Wednesday, January 01, 2020

Career Path

I studied biotechnology and before I joined the company just over a year ago, I worked in an organization focused on baby nutrition. Now I would say I have found my ideal role.

What Do You Do?

As a Senior Scientist in biscuits, I work in the Department of Margin Management and I take care of widely understood productivity - searching for opportunities to make a product more profitable without compromising its features or quality.

I think it is rather exciting and developmental because I spend a lot of my daily working life searching for ways to harmonize and simplify things. Somebody who doesn't understand my job might think that I am working against the quality of product but sometimes, I would even say often, our ideas which lead to more profit significantly improve the quality of our products.

In our department we have a few open projects at a time, which is beneficial for the working atmosphere. If you are doing one thing all the time it would make you bored and tired, so we jump between different subjects. We can be flexible, so turn our attention to projects which are 'hotter' at any given time.

Much of my work has been with Oreo and it is lovely to see a product you've worked on appearing on the shelves: that is very exciting.

What is the Working Environment Like?

In Wroclaw we have a hot desk policy - so we don't have a fixed place where we sit every day. That means we can choose where we work. Today, for example, I am working with the packaging team, so I am sitting in the area where they normally sit. Sometimes I want to meet new people and listen to things that are happening, so I just randomly change location.

There are around 180 people in our building. What is amazing for me is that we have so many nationalities - I think there are more than 25 in our Wroclaw office. It is a very modern and comfortable building, with lots of open space and around 50 conference rooms, large and small.

There are lots of meeting places and a library where you can think or read, and there are also social areas, so you can go and enjoy a coffee with colleagues.

There is training which happens every year dedicated to new people and it deals with all aspects of biscuit production and development, which is particularly helpful. For people new to the country, there is also a free Polish language course which takes place after working hours twice a week and it also covers the cultural aspects. People really enjoy it because it helps them to land softly in Poland.

What About the Company Culture?

Hearing people talk, I believe the motivation level is high here, and people perceive the company culture as very good.

It is a listening environment - the company is very good at listening to ideas and the manager I have now is the best I've ever had. I feel my needs are met and my feedback is appreciated, no matter what it is.

Is Wroclaw a Nice Place to Live?

I am Polish, but I moved and changed city to join this community, so I am also a newcomer to Wroclaw.

I live in the city center and even though I am Polish the city surprised me, very positively. It is quite old and historical but very well maintained and has a river which spreads into a few streams, with around 200 bridges in the city. People are very friendly and there are lots of unique attractions like the city's many dwarves - which initially appeared in important places to reflect the location they were in. Now each residential area has its own dwarf and Mondelēz International has one as well: it is carrying a tablet of chocolate!

For the international community here, there are very good connections by train and road to other Polish cities and to Germany and the Czech Republic. There is also an airport to connect with the rest of Europe and beyond.

It is very affordable - a nice two bedroom flat has a monthly rent of around 500 Euros and food and public transport is relatively cheap in comparison to Western Europe.

Employees also receive a multi-sport card that enables you to go to almost any place related to sport, free of charge. There's an Aqua Park in Wroclaw where you can go every day for two hours, and almost every gym is covered by the card.