I find it really strange that a person stayed here for years despite not getting promoted for all those years (7 years or more). But this does not seem to be a rare case here at all. What's the deal? I would never stay anywhere and stagnate for so long.
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The word is "stagnation" not stability.
Life is not a dress rehearsal and all the years wasted at 3M are not recoverable.
Take the parole, leave with no regrets, and never look back.
I liked the stability 3M provided. That is not the case anymore
Ge-z, much of the input here does not mirror my experience in St. Paul. I recognize it might be different elsewhere. The expectation was that there would be about (plus or minus a bit) 20% of the lab promotions in a year. Early career promos were based on technical contributions, while business impact was increasingly important for more senior levels. Some people didn’t move up fast, while others did, based on accomplishments. Promo proposals were based on impact. Not saying there weren’t exceptions, but overall, the contributions were what mattered.
Promotions after a certain level (13 for example) are no longer just decided by a manager - in any company, not just 3M. It matters how you network, who you are able to showcase your talent to, and who is willing to take a chance and champion you.
One of the best pieces of advice I received from a female division president was - “it is your job to tell the story of what you contribute especially in a large company where it is easy for your contributions to get lost in the 90,000 contributions”. After that, I started doing a better job of putting my case together for promotion, managing my career a lot more actively, benchmarking myself internally and externally and helping my champions tell the story for me. Before that, no promotion for 5.5 years. After that, promotion every 2 years or less.
I had a boss back in 2000 that after I said I want to move to T3 , said people have stayed at T2 their whole career. He was the most useless leader I ever had.
Guide to getting a promotion 2023:
- Be part of the DEI group
- Have friends in high places
- Dont rock the boat
- Kick the can down the road (always play it safe ppl!)
- Optics: be a YES man, be physically present at townhalls and make sure you CLAP!, copy paste HR provided "i am sad my colleagues getting impacted" script on linked in every time there is restructuring
Did i miss anything?
For technical scale, I would say T1-T3 fairly easy to get promotion as you meet your job requirements and a right time. Once you get to T4 or higher, as people mentioned it depends on who you know and your big big boss is willing to represent you in DOC review.
I've been at 3M for over 25 years.
It used to be that it was expected that you would get a promotion every year or two tops. The only people who get promotions now have friends in high places.
I feel for the people just starting out. It's a different time and it's going to be much harder to grow your career. It seems like job hopping which used to be such a terrible thing when I was younger, now it's the only way to get ahead.
Or maybe I'm just watching all of the younger talent leave because there's no opportunity at 3M anymore.
3M promotion’s are based on who you know and not performance. Period, end of story.
here in Sweden we love the phrase "QUIET QUITING". I love what it means and how this means you can promote your own self to doing it, Well done on your promotion.
It's about who you know and your luck on the operating committee that reviews the promotion. I know of those that jumped 1 job grade per year, and another in a different division that can't even progress to a a single grade after 5 years, even with a consistent year on year 20+% in sales growth in their area through covid and after!
It doesn't matter promotion. Just do a job.
I know of people who went from 14 to 15 to 16... all less than 2 years between each jump. Really depends on Luck.
Promotions are certainly not a every two years thing. Never have been in st.Paul, anyway.
we just had a plant director promoted to JG17. it really depends on who you know
From what I've heard, promotions used to be an every-two-years thing, pretty much guaranteed.
Now, though, there are no promotions just for longevity. If you're under job grade 13 you need to apply for and get a new role if you want more money. And if you're under job grade 17 you aren't going to be promoted into a new role.
3M sets unrealistic goals and evaluates on numbers that employees have no control over. Sales Reps are evaluated on products that are on back order for month after month but product not removed from their quota. How can you sell when something doesn’t exist? Clinical specialist evaluated on ROI. The ROI depends on sales, sales can’t sell because of back orders. 3M doesn’t want to fairly access their promotable people because that costs them money. A manager told me last week, out of over 70 clinical specialist that are at a job grade 10, one (yes one) will move to a job grade 11. It stinks worse than a pile of m nure
well. the directors golden hand cuff money is good though
It's the phenomenon commonly referred to as Golden Handcuffs.
Also, leading employees on about a promotion that's coming seems to be a thing. Sad to say but its true. I'm sure it happens at a lot of other companies but disappointing when you see it happening in the mines.
On hindsight I am glad that I didn't get that promotion. As I look at my colleague who promoted to director position now. He has a hard time dealing with the mess for the company in current stage, and couldn't say "No" to any position that is forced upon. Becomes a slave to the promotion.
Because there is hope. Every time you get a new manager or VP, you think it's finally going to be your turn.
To be frank, I am one of those who didn't get a promotion for 10 years. But as the money is good, I decided to stay around but I did quiet Quitting. Just do the Bare minimum to get by, and don't contribute any good ideas for the boss to advance.