Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

BTC Reality

Reading all these posts I am comforted that its not just at BTC who suffer but the whole company is like this. Yes BTC is low cost and it is sad that industry is going through this. But EM didn't even get this right.Very poor hiring from tier 3 universities, experienced hires with no relevant experience are hired, diversity is forced, questions are suppressed, slidos are not anonymous, backstabbing is prevalent, transparency is a myth, Yammer visibility and posts is the management metric for performance, unnecessarily forced safety sharing to really make it unnatural and awkward. But glad to hear it is just not in BTC but around the world.

With all the growth in numbers due to BTC being low cost $50/hr compared to $400/hr for Houston employees, hiring is never-ending but no one cares about what new hires are going through, no emphasis on training and on boarding at all. Learn on the job they say, but if the job is copy pasting and cleaning up the mess that has accumulated in years, what do we learn? The only thing leadership wants to do is bring "EM Culture" here, which we all know means ONLY pretentious visibility games and no one to check what actual work is done. The regular Indian office culture is quite political but I'd take that than this hypocritical BS. Literally no leader makes any effort to understand ground reality, they just want to show their bosses in Houston/Dallas that they have created a magical wonder. Other companies have done this 10 years ago in India, EM is behind even on that.

The EXPATS sent here are clueless themselves, no leadership characteristics in ANYONE. No one is inspiring or motivating. When VPs & "visitors" come here in huge numbers, its portrayed like BTC is the best invention of mankind, but still they have no answer to questions from employees and create an environment of fear. Because all they need to do is SHOW work is done, but not hold anyone accountable for what actually was DONE.

There is a manager who recites poem and thinks we can't see through their verbose BS. There is a manager who shouts at people and can be heard talking about caring once that is chosen as a new leadership trait. There is a manager who smiles and lies through their teeth as that is all they need to do when questioned. There is a manager who stares at people all the time and gives "feedback" behind the back only. But hey,EM Culture right? So its okay.

They say we are hire the best and from best universities? That is as far from truth as possible. IITs which they claim they hire from, don't even allow EM to interview their top candidates because the pay is so low. They hire Masters from IITs which is NOT better than bachelors students. They don't go through the same testing exam.

Our pay is not even close to attracting the best Indian talent. There is no respect, there is no bonuses, deceiving tactics during campus recruitments brings innocent people here and almost all of them want to leave and will leave as soon as they get a chance. And despite of all this there are hopeful talented employees who end up here and are waiting for things to change. But for how long? Time will tell.

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Post ID: @OP+17dT959I

24 replies (most recent on top)

It sounds like where you find out what the business needs are from the bottom up.

Except that in real life the layoff decisions are being made by a handful of people at the very top. We’re going to lay off 20% of the company without changing any of our Byzantine processes, making the little actual work getting done grind to a halt. They have no clue what positions are necessary anywhere.

I’ve got news for Darren - the folks in BTC don’t know how to support our plants. You can fire all my contact engineers, and all you’re going to get is lower salary expenses. Nobody will be around when stuff goes bump in the night. Nobody will be around to walk the unit and verify that - surprise surprise - the drawing was wrong. Nobody will be able to sit with the grizzled process lead to understand the finer points of how things work. BUT! You will get lots of emails saying stuff like, “I noticed that this flow rate was fluctuating. Do you have any idea what it could be.” — Literally what I get in my inbox most days from BTC.

https://www.thelayoff.com/post/@gdr+17zat1wY

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Post ID: @mkiq+17dT959I

This is relevant to BTC as well

Post from TheLayoff.com

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Post ID: @mvtw+17dT959I

OP might as well be talking about Houston campus. I see the same culture and leadership traits here.
The XOM rot runs deep and worldwide.

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Post ID: @mohr+17dT959I

I'd like to see the person that started this thread put their full name by it.
Hiding behind your computer and making these critical and ugly comments is easy. I think this is just one of a few bad apples representing the BTC in a poor way. Even when I look at a '5 star' rated company, service, or product online there are always a few bad reviews and they are often the loudest voices. I'm sure the BTC isn't perfect, but I don't think this person represents the sentiment of the broader population at the BTC at all. In fact I've seen some of the results of the blind surveys of the hundreds employees at the BTC and the results are generally positive and are quite contrary to what this person suggests. Furthermore, I know some of the people referred to in this cynical post and they are some of the most genuine and caring leaders I've been around. Why don't you share some constructive suggestions as opposed to going off on a negative rant about ExxonMobil? It might be your attitude and not the BTC that is the biggest problem.

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Post ID: @mfox+17dT959I

"Because all they need to do is SHOW work is done, but not hold anyone accountable for what actually was DONE." - I guess this resonates with folks at all sites because it is systemic.
Whats striking is the Yammer charades has picked up there too! I heard once that to create work, an otherwise jobless expat wasted a ton of company money and man hours on shooting videos on site, recording songs in a studio for a cringeworthy "safety song" to showcase the vibrant safety culture. I had thought that was exaggeration, but after reading this post, I can now believe that might have actually happened lol
And then they don't pay employees enough even in a lost cost country? Sounds legit ExxonMobil.

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Post ID: @7phy+17dT959I

Interesting post, thanks for sharing. From my experience, BTC supervisors/advisors like most supervisors I came across recently are a joke and terribly incompetent. I bet even tier 3 Indian students must be smarter than them. It's funny how spreading toxic EM culture is so easy because in all Global Centres an army of expats is sent from Houston to screw things up, all while unethically bossing around + getting paid extra salary and benefits.

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Post ID: @5hgk+17dT959I

My previous company, a long time fortune 10 company (now out), only budgets $300 k per year for people like me, while EM has to budget $600 k. We have way too much overheads!

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Post ID: @2zmd+17dT959I

I think BTC is Bangalore Technology Center (one of four technology centers for ExxonMobil Chemical).

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Post ID: @1hcx+17dT959I

Eye opening post - unfortunately Houston may never understand this. Most IIT top students will not join - and even if they join somehow will leave shortly after. Global talent requires global wages. You get what you pay for.

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Post ID: @1lrl+17dT959I

How many of us you think are just getting ExxonMobil on CV and then move to either better job or MBA? They quote low attrition numbers and cite that it is because of their leadership and care.

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Post ID: @1pmy+17dT959I

BTC does not seem to hire engineers from similar industry it's supporting. There is big difference in mindset when the engineers hired are coming from refinery/petrochemical/power plant vs. upstream oil and gas. At upstream, our throughput are not the same throughout the entire life of the facility which is why we have end of field life assessment. The solutions needs to fit the age of the assets, unless it's safety related.

That results in questionable solutions given to a brownfield assets around the world. You cannot teach insights and mindset at the university, those need to be gained from actually working in oil and gas field. Unless EM hires from the right talent pool and the right industry, it is setting itself for (more) failures.

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Post ID: @1upp+17dT959I

Outsourcing to India was already old news when we started doing it. Many companies have pulled back since, and those who haven't, are afraid to admit failure. India is not China- a Confucian society that values work and structure; India is free from moral constraints -other than caste, which suits ExxonMobil well- and pretty much anything goes - catch me if you can. You get what you pay for.

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Post ID: @dfc+17dT959I

I have been fortunate(?) enough to only have had one manager that would scream and yell and use intimidation to get his way. It was the worse experience I ever had at XOM. I got out of that group as quickly as I could.

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Post ID: @pxd+17dT959I

I’ve heard it is hard to keep people in India. I am not sure if anyone is looking at why that is happening. I can only imagine the loss of information when the expert transfers knowledge, moves on, and the new contact quits.

On another note, I have been waiting for change in some areas for 20 years. It still hasn’t come.

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Post ID: @twq+17dT959I

Excellent post, thanks for sharing.

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Post ID: @nrj+17dT959I

sorry but, whats "BTC" ?

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Post ID: @rol+17dT959I

$400/hr is the intracompany billable rate, which is a standard number based on average mid-level US-based employee.... But that billable rate IN NO WAY equates to employee salary. There is a component of salary, but most of that rate is actually OVERHEAD. US-based employees have extremely high overhead compared to value centered employees, because of taxes, administrative costs, property, insurance, legal, governance/reporting, etc. Part of that overhead goes to pay off the fancy new campus - I am sure BTC sits in reasonable cost open floor plan buildings, and not glass palaces with streaming WiFi and Starbucks and subsidized eateries. That is why these value centers are cheaper: They focus on the work.

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Post ID: @aot+17dT959I

Only just be beginning for the BTC. It’ll be bigger than the Houston campus soon!

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Post ID: @wly+17dT959I

These numbers are obviously not just salaries, too high for that! might make sense including overheads and other costs

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Post ID: @lqs+17dT959I

Cash salary of 150000 * 1,5 for benefits and payroll taxes = $250000 divided by 2000 hours per year gives you about $115 per hour

Take the cash salary up to $350000 and do the same math and you get $260 per hour.

Could some explain the basis for the seemingly exaggerated numbers in this thread?

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Post ID: @fqv+17dT959I

Houston employees are closer to $250/hr~300/hr

Btw, you can't equate salary to take home pay because company pays taxes, Healthcare, overhead for supervisor, etc.

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Post ID: @qdk+17dT959I

Who’s getting paid $400/hr?!? That equates to $832k/yr. if that’s true I’m definitely safe because I’m actually doing work and I’m grossly underpaid.

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Post ID: @wmh+17dT959I

Wow—that was eye opening. I had no idea. Thanks for sharing.

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Post ID: @wjn+17dT959I

Same EM "strategy" all over the world, we are a "Global" company after all, WeAreExxonMobil, all of us!

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Post ID: @qzl+17dT959I

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