Reynolds is the "Bad Place" - Lead Manager Reynolds American Employee Review

Working at Reynolds American feels a lot like an episode of “The Good Place.” You wake up each morning, thinking you’re in professional heaven with a job that provides a solid base salary and great benefits. But then, the first email comes in, with an urgent “strategic” project that’s devoid of any semblance of actual strategy yet asks you to compromise your integrity. These messages keep coming in until finally you’re on your third cup of coffee at 6pm and you realize “wait, THIS is the BAD PLACE.” Let’s start with the bad. The newly installed senior leadership must share one (1) collective brain cell between all of them because they lack any ability to think critically or strategically. Faced with existential regulatory crises, leadership is not adequately preparing for a future where their number one product is banned by the federal government. Instead, they focus on self-promoting initiatives whose only strategic purpose is to look good on one slide of a PowerPoint deck to bolster their personal brands. Now let’s get to the worse – this leadership team transformed a collegial and collaborative corporate culture into a cut-throat environment. That one brain cell they share leaves them bereft of empathy or realistic expectations for their “strategic” projects. This means employees are increasingly asked to achieve the impossible without the resources, budget, timelines, or manpower to even come remotely close to success, leading to burnout. Furthermore, employees and managers who question leadership are frequently “retiring” or demoted. To say morale is low would be an understatement. For prospective employees, know that Reynolds is in terminal decline, led by a selfish and arrogant c-suite lacking vision and unprepared to lead this company through its many challenges. Reynolds has indeed become the Bad Place.