Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

@jp Sad life if you measure quality by access to Netflix and Internet.

@ka clearly you have been outside of Texas. You should travel, it will expand your little MAGA mindset

@jp, I call bs. If you had DVDs then you also had the internet. You could have gotten away with your made up story if you had said VHS.

@aa you sound like a 65 year old white person that’s never been out of Texas, let alone the US. Pipe down old timer

@j7 yes I was on assignment without internet. We had dvds to watch, you managed, pu----s like you probably couldn’t take it

@hm, duh. In case you aren’t aware, decades ago expat assignments were a great hardship because Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet yet. You have no clue.

Lol the goal is to reduce until no one wants the role - then management can make the excuse to push for more BTC expats who are sent out on one-way economy tickets like the explore program, with minimal premium as getting out of india is a reward in itself to them.

@fa I’ve done assignments in hardship locations, you’re being very dramatic in your descriptions. Maybe you’re dramatic

Life is too short to drive a boring car, ha?

Greedy expat fellows. Money is god for them. Can't give them enough.

I agree that it su-ks now but I also agree that nothing will change unless people stop accepting the assignments.

@f8, no the package for old time expat assignments was not over the top. It was fair compensation for not seeing your family for years, having no internet or tv, nobody to talk to at all in your own language, no healthcare, poor food, and often questionable security. It was also a way of retaining high performing talent at a time when fairly young people had to flawlessly perform a wide range of tasks with zero support from the home offices. No comparison to today.

So it seems that the program used to be ridiculously over the top. Now it's kinda back to the mediocre and normal level, just like everything else.
It seems that many people are still enthusiastic about the program, and if it's as bad as you said supply and demand will take care of it.

Era of expat is really a thing of the past anyway, you can do so many more things remotely now.

@d7 yes I have been on several expat assignments. Obviously you some old retiree whose life is so sad you fill your days looking on here… I’m getting paid doing this. Time for your afternoon nap

And the systems and procedures to facilitate expat assignments, compensation and benefits still involve emailing excel sheets back and forth between multiple parties.

Nothing like coming off assignment and taking two or three months to get all the paperwork in order and then they retroactive your paycheck to 0 for a month or two.

And don't get me started on cto buyback process.... You can easily go over a year without getting paid for extra days worked.

Give me a break.... What year is it?

If Guyana is such a hardship, please stop making us attend your lunch-and-learns featuring your family vacation style photos with you and the kids smiling and holding the giant Guyana fish. Please stop the brag posts on social media showing your best Guyana life. Maybe the hours are long in Guyana, maybe they aren’t? How are we supposed to feel your pain when all we see is your smiling family photos and sickening bubbly career enthusiasm? How can you expect higher expat premiums when everyone at home is lining up and begging to take the next assignment spot that comes open?

@b0 you e obviously never been on an expat assignment, even in the good old days it was never really clear what the full compensation and living package would be until you arrived, and by then you were fully committed. I can only imagine how opaque is must be today.

@OP as a major shareholder I’m glad they are cutting expat benefits, been getting given too much for too long, well done DW

I know multiple employees losing money who took moves recently. It’s pathetic

I will add to the OP here.

I've been on Expat assignments with EM for nearly x2 decades. Across Africa, Middle East, and Asia. It was very financially beneficial at the beginning of my career - great life experiences and cash. However, Exxon and HR have eliminated the financial benefits to these locations.

A few examples:

• Most of the "extra's" to make up for moving losses have been eliminated. Housing sale assistance is gone. Appliance assistance is gone. Vehicle assistance is way reduced. For anyone that moves repeatedly with the company, each move is a financial loss for you.
• All of the premiums across the globe have been slashed. But, that's just the part you see. It's also downwards pressure on all other allowances: utilities, cost of living, etc. These used to be substantial parts of our paychecks, and now they are mostly benign.
• The warzone risk is real. Families in the Middle East were forced to evacuate (can't return) and we've handed out radiation suits in the UAE and been told to 'tape up our windows and shut off the AC' (120F there in the summer!) in case the nuclear power plant sustains a more direct hit. The $ premium HR has assigned to living like this? An extra 10 %.
• Out of pocket costs to employees has skyrocketed. It's common to now pay for housing out of your pocket as HR assumes you want to live out of a cardboard box. They've also limited education costs. Many families are now on the hook to pay thousands of $ in schooling for their own kids as the only qualified school in the area is outside of approved reimbursement range.

Whether you like Exxon or not - the OP is correct. For younger employees that hear from us older ones the $ we made on Expat assignments back in previous decades... be fair warned that the system is only a shell of what it was. If you want to go see the world, great. If you want to be paid for it, don't do it at Exxon.

@OP hey to-ser, don’t take the role if you don’t like the benefits

@aw What is the current Guyana Premium? I haven’t heard of anyone ever planning a vacation to Guyana so I am guessing it isn’t a great place to live. And what about the Middle East which seemed to be OP’s main point.

If you live in Dem Estates in Guyana you don’t need 40% as you do not interact with people other than expats. You do not have hardship.

@aa what good is Netflix with the hours we are required to work. Must have been nice to have free time and 40% premium with R&R leave back in the day old timer.

@aa Premiums have been reduced by more than 50% from “back in the day” and the housing allowance is no longer enough to pay for an actual house. Why do our EPC contractors have more generous housing allowances than we do?

@aa UAE, Qatar

@OP, exactly where are the EM projects in war zones that you speak of? How is it that expats on extended vacation in English speaking Guyana equate that with the hardship and isolation of expat assignments back in the day. Get a grip. You have Netflix and global phones. It’s not a hardship if half of your colleagues are angling to get that cushy assignment.