Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

@1mnk the description by this poster, matches almost identically my own experience. Ranked Outstanding continuously since I joined as experienced hire, was identified to go to high profile next assignment at HQ at around 40, Covid happened, assignment got canned and I ended up in just whatever role was available, same as many colleagues at that time. My ranking dropped to Good and my potential dropped the next year to 29 from previous low 30's.. (In Europe it's perfectly legal to ask for potential as a personal data request and they have to send it within 30 days, they'll ask you to withdraw the request several times during that process with b.s excuses like 'potential doesnt exist anymore'). After receiving that, and sustained lowish rankings, clear to me that career is going nowhere and I'm one of the ones that won't make it much higher. I'm personally decided to go, but my advice is if you haven't made it by mid 40, or see a clear path to do it, then like everybody else here mentions, it's just a question of either you get caught up in these aggressive cuts, PIP'ed or are happy with below inflation raises until you retire.
Good luck to everybody, whichever site you are at. Dont hate the players, hate the game

Also to note I started my career with Mobil in Refining, many year's after merger moved to chemicals. Wish I would have never made that move!

@4pdo you wouldn’t believe the abuse in Clinton hiring retired employees back as contractors. Total abuse……

Nothing. Expect zero. Zero increment. Zero respect. Zero opportunity.

I made 60 in 2020, new Mgr. came on board and got my 1st bad ranking. Had 38 years with the company so chose to retire.
They had the audacity after my low ranking to ask me to stay to see project completion.
Looking back taking the lump sum in April of 2020 was the best move I could have made.
I felt bad for the people they were Pip’d that were not yet 55 and sc--wed out of retirement.
Not the same company form the late 1970’s!

If you are 45 years old you had better move to all locations and take all assignments that management asks you to do. If you do not, management will ask you to resign and create a scenario where they can PIP or NSI you.

Welcome to turning 45.

OP, as I am reading your post I am thinking "this is a no-brainer." As someone who has been treated unfairly the last few years (I'm in my 60s and within weeks of retiring), I would advise you to cut your losses ASAP while you are still young enough to find a good job with a respectable company. Run like your hair is on fire and never look back. You will have zero regrets.

Haha. No retirement. You'll either leave before then or will be forced out. They made that very clear.

I’m a word expect disappointment!

Retired last year, CL 29 in US, at 60, never a HIPO. My experience is more nuanced. I got O and OWD after turning 55 and got CL promotion twice after 50. I got some good positions of significant access to senior managers that gave me understanding of the system even at that age. On the other hand it was clear that no significant position / role with visibility was available to me because these were intended for younger people with some potential (not necessary HIPO). Given the access and level I asked in multiple cases why I was not considered or given a role that I knew existed and I was qualified to be really told that these were not positions for people like me. Also, ranking eventually dropped with age and abruptly with bs explanation.
So, yes, options and ranking and opportunities eventually disappear with age but not necessarily as early as implied in other posts here.

@3cne+1qiTac6X What year did you retire? Gone are the days of retiring and continuing to work as an annuitant contractor. Boy was that a sweet deal.

I worked for EM as an employee until the age of 64. When I told them I was retiring they ask me to stay another year to finish my project. It was a great job and I made a lot of $. In fact, nearly every year was great from the age of 25 until retirement.

To stay successfully employed you’ve got to be a money maker for the company. If you are in a cost center (hello IT) you’re not in a good position. Find other work. IMHO

@2uqz It’s common knowledge that a lot of people who catch a PIP see discrimination everywhere and probably should have moved on a long time ago.

Truth is, you’re just a number. And that’s all you ever were. Whatever expertise you have (or think you have) just doesn’t carry the value that you think it does. Large operating companies only need someone who can follow and maintain existing systems, and doesn’t make much of a fuss while doing so. That only requires 3-7 years of experience and shouldn’t cost more than $120k per year (max).

Every time someone levels with you people you throw a fit about it. That’s why nobody levels with you.

@rqx

You must be a paid corporate shill. Its common knowledge age discrimination is baked into the ranking system. I've seen it in the ranking process when I was a supervisor. No matter how hard you work or how much you accomplish you get pushed down.

@OP - keep in mind its not just raises, RSUs, and other financial incentives - you will also get stripped of any work that gives you job satisfaction and dignity. That's hard to put up with for 5-10 years.

Bu----y on the high seas, non-stop

I'm not worried at all. Almost 65 and still getting paid to get laid here.

The thing I wish someone had told me when I was in my early 40s is that your past performance and ranking have zero influence on whether you make it past the culling of the potentials in your 40s. Let’s be honest here…EM does a horrible job of tracking your history and performance for ordinary employees. You can be ranked Outstanding for decades prior and have an amazing record of experience, but in your early 40s, you will most likely get culled by someone or a group of someone’s who barely know your work today and know zero about your prior decades of work.

48-52 depending on skill set and toxicity of your ignorant self absorbed power hungry supervisor

Your ranking tanks when they reduce your potential. For ordinary employees not on the president/MC track, at age 42+/- they have to make a decision whether to give you an assignment on the executive track. Typically this means getting an assignment that gives you exposure to the MC. If you pass, you get assigned a 36 potential and move directly to an executive assignment. If not, your potential is dropped to CL29 and you move to bottom half of ranking. You may make it to retirement or not. All depends on whether you have a skill/role that they need.

I left at 45 with no regrets. The writing is on the wall with continued off-shoring of jobs. To this day I still get contacted by my old team and the people I supported. From what they tell me it has gotten worse.

@OP This has nothing to do with age and everything to do with performance.

The fact is that many people got complacent, retired in place, didn’t maintain critical skills or learn new ones, and decided to check-out. When someone is paying you nearly a quarter-million dollars per year this is an obvious non-starter.

The people over 45 who have maintained their skills, didn’t get complacent, and aren’t chronic whiners are doing very well. It’s the obnoxious minority that can’t away with coasting anymore that we keep hearing from.

My ranking started tanking at 46 and doors started closing on me no matter what I delivered, how I delivered. I was told by a very senior executive that there are a lot of folks in the upper management not retiring. This also then limits the number of middle management in their 30s and 40s going up the ladder. The only option the company has is to rank folks as nsi or ni and at the most good, and hope they will stay for a few more years…

I changed jobs a few years ago even though I retained my job after the redundancy sh-t show.

The culture is toxic and if u can’t stand it, better to get out in ur 40s than try and find something else in your 50s

If you are 45 yo and ranked in top quintile, you have potential for a promotion every 4 to 5 years. Once in second quintile that extends out to a promotion every 6 to 10 years. Third quintile, means a promo every 10 to 15 years. Zero promotability for bottom 2 quintiles.
Note a hipo CL 28 at age 32 must be promoted 10 times by age 60 (every 3 years) to get to a CL 38+.

I tanked in ranking at 49, I guess I was a year early, but put that down to covid ramp up in nastiness by the company.

I'm a few years after that now, and I think I see the company making things unpleasant to encourage me to leave.

@oxt+1qiTac6X Completely correct on all aspects.

@oxt+1qiTac6X Is absolutely right.
OP, these days this isn’t anymore a calculation of how much you might loose because after 50 you will be ranked low. What you say about being forced to retire early applies - or rather applied, past tense! - to those over 52 (NRE and RE). Those have been already been largely eliminated through the oversized, endless PIP system, since 2020. Now the target is to get rid of experienced workers BEFORE they reach 52, so if you’re not HiPo you will be simply forced out, you’ll never get to forced retirement. However, we’ve seen larger and larger number of HiPos also being forced out recently. The overall pie is shrinking and the game of musical chairs now affects the HiPos as well.
And in case you don’t know, out there in the market the rule is total age discrimination, so unless you have very special skills that are in deep shortage, getting a permanent job after 50 is near impossible.

Mid career here. If in your mid 40s you have one more CL to go chances are that you will reach your plateau quickly. People overestimate the value of technical experience, the truth is that 80% of the roles need little to some senior experience. So if you start feeling entitled and expect to be rewarded only for your experience then get ready to be disappointed.

With our greedy CEO you can expect to get hosed.

OP if you're in your forties you won't make it to retirement in this new ExxonMobil culture. HR won't let you get there. There're explicit instructions from Darren to not allow this to happen or reduce it as much as possible. You won't make it there. Same thing for all those that are within five years of becoming retirement eligible. Now to your question, unless you are a High Potential once you hit fifty your ranking will tank and you'll get no raises. If the company really needs you for your skill set it'll keep you ranked as good or needs improvement. So you aren't technically fired but your career won't go anywhere. They just want you to keep doing what you're doing. If you're making a ton of money already you might accept the humiliation and keep milking this dead cow. Otherwise, HR doesn't give a shlt if you resign. Just make your decision.

Not ExxonMobil specific data, but worth reviewing.

• See Table 2 here: https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/peak-earnings/
• https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/02/the-age-at-which-youll-earn-the-most-money-in-your-career.html
• Australia data: https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/major-dataset-reveals-when-you-will-be-at-your-earnings-peak/news-story/8edc0b1af785c48fe5a38647016abc5b

Most people do hit a ceiling in their wage growth that is very hard to overcome.