Boy, that escalated quickly! - Anonymous employee Altria Employee Review

After several rounds of layoffs over the past few years, Director+ positions are being forced to meet a quota for extending “below average” ratings to employees, at least in the Midwest Region. This is resulting in employees with historically “above average” ratings being put on PIPs and denied annual bonuses, many after a few short months in a brand new position without receiving any specific coaching or feedback. More concerning, it appears most manager-level employees being assigned PIPs exhibit similar personality traits (more-introverted), signaling the company is looking to weed out a specific personality type rather than based on a lack of skills, obviously exposing the company to potential employment-law risks. This is a great place to intern and start a career, but if you don’t advance at least 3 times in 5 years, get out! And, unless you are extremely confident, don’t let them move you to a opportunity-less geography where you’re SOL if you decide to leave or are unexpectedly managed out. It’s really hard as a manager to look my bright-eyed intern in the face everyday and not tell him to RUN FAR FAR AWAY FROM HERE.