Mars, Incorporated Named On 2014 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® List For 2nd Year In A Row

Employee Trust in the Workplace is the leading factor for great workplaces

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Jan 16, 2014, 08:33 ET

MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Mars, Incorporated has been named as one of the 2014 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list in the US. Ranked 76 this year, Mars' position on the list rose by 19 places from 2013. The list, now in its 17^th year, recognizes companies that have exceptional workplace cultures.

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Mars was selected among hundreds of companies vying for a place on the list this year. Applicant companies opt to participate in the selection process, which includes an employee survey and an in-depth questionnaire about their programs and company practices. Great Place to Work® then evaluates each application using its unique methodology based on five dimensions: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie. Creators of the list, Great Place to Work® has found that employees believe they work for great organizations when they consistently trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do and enjoy the people they work with.

"Great people build great businesses. Our Mars Associates are behind our winning culture, the success of our iconic brands and our generations of growth as a company," commented Paul S. Michaels, president, Mars, Incorporated. "We want to give Associates the opportunity to have a long, rewarding career at Mars, so we invest seriously in growth and development. This pays dividends in the talent and abilities of our team and the retention of the best and the brightest. We are honored to be recognized by FORTUNE magazine for our Associates' continued dedication in making a Mars a great place to work."

"It gives us great pride to produce this list of outstanding workplaces who are business leaders in their respective fields," stated China Gorman, CEO of Great Place to Work. "These companies prove the link between how people are treated and how businesses perform, and give us hope for a future where all business leaders will understand that overall greatness must start with a people-first strategy."

In April, Victoria B. Mars, a member of the Mars Board of Directors will be a keynote speaker at the 2014 Great Place To Work® Conference to in New Orleans, LA. Ms. Mars will provide her personal insights into the most critical areas that foster a rewarding workplace and how culture enables business and personal performance.

"I am honored to speak at the 2014 Great Place To Work Conference, and pleased to share my personal learnings as a Mars Associate, Board Member and Mars family member. I also look forward to learning from others at the conference about what they do to create great work environments," said Ms. Mars. "My family and the management team of Mars strive to create a culture where all Associates find meaningful careers and leadership experiences that contribute to personal and professional learning in a team-based work environment."

In November 2013, Mars was ranked #22 by the first global workplace excellence ranking, the World's Best Multinational Workplaces list by the Great Place to Work® Institute. This saw the business receive recognition of its high percentage of women in executive and senior management positions where for the last decade, it has gradually increased the proportion of women in management roles by one percent each year to now 38 percent globally. Additionally in November 2013 as reported by Buzzfeed, Mars was listed as number three among twenty companies with the coolest employee perks highlighting access to free candy and bringing your pet to work.

In the past year Mars has also been recognized by 19 Great Place to Work® lists including (with ranking as applicable): Argentina(6), Austria(4), Belgium(5), Brazil(24), Central America(5), Chile(8), Denmark(14), Finland (8) France(3), Greece(5), Ireland(1), Italy(3), Japan(25), Korea, Poland(7), Portugal(7), Spain(10), Switzerland(9) and USA(95) and being featured 16th on the 25 Best Multinational Workplaces in Europe list as well. In 2013, Mars was also featured on other national workplace lists including United Kingdom (58 in Times Top 100 Employers), Mexico (6 in Super Empresas), Thailand (Aon Hewitt), Australia (Aon Hewitt).

About Mars, Incorporated

In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars' first roots as a confectionery company. In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY® bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of building a business based on the objective of creating a "mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders" – this objective serves as the foundation of Mars, Incorporated today. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $33 billion, six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience, and more than 72,000 Associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance.

Mars brands include: Petcare – PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, KITEKAT®, BANFIELD® Pet Hospital and NUTRO®; Chocolate – M&M'S®, SNICKERS®, DOVE®, GALAXY®, MARS®, MILKY WAY® and TWIX®; Wrigley – DOUBLEMINT®, EXTRA®, ORBIT® and 5™ chewing gums, SKITTLES® and STARBURST® candies, and ALTOIDS® AND LIFESAVERS® mints. Food – UNCLE BEN'S®, DOLMIO®, EBLY®, MASTERFOODS®, SEEDS OF CHANGE® and ROYCO®; Drinks – ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS™, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY™, KLIX® and FLAVIA®; Symbioscience – COCOAVIA® and WISDOM PANEL®.

For more information, please visit www.mars.com. Follow us: facebook.com/mars, twitter.com/marsglobal, youtube.com/mars, linkedin.com/company/mars

About Great Place to Work
Great Place to Work^® is a global consulting and management training firm specializing in workplace excellence and development of high-trust organizational cultures. Its proprietary research tool, the Trust Index^© Employee Survey is taken by over 10 million employees in 45 countries annually. Leading companies worldwide apply its Model^® to increase the levels of trust across their organizations and drive business results. Annually, Great Place to Work^® produces the annual FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For^® list and the Great Place to Work^® Best Small and Medium Workplaces list. Follow Great Place to Work^® online at www.greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US.

About FORTUNE
Fortune is a global business magazine that has been revered in its content and credibility since 1930. Published biweekly, every issue is completely saturated with profoundly deep and extensively detailed analyses of the entire field of business, including specific companies, tendencies, prominent people, and new ideas that are characterizing the modern world. Fortune magazine is particularly well-known for its exceptionally reliable annual rankings of companies. Examples of these highly researched features are the "Fortune 500," which ranks the world's companies by gross revenue, and the "Best Companies to Work For," both of which have become industry benchmarks. This publication furthers understanding of the economy, provides implementable business strategy, and maximizes ability to make objective decisions. Fortune magazine is prized in its category of magazines and has been proven a reliable source of integral knowledge.

SOURCE Mars, Incorporated