No. 1 Best Place to Work in IT: General Mills

A time-honored IT staffing strategy of hiring the best -- and keeping them -- catapulted this food maker into our top spot.

Since joining Golden Valley, Minn.-based General Mills Inc. as an intern five years ago, Karla Juarez has worked on projects as varied as the food giant's lineup of breakfast cereals. First there was a project to enable the company's high-profile United Way campaign to go paperless, then a data analysis project for the customer insights group. Next, she moved to an SAP project in the finance organization, and now she's working on developing and managing consumer Web sites.

The 26-year-old computer science graduate came to frigid Minnesota from balmy Miami, and she says she's found home. "Right now, I don't have plans on moving anywhere," Juarez says. "General Mills has done a good job of wanting to keep me here and given me enough support and benefits that I want to do just that."

At a Glance

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Since joining Golden Valley, Minn.-based General Mills Inc. as an intern five years ago, Karla Juarez has worked on projects as varied as the food giant's lineup of breakfast cereals. First there was a project to enable the company's high-profile United Way campaign to go paperless, then a data analysis project for the customer insights group. Next, she moved to an SAP project in the finance organization, and now she's working on developing and managing consumer Web sites.

The 26-year-old computer science graduate came to frigid Minnesota from balmy Miami, and she says she's found home. "Right now, I don't have plans on moving anywhere," Juarez says. "General Mills has done a good job of wanting to keep me here and given me enough support and benefits that I want to do just that."

At a Glance

General Mills Inc.

Golden Valley, Minn.

www.generalmills.com

No. 1 for retention

No. 2 for benefits

* Total employees: 17,161

* IT employees: 641

* IT turnover: 4%

* IT promotions: 15%

* Training days for IT: 6

* Women in IT: 37%

* Minorities in IT: 13%

In a nutshell, Juarez could be a poster child for the company's highly successful IT staffing strategy, which revolves around hiring the best and the brightest people and then keeping them engaged and challenged enough to want to spend the rest of their careers with the $13.6 billion company. The average tenure at General Mills is about 13 years for an IT staffer and 16 years for an IT manager. Turnover is under the industry average of 5%, and this year, it is trending downward still, as older employees opt to keep working in the face of a shaky economy.

"We've got three beliefs: Recruit like crazy, don't settle for anyone but the best people you can possibly find, and then give them the opportunity to do great work," says Vice President of IS Mike Martiny. "The tagline we use is 'company of champions,' " which is, of course, a play on the "Breakfast of Champions" slogan the company uses for its popular Wheaties brand cereal.

A quick scan of the company's benefits package makes it clear that General Mills also believes strongly in helping workers achieve a healthy work/life balance. The list includes on-site, company-subsidized child care; an on-site fitness center offering free wellness and exercise classes; flexible working hours; and 15 days of vacation after one year of service, with an option to take two additional weeks unpaid.

But what makes General Mills an especially great place to work for technology professionals is the wide variety of work experiences -- across different departments and using an array of technologies. This, Martiny says, helps individuals discover where they fit best and identify how they can accomplish their best work at the company.

For example, all college hires complete three rotations in their first five years at General Mills. Additionally, the dozen or so summer interns -- who almost always get hired at the company after graduating -- as well as all new hires, including experienced IT veterans, meet with each one of the IT department's directors for at least a half hour in their first few months on the job.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright Computerworld, Inc.