Executive Summary:
We recommend young workers stay away from Milliken & Company. There are many better opportunities with growing companies where young people can build a rewarding career and share in the success they help to create.
We recommend young workers stay away from Milliken & Company. There are many better opportunities with growing companies where young people can build a rewarding career and share in the success they help to create.
- Transparency Score: 0
- Company Ethics Score: 0
- Corporate Culture: Poor
- Business Prospects: Poor
About the Company:
Milliken & Company is a private family-owned business that traces its roots to 1865 when Seth Milliken began as a jobber of woolen textiles in Portland, Maine and soon began acquiring textile mills. In 1947 Seth’s 32 year old grandson Roger Milliken took over the company and moved the headquarters to Spartanburg SC.
Young Roger Milliken soon became embroiled in one of the ugliest labor disputes in American history. In 1956 Roger Milliken imposed changes in working conditions at the Darlington SC textile mill that were very unfavorable to the workers. The workers at the mill — which had been in operation 1883 — felt they were suddenly being treated like slaves. In response the workers voted to negotiate with their employer which was their absolute right under United States labor law. Roger Milliken responded by firing all the workers in violation of federal labor law and closing the mill. The former employees sued to enforce the law. The United States Supreme Court ruled against Milliken in 1965. After delaying 15 more years, in 1980 Milliken and Company settled the matter by paying $5 million dollars to the 439 Darlington workers who were still alive and the families of the 114 workers that had died without being paid.
In the Darlington dispute Roger Milliken knowingly violated United State labor law. His refusal to pay the damages he owed the Darlington Mill employees for 15 years after the 1965 Supreme Court decision went against him was mean and spiteful. Despite this history, Milliken & Company continues to claim to be the World’s Most Ethical Company. See note below regarding new employee turnover.
Milliken & Company is a private family-owned business that traces its roots to 1865 when Seth Milliken began as a jobber of woolen textiles in Portland, Maine and soon began acquiring textile mills. In 1947 Seth’s 32 year old grandson Roger Milliken took over the company and moved the headquarters to Spartanburg SC.
Young Roger Milliken soon became embroiled in one of the ugliest labor disputes in American history. In 1956 Roger Milliken imposed changes in working conditions at the Darlington SC textile mill that were very unfavorable to the workers. The workers at the mill — which had been in operation 1883 — felt they were suddenly being treated like slaves. In response the workers voted to negotiate with their employer which was their absolute right under United States labor law. Roger Milliken responded by firing all the workers in violation of federal labor law and closing the mill. The former employees sued to enforce the law. The United States Supreme Court ruled against Milliken in 1965. After delaying 15 more years, in 1980 Milliken and Company settled the matter by paying $5 million dollars to the 439 Darlington workers who were still alive and the families of the 114 workers that had died without being paid.
In the Darlington dispute Roger Milliken knowingly violated United State labor law. His refusal to pay the damages he owed the Darlington Mill employees for 15 years after the 1965 Supreme Court decision went against him was mean and spiteful. Despite this history, Milliken & Company continues to claim to be the World’s Most Ethical Company. See note below regarding new employee turnover.
By the 1980s Milliken grew its textile manufacturing business to 65 mills and 25,000 employees. As the United States embraced free trade, textile mills in the United States had difficulty competing against lower cost imported goods. Most of the Milliken mills were sold or closed and the company downsized to about 7,000 employees as of 2022. The company has diversified into several new fields including chemicals, floor covering, specialty fabrics, and healthcare.
Roger Milliken passed away in 2010. Today the company is owned and controlled by his children.
Transparency Score: 0
Milliken & Company is a privately owned company that does not publish audited financial statements and company reports. Employees cannot know if the company is making or losing money, or whether business is improving or declining. Management makes claims about how great the company is doing but these claims cannot be verified. The company secrecy puts employees at a major disadvantage when trying to evaluate their career security.
Milliken & Company is a privately owned company that does not publish audited financial statements and company reports. Employees cannot know if the company is making or losing money, or whether business is improving or declining. Management makes claims about how great the company is doing but these claims cannot be verified. The company secrecy puts employees at a major disadvantage when trying to evaluate their career security.
Ethics Score: 0
Milliken & Company claims to be one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies based on an award given to them by the Ethisphere Institute. The Ethisphere Institute accepts money from the companies that it rates which make the awards tantamount to a purchased certificate. Investigative journalists with the Los Angeles Times, Slate, and the Philadelphia Business Journal have all published articles that are very critical of the Ethisphere Institute and the ratings it sells.
Milliken & Company claims to be one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies based on an award given to them by the Ethisphere Institute. The Ethisphere Institute accepts money from the companies that it rates which make the awards tantamount to a purchased certificate. Investigative journalists with the Los Angeles Times, Slate, and the Philadelphia Business Journal have all published articles that are very critical of the Ethisphere Institute and the ratings it sells.
Corporate Culture: Poor
Milliken pays what is required to recruit young management trainees, but as the years go by wages for existing workers do not keep up with inflation. During the years when the Milliken workforce shrank from 25,000 to 7,000, there was no upward mobility for employees. The company workforce has stagnated around 7,000 employees for the last ten years.
Turnover
Former employees report that voluntary resignations among newly hired salaried employees average 20% per year; most new workers decide to leave Milliken within 5 years and start over with another company.
Working for Milliken and Company is a joyless working life of toil. There are no employee bonuses, incentives, or profit sharing. Every year employees are told things are tough and they need to do more with less. Goals and quotas are raised, but Milliken never offers financial incentives to employees.
Milliken pays what is required to recruit young management trainees, but as the years go by wages for existing workers do not keep up with inflation. During the years when the Milliken workforce shrank from 25,000 to 7,000, there was no upward mobility for employees. The company workforce has stagnated around 7,000 employees for the last ten years.
Turnover
Former employees report that voluntary resignations among newly hired salaried employees average 20% per year; most new workers decide to leave Milliken within 5 years and start over with another company.
Working for Milliken and Company is a joyless working life of toil. There are no employee bonuses, incentives, or profit sharing. Every year employees are told things are tough and they need to do more with less. Goals and quotas are raised, but Milliken never offers financial incentives to employees.
Business Prospects: Poor
In the 1980’s Milliken had 25,000 employees and 65 textile mills in the United States. Most of the Milliken textile mills in the United States were sold or closed because they could not compete with lower cost imported products. Today Milliken employs an estimated 7,000 employees. They have acquired several small businesses in healthcare and specialty fabric businesses and they produce floor covering and some chemical products. Because the company does not publish any audited financial reports it is impossible for outsiders to know the financial condition and business prospects of Milliken & Company.
A January 2023 Google search using the words “Milliken Closing” returned the following results:
- Milliken closing Greenville textile plant
- Milliken To Close Two Textile Plants
- Milliken & Company to close Georgia facility held responsible for massive fish kill in 2011
- Milliken To Close Gaffney, S.C., Plant
Obviously Milliken & Company continues to downsize despite what company recruiters are saying. Young workers should avoid Milliken and Company and spend their valuable youthful working years at a growing company where they have a chance to build a future for their career.
About Us
This website is a non-profit endeavor created by former employees of Milliken and Company to tell the truth about what it is like to work for the Milliken family.