Neenah/Kimberely-Clark (Appleton, La Crosse, Kimberly: job market, organic, living in)

[Sunnyface]

Hubby considering a job at K-C in Neenah. Opinions about either welcomed. We live in TX now, but I grew up in Midwest, so I know what to expect weather-wise. But will I survive?!

[psystats]

Neenah is very close to Appleton, and both are among the many close knit communities that comprise the "Fox Cities". I love it here, but check out the threads on Appleton as they all apply. Especially this one, and make sure you read the more recent posts:

Would You Reccomend Appleton?

As far as Kimberly-Clark goes, I'm sad to say it's not a good place to work right now. Upper management has been doing it's utmost over the past few years to clumsily imitate Jack Welch. I'm talking about layoffs, outsourcing, and budgets so tight that people can just barely function. There is also a Performance Management system that most everyone hates. (Look up "employee forced ranking" on the internet to see what I'm talking about.) Morale is in the dumpster, and many good people leave on their own volition. I wish I could say that things were getting better, but the opposite seems to true.

And then there is the job market. There are not many K-C-type jobs outside of K-C around here. If your husband doesn't like his, you'll have to relocate again.

[MidwesternBookWorm]

Originally Posted by psystats

As far as Kimberly-Clark goes, I'm sad to say it's not a good place to work right now. Upper management has been doing it's utmost over the past few years to clumsily imitate Jack Welch. I'm talking about layoffs, outsourcing, and budgets so tight that people can just barely function. There is also a Performance Management system that most everyone hates. (Look up "employee forced ranking" on the internet to see what I'm talking about.) Morale is in the dumpster, and many good people leave on their own volition. I wish I could say that things were getting better, but the opposite seems to true.

All very true, unfortunately. My sister (PhD in Organic Chem) was a researcher at K-C and returned from maternity leave to discover that she had been reassigned to a completely different job in a different department. She hated her new assignment, and found herself being pushed into steadily less desirable and interesting assignments. She wound up leaving the company entirely to be a chemistry prof at UW-La Crosse, where she is far, far happier.

She and her spouse loved living in the Fox River Valley, and they hated to leave, but if you're not working at K-C, there are NO other similar jobs in the area. Fortunately, they've found a lot to like about La Crosse as well.

Good luck; returning to the Midwest after living elsewhere (Texas, in fact) was a dream come true for my family and me, and I hope you can manage it also.