Brenntag is highly disorganized and far from agile. The company goes through repeated restructurings and strategic pivots with little to no planning, creating constant instability and confusion.
Any attempt to implement improvement or innovation is met with resistance and bureaucratic bottlenecks across IT, Security, Finance, Legal, Data Protection, Infrastructure, and Architecture. Instead of enabling progress, these functions routinely block it.
Management shows little regard for top performers. Bonuses, salary increments, and benefits are either negligible or nonexistent, sending a clear message that high performance is not valued.
The culture is driven by power struggles rather than collaboration. Teams operate in silos with no standardization—multiple tools are used for the same purpose, and modernization efforts are actively resisted. Some senior leaders intentionally create problems during implementation and improvement initiatives simply to remain relevant within the organization.
The company spends millions on technology that remains unused or poorly adopted, while basic internal process improvements are ignored.
Employee satisfaction has been declining rapidly year over year. This year, management explicitly instructed leaders to restrict performance ratings and avoid giving “Exceeds Expectations” evaluations, seemingly to minimize bonus payouts. Morale is extremely low, and many employees are actively looking to leave the company.
Employee benefits are among the poorest in the industry. Insurance coverage is limited to 50K with no dependent coverage, and outpatient coverage is capped at just RM 2,000, which is far below market standards.
Overall, Brenntag prioritizes control, politics, and self-preservation over execution, innovation, and employee engagement.
