Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

@9zgs+17F3t6qN I had a similar bad experience with Buenos Aires. I tried to get info on how they calculated the lump sum number. I was not disputing anything, I was just trying to understand what they did. So I asked a few questions. After I pressed the issue, they just told me to file a dispute if I don't like the number. That was their way of passing the buck.

I also tried the ExxonMobil Benefits Service Center. No luck. BTW, most people don't know it, but the "ExxonMobil" Benefits Service Center is really a company called Conduent. Yep that has been outsourced.

That's the kind of support they give people who retire after decades with the company.

I agree with @awas+17F3t6qN

The voluntary program was not ment to save employees. You will be let go soon if your a dipshit. The program was ment to be a PR stunt to tell people we are doing something.

May be a Sham.. But doesn't change the
Fact your dumb a– is Being let go because you are a r—d.

The good thing is that anyone can go onto the EMBSC web site and check the interest rates used in the calculation. The numbers for 1Q21 went up a few days ago. So everyone can see how the interest rates compare, quarter to quarter, and - along with checking the numbers from the Fed and reading the news - decide which BCD they want to take (assuming they want to go for at least a partial lump sum payment).

However, the main concern might be the responsiveness and competence of the EMBSC staff in Buenos Aires. I have found that their telephone agents have a very poor understanding of English, and do not understand my questions. I took to using their web site's secure messaging system and still have the problem that either, (i) they don't actually answer the question I asked (almost like they just copy and paste a stock answer from the handbook), or (ii) they write that they cannot answer the question in the message service and I need to call them. They are absolutely useless now and will only get worse as the number of people contacting them increases.

I said that and I am glad to see out out of here faded off into the darkness.

There are many long time employees taking the voluntary package. All the ones I know are great contributors and well regarded but it's time for them to leave with 38, 39, 40+ years of service. The four months is an extra bonus. Also many say let's save a job for the younger employees. The mean spirited posts on this blog are sad and I doubt are EM employees. Get a life!

For those whom think interest rates will be flat for next year or two, you do not understand the financial markets and what the Fed has indicated , and how fed rate is decoupled from the short, mid-term, and long term Corporate bond interest rates. You will be sorely mistaken and making very high risk decisions if you think that because the Fed indicated they will hold rates flat out until 2022 that this means Corporate bond rates, used to calculate lump sum, will remain flat out until 2022, this is very misguided information and false grounding of how the corporate bond interests will evolve. You can do your own research and see the volatility of the corporate bond rates even during the last month and weeks, these are gyrating plus minus 0.2 percent right now even though Fed treasurers rates suggest flat for two years; any commentary that suggests it is likely that interest rates for lump sum remain stable or flat for 1-2 years out show the author of the commentary clearly does not understand the financial markets and that the corporate bond rates are decoupled from federal treasury rates and that rates should be expected to remain stable. Details really do matter and hope no one gets caught with pants down with lack of understanding how corporate short mid and long term rates fluctuate and are not directly tied to stability of federal treasurer rates as implied by a few of the posters here. My advice is you are best to find and consult with a smart financial plannner versus making any decisions based on a misguided post in this thread. Cheers.

But this is exactly the problem. The “company” think that these older people contribute while they are mostly dead weight. Another sign that senior management has no touch with reality.

The Company wants to target the low performers with an involuntary layoff with minimal severance. Many retirement eligible are high contributors, and the company does not want to lose them plus and the company knows, based on its retirement statistics, when most of these will leave. Better to have an involuntary program where the company picks who leaves vs the uncertainty of replacing alot of sudden, unexpected retirements. EM will need to keep pip alive for several more years to get rid of alot of people who do not contribute to the bottom line.

@1rmc+17F3t6qN Great analysis and likely exactly what the geniuses behind the plan thought. But it has such a relation to reality as the wish that oil will hit 70 soon or that the stock will go back to 100!
First, if the analysis regarding the interest is true, the 60+ did not need any additional incentive. They would have left on their own. Second, this group will soon find out the next quarter’s rates and they can see if it makes sense to stay or not. If the rates state the same or go down why take the package? Third with this economy, the chances of the rates be up by 1% by next year are negligible.
Yes, great calcs by the brilliant MBAs indeed. Like the ones that gave us the double earnings by 2025 fiasco!

Spot on @1erl+17F3t6qN spot on!

@1rmc+17F3t6qN:

Good point that the lump sum rates are going down again 1Q (as they have for several consecutive quarters) and the 4 months pay will provide some incentive to retire for those already thinking of leaving or convinced 1Q rates may be as low they will get. However, many believe the rates will not increase any time soon and it’s always possible they could go even lower in 2Q and beyond.

So, aside from the 60+ crowd who were considering leaving anyway, I think the vast majority of sub-60 employees wanting to get to 60 will pass on the 4 months and simply watch interest rates in 2021. They can still retire in 1Q in the unlikely event it is announced that 2Q rates will be higher.

I think you may be overestimating the Company’s “ MBA brilliance.” Unfortunately, the vast majority of cuts will likely have to be involuntary.

The voluntary phase is kind of a quick “low hanging fruit” exercise to get some cheap cuts before immediately following up with involuntary cuts with more costly severance payments (e.g., 49 year old with 25 years of service).

To understand the logic of whether a retiree-eligible person may or may not wish to volunteer ... you must understand it has absolutely nothing at all to do with receiving 4 months pay in lieu. Without any additional incentives, such as adding years to either age or years of service, the only relevant consideration is the 1Q21 interest rate that will be used to calculate the lump sum payment of the pension payout. The 1Q21 rate is at an extreme all time historical low because of the covid ... and essentially at approximately 1.7% lower than the average rate since January 2010 and approximately 1.4% lower than 4Q19 just before covid hit. When you go to the pension calculator on the intranet, you can run scenarios (under the advanced feature button) to look at the impact of different interest rates. If you run estimates for 1% higher or more interest rates than the current 1Q21 rate, you will find your lump sum will be reduced by at least one-year or more of salary. So for those in the 58-59 age run, they are only thinking of whether to run the risk of working for free for the next year, as if the retire in 1Q22, their lump sum will be substantially lower by on the order of more than a years salary. So, as speculation, the voluntary program was designed to get those 60+ years old somewhat incentivized to leave with 4 months plus accrued vacation (for nearly 6 months pay) and take advantage of the all time historic low in lump sum interest rate and corresponding all time historic highs in the lump sum payout. For those in the 58-59 year old bucket, it is intended to incentivize those whom are financially secure and were planning on retiring in 1-2 years to hedge their bets on how quickly the interest rate will return to "normal" conditions ... as when it does it will cost them a years salary. So the Company did a comprehensive analysis looking at the demographics and decided that perhaps the targets may be met with a majority of 60+ years volunteering (probably 65-75% volunteering), and a high percentage of the 58-59 year olds volunteering (probably 30-40% would be volunteering). This is purely transactional financial risk management analysis based on demographics, and understanding of the social and financial dynamics in play for 53-60+ year olds in employed on the US payroll. Shows the brilliance of MBA analytical processes devoid of considering the emotional side of the equation because most MBA programs don't include social and psychological coursework as a pre-requisite or companion series of studies. Hope this helps the broad community understand the logic of how retiree eligible for the voluntary program are looking at the offer.

Anyone eligible for the “voluntary” package must complete an application and be approved? What kind of “voluntary” package is that? My manager will quickly decline my application for selfish reasons. He needs me around a little longer to clean-up his messes. Then what? I’m out the door a few months later? I guess I have to look at it this way.... I’ll get a few more paychecks AND health insurance, a few more months closer to not being discounted. That’s a win-win for me. I count ALL my blessings because God is good!

Not many retirement eligible employees are going to take the 4 months if they will not be subject to the involuntary layoff. Maybe a few 61 year olds who are already planning to go. This will largely end up being an involuntary layoff of non-retirement eligible employees. Much cheaper way to cut heads. Old timers will leave soon anyway and a large severance can be avoided. Some of them can be PIPed next summer.

The voluntary component of the upcoming layoff is largely a PR stunt, as was the recent “non-layoff” layoff of 1600 employees who were slandered as “NSI.”

This is a complete clown show. There's absolutely zero incentive for the old timers to take the voluntary package and they will NOT be laid off in December. The high flyers/planners/managers/supervisors will NOT be laid off whatever. The only ones will be let go are mid-career technical folks – the ones who are still doing work in case you didn't notice.

So what's going to happen in 1H2021 when oil price starts to pick up with vaccine in place and work needs to be done? Retirement eligibles will be twitching thumbs collecting another year of paycheck and another year of service year for pension calculation and waiting to retire after July PIP. The supervisors will have meeting with high flyers and brand new hires all day long complimenting each other trying to understand how a model was set up, because the one who set it up was swept out of the door. It's gonna be hilarious

If you qualify for voluntary, and don’t take it in November, you will not be laid off in December. But you will probably cost someone their job in your department. That’s the guilt trip the company is trying to pull.
And then you might be PIP in August, and retire Nov 1st 2021

@hvi - if you really are a long term stock holder, then you should be extremely concerned about the significant loss of experience and expertise that will be lost through the July and November/December programs. The company has no handover plans and will never recover from this.

Why ? Because the culture for the last 10-20 years has not encouraged, valued or rewarded technical careers. The people who have advanced just know how to play the game, making PowerPoints, joining ESG’s and brown nosing their bosses. They have no interest in becoming the next generation of experts.

@ekk+17F3t6qN, our department was told retirement-eligible employees who do not take the voluntary program are out of scope for the involuntary program.

Wow, shocked at the amount of people that do not understand the details. Read the FAQs. It’s all laid out pretty clearly who is eligible for what and why they chose the 4 months for volunteers versus severance of up to 52 weeks for those not eligible to retire. 52-54 protected because of age discrimination. Geez Louise 🙄

Does anyone know what the “involuntary” program looks like for retirement eligible who don’t take voluntary? Clearly this has not been revealed in the official communications.

Sorry to employees. Long term stockholder here so seeing just a few years of low finance company will survive. Better to retain employees with no layoffs to come out at full strength with intense loyalty. Layoffs just demoralize everyone. Affects everything negative.
Once long ago at a place... no raises.. everyone including management. Nothing added. Lean spending only on essentials. YOU HAD your job made everyone feel a team. Worked harder.

Correct. If you are an NRE like me, you will not be a part of this program. So you are safe. For now. However, next year we will be a part of the new assessment program, just like everyone, and could be put into a PIP. The bigger question will be, what sort of package, if any, do they offer at that point. But the fact that you are getting a salary for the next 6 months isn’t too bad.

@fgg+17F3t6qN

Can you read. It clearly says employees who are retirement eligible or near-retirement (3 years) as of Jan 31, 2021 are NOT eligible for involuntary.

Strongly recommend that everyone read the details that are posted on goto/USProgram on The company's intranet site. 52-54 are not eligible for voluntary but will not be caught up in the involuntary. 55 + are eligible for voluntary and can apply. Below 51 are part of the involuntary assessment. Below 51 that are chosen for involuntary will receive a minimum of one month's pay and a maximum of one year depending on your service years. in my opinion there is very little incentive for folks to retire. You could leave now with 4 months pay or you can stick around and guarantee a year pay until the next PADP cycle where you will likely be removed. The only the other group that is safe are brand new hires.

@kgu+17F3t6qN

Isn’t Texas at will?

Not for NREs

take the bag money on the table and fold the tent

Any package is better than none at all. Lots in the fortune 500 give you the shaft with no severance package. Be thankful something was at least offered regardless of how poor it is.

Except if you are retirement eligible and choose not to take the voluntary now they stated you're not eligible for the involuntary package. If you want to gamble when you have something in front of you go for it. Basically this is the company saying if you're older it's time to go because you're too expensive

So you’re telling me that since I’m NRE I am being prevented from taking a nice package based on my years of service? You think that makes sense legally? Talk about age discrimination.

https://imgur.com/a/eoDI8B0

There’s no way that 52+ not in the involuntary program meant no lay off at all for 52+. If you draw a line based on age in lay-off that’s inviting lawsuits

Message today and numbers don't add up. 14K through mix of voluntary and involuntary sounds about right relative to what competitors have done. And buys DW more time with a nifty 14K sound bite (half made up of contractors), but we still need to go deeper with employees and likely have plans to do so.

But make no mistake, the "voluntary" part is mainly about PR. It's not a competitive "voluntary" package relative to CTX, Shell or BP. DW is buying time, and can announce another round of more significant cuts next quarter as needed. Perhaps at that time, when the dust settles, there will finally be a competitive "voluntary" package to clean house.

Now why do you think you deserve a package with multi year payout? 11 million people across the country were just let go with nothing. In that light 4 months seems generous.

Most people I spoke with interpreted “not in scope” to be “will not be considered/part of”. Is it a play on words?

You are right. I’m going repeat! Read the fine print.
“ I think you misunderstood the voluntary program. Those who qualify for the voluntary program (i.e. retirement eligible) are NOT eligible for the involuntary program. In other words, those who are eligible to retire and choose not to volunteer but end up getting separated, there will be NO SEVERANCE AT ALL. I would say that is a pretty large incentive.”

I'm not buying the no severance for >52 if involuntary. Doing that would just be asking for law suits.

It might be that EM is fine with older workers thinking that this is the rule (no involuntary severance) as it might scare some into taking the package. But, it's hard to believe that EM would fire them without cause and with no severance.

Is it REALLY true?

Wow, this means that they’ve rigged the system again. If retirement eligible, take the measly 4 months or get nothing. Sadly, many of those who should take the 4 months will not and lose out in the long run. Contrast this with Chevron which simply declares a voluntary layoff and pays a full severance. No traps, just fairness. That’s not the ExxonMobil way.

@ooe+17F0m00Y

I posted below. This snippet says if retirement eligible and decline to take 4 mo. There is a potential to be forced out without any severance at all.