from the start. I've worked for a lot of different multinational corporations; the ones that are competitive for great employees give at least 3 weeks’ vacation to start with. But, I actually had to give up a week of my vacation time when I joined 3M as they would not negotiate this outdated norm that new employees should only have 2 weeks to start with. This was actually one of my main reasons for leaving the company, as I live across the country from where my family is and I did not get to see them as much as I had before because travel times were just too long to get back home within a 2-3 day weekend. I worked for 3M for over 2 years, and I would have had to wait another 2 just to get that 3rd week. I did get a month of sick days, but I was not allowed to use them for medical appointments, which in 2019 I happened to have a lot of. So, I had to use my vacation time for these. The one time I got to go home in 2019 was for my grandmother's funeral, and I had to beg for 2 days of bereavement leave instead of the allowed 1 to compensate for the travel.
I’m not looking for sympathy, I just find it perplexing that a company that says it is as socially responsible as they say they are has not kept up with the times on this policy. I left for a similar sized, well respected company that gave me 3 weeks right off the bat with an additional week of flex holidays. If it weren’t for this con, I would have loved to stay with 3M.
