Pros
• The benefits are top notch: Vision, Medical, 401K, Vacation, Medical Savings Account, etc. HR may be the best facet of the entire company • Many reviews place internet and cell phone reimbursement as a benefit, it’s not. It is an amount paid to you so the company can utilize what is yours. I have been with the company for over 10 years and the amount reimbursed for cell phone has not increased .01 cent. Though in this time the world has gone from flip phones to smart phones and the company has many things they would like for you to place on your phone they are not paying anything extra for you to use your data and higher cost of smart phones • Company Vehicle with allowance for spouse/domestic partner to use • A strong “core” of products. This does not include the ever increasing product line extensions • Schedule. Freedom to leave the field when need arises, Dr. Appointments, children’s activities, meeting repairman at your house, etc. Just be able to manage yourself to complete your work and there is no issue There was once so much more that made this job appealing, unfortunately changes in the last 2 years have wiped those away. I don't believe we will see Susan (Ivey) Cameron come riding in to the rescue as she has in the past.
Cons
Cons Used to Only be Division Managers: • Workload and Multiple Failed Product Launches- Everything that made this job appealing has been destroyed by the workload and brand launches over the past 1.5 years. The greatest part of this job was being a “Category Advisor”. We had the time and opportunity to work with owners and decision makers to improve the tobacco category through business discussions ranging from marketing of products to profit of the category. My owners would seek my opinion and put my thoughts into action in their store because of my relationship with them, even about competitive products. Now those relationships are dead. Multiple owners don’t talk to me (literally) because of the THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in failed product launches and extensions over the past 12-18 months sitting on their shelves. Do you know what it is like to go to work every day and people are unhappy to see you? We have become Altria, the very people Senior Management would mock on the stage in Vegas. I can’t wait for 2019 in Vegas when the next survey results of what the C-Store industry thinks of RJR is revealed • Division Managers- If I completed this survey 5 years ago this would have been the only con and this was a big enough con at that time that many good people left because of them. These people have been a con of this job my entire career. They bring NO value to the job or company. You either have a controlling micro-manager or perhaps you are lucky enough to have one that gives you the freedom and empowers you to make your own decisions and coaches you. The problem with the latter is their coaching is no longer applicable with the workload. None of them have a concept of what needs to be done on a day to day basis by a TM, none of them have ever managed this type of workload when they were TM’s. Worse yet they are the most scared individuals in the company. They are unwilling to do the right thing to bring issues to the attention of those above for fear someone will call them out and ask what they are doing to make improvements. The last thing they want is a spotlight put on them and someone to see how little they do • Salary and Bonus Process- We are repeatedly told we are the top performing CPG company yet our pay is based on the 75th percentile of CPG companies. The expectations of an RJR TM with the workload vs. that of our competitors in the industry doesn’t match our salary. A few years ago the company started the line of “Pay for Performance” through the AIAP process yet there has been no change in the AIAP buckets and the process is so incredibly flawed no TM believes in the process and is always a bone of contention. In 2016 TM’s were flown to a class and given a “behind the curtain” review of the AIAP process by HR only to come home and told by entire Region Management Teams we didn’t understand what we were told • Promotions- Some of the brightest minds and most talented individuals in understanding the category are Sr. TM’s who will never be given an opportunity to advance and help make the company successful because they are unwilling to pick-up their lives to move across the country. No, the pay increase to the next level is not worth giving up your home and life to move but if these people were considered when local openings come available we would start to fill our management ranks with the best, hardest working individuals that understand the category
