British American Tobacco Reviews

Pros

Nice atmosphere, with multi-cultured people. Very good work-life balance, and people show a great deal of respect.

Cons

Administration skills could be improved. Less meeting and more of 'getting work done' time.

Advice to Senior Management

Be innovative when it comes to management. Allow more individual time and reduce amount of meeting to the minimum. Workers should not be obliged to go to any meetings - it should be well-informed choice.

Pros

Great work environment
Young staff
Educated and successful professionals
Innovation focus
Thinking out of the Box
Good benefits
International status
At Vzla is one of the best payed companies to work for

Cons

Marketing cigarettes which we all know damage health and produce environmental consequences.
Sometimes bureaucracy coming from international hedcuarters can become non beneficial for the in-house objectives.

Advice to Senior Management

Part of being an international company is to understand that some practices cant be applied everywhere and most be tailored for specific markets. Venezuela is a key market that I think could be maximized if studied specifically.

Pros

enterpreneural spirit
room for growth
good brand

Cons

its a tobacco company, you have to adapt

Advice to Senior Management

I think they should look more inward in terms of filling vacancies

Pros

- Good learning environment, especially on a special programs, such as management trainee;
- Good compensation;
- Open corporate culture;
- Potential to grow within the company.

Cons

- Work is often boring, even mid-management is engaged in creation of empty useless presentations and putting together Excels;
- Very ambiguous industry where many modern trends simply don't apply.

Advice to Senior Management

- Reduce the amount of unnecessary "dull" work by optimization and proper privatization.
- Educate yourself to get a better understanding of what is going on outside the industry.

Pros

Personally, the biggest pros is the flexi time from my point of view. However, I would like to notice that location is really important too.

Cons

The biggest cons is the lack of additional benefits, such as private healthcare and that in London are traffic jams on every street :)

Advice to Senior Management

I would like to say that they are the best managers in the world and universe. I am really happy than I can spend 10 hours per day in BAT buidling.

Pros

Open culture. Good job security as lots of tolerance for mistakes and tendency to shy away from taking hard decisions. High levels of staffing leading to almost no work in some areas.

Cons

Tobacco industry, very difficult to switch jobs. Downsizing activities started since last 3 years. Very little opportunities to grow in the new scenario unless you are someones "favorite". Loads of incompetent people in senior management.

Advice to Senior Management

A serious review of hiring and promotion policies is warranted as a lot of poor managers have started rising to the top which was not the case a few years ago.

Pros

A reputable company with long period of success;
Good remuneration to retain right talents;
People tend to stay in the firm forever due to the comfortable industry, hence comfortable working environment

Cons

An uncertain industry with strong fear of “dark market” and further smoking bans;
Company is constantly introducing changes to the organisation, hence hard for employees to manage their career;
Truly relationship driven company, number and performance sometimes are secondary criteria in career advancement

Advice to Senior Management

Stop introducing too many changes and try not messing up people’s career

Pros

Fast paced and exciting environment to work in. Challenging and stretching.

Cons

High stress level, high turnovers, too many new people and new faces that are not competent enough and leave when they are competent enough. Not enough true leaders and too many YES men.

Advice to Senior Management

Follow the company ethos of employee relations and be truly open-minded. Be truly concerned about building the business instead of building your own careers.

Pros

Great work-life balance; good promotion prospects; many international opportunities (though decreasing b/c of cost cuts); possibility to work across different departments; relatively relaxed and laid back culture.

Cons

Slow decision making process; Lack of transparency in promotions; Neutral pay (against popular beliefs of high remunerations); Current cost cuts limit international assignment possibilities

Advice to Senior Management

More dynamic culture and decision making process; more transparency in promoting employees; less changes in the strategy and company's vision

Pros

Excellent salaries and conditions. LNoearning culture. Excellent career opportunities

Cons

No significant cons. Many people are hesitant to work in a tobacco company but in fact BAT offers excellent careers and a learning culture

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing to add