The old ranking system had an inherent bias against more experienced workers. It seemed inevitable that these competent professionals would slide down on the rankings. They were overrepresented in the bottom third. It was also not unusual for them while being in the”middle third” meant they were just above bottom third. There is a great difference between a “middle third” employee with an rgp of 34 vs 66.It would be interesting to see how “rateable” the age distribution was in the old ranking system.
The new system where all groups had to put employees in the bottom 10 percent resulted in the older competent employees were more at risk due to the old systems bias.It appears the new system has weaponized the old system to separate a large number of over 55 employees.
This has been done under the guise of no layoffs. It is performance related. Why not let employees this before the appraisals were submitted. Is this how it will be done next year? If so be clear about it now.
There will be another round of separations soon; these will be as part of another one of the “ countless” reorganizations. This one is aggravated by the hiring of 6-8000 employees In the past couple of years which were required by poor strategic direction by upper management.
This is not to say XOM does not need to take action. It has underperformed the market for many years. Change needs to happen but not just at lower levels of organization.The losses of the last two quarters are not just result of covid. Covid just exposed XOM weaknesses.
The way you treat people matters; this latest action will have long term ramifications in terms of retention and recruitment. There will also be a great reluctance for employees to give frank feedback about strategies and tactics to management for fear of reprisal. This has been part of the culture for many years; unfortunately the latest will result in remaining employees having less faith and trust in their management.