Royal London - Fund Manager Royal London Asset Management. Employee Review

Nice office location and views.

The business prides itself on having a collegiate and welcoming spirit but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Certain people leaders are generally not held accountable for their actions, some of which can leave a lot to be desired from an ethical standpoint. This has led to a culture that subliminally encourages performative behaviours from employees worried about falling out of favour with management or senior leaders. While employees are encouraged to speak up, the reality is that doing so is likely to harm one’s standing within the organisation. Individual differences are also not necessarily celebrated with a strong bias towards the more outgoing types, which again leads to some colleagues often feeling unable to bring their best selves into the workplace. It truly is a sorry state of affairs and there appears to be a propensity for rewarding theatrics over true performance and substance to the detriment of hard workers less inclined to participate in a show.

Used to be great, people shared and collaborated towards a common goal and an ethical purpose

A culture of arrogance and superiority within the Executive Committee and senior management has created an environment where the unspoken expectation is blind obedience—do as you are told and focus on pleasing leadership above all else. Genuine engagement with staff is virtually nonexistent; it is rare for an Exco or Exco-1 member to even offer a simple greeting. Employees are made to feel too insignificant to warrant a basic “hello” or “how are you.” This culture fuels unhealthy competition among staff, who end up undermining one another in a constant effort to gain visibility and approval from Exco. People are routinely thrown under the bus, spoken about behind their backs, and see their work or ideas taken and presented by others as their own. Being blindsided becomes a daily experience in a “watch your back” environment. There is no sense of teamwork—only individuals focused on self-preservation and projecting an impressive façade. Lying, deceit, and backstabbing become commonplace. The goal is no longer personal growth or development, but rather making others look bad in order to appear competent. Exco’s behaviour reinforces and even rewards these dynamics. With little emphasis on ethics or integrity, the unspoken rule remains: please Exco at all costs. The result is an office where no one speaks, interacts, or collaborates. You sit alone the entire day, as if in a perpetual poker game—guarding your cards, studying everyone else’s expressions, and keeping an “ace” hidden just in case. It is a draining and demoralizing way to spend eight hours every day.