I’ve been browsing these posts for a few months and though I would give perspective as to why I made the proactive decision to leave…..I also thought it would be good to list some perspective for those wanting to stay and those looking elsewhere.
I was an L3 Manager. My ranking was consistent and I generally enjoyed double-digit raises for several years (on the average…. some years were less). Once I crossed over a CL range, the raise was amazing and better than you will see elsewhere in terms of base pay. I also enjoyed receiving RSUs although the vesting was setup for the longer term (50% at 3 years and 50% at 7 years). The 401k match was incredible and so was our retirement plan in Voya. This plan has extremely low cost and is setup for those making a large base salary who max out their 401k and need extra savings opportunities like the mega-backdoor Roth. Benefits are incredible at ExxonMobil (and I haven’t event talked about medical/dental (vision plan still sucks though)).
I left because there is no long-term confidence from the EMIT LT that our jobs will be around in 5-15 years, which is EXACTLY when I need stability. I hired on for the “long-term” career, but that idea is quickly fading by many in the EMIT LT who seem to be out to please their boss…who is likely to retire in 3-5 years anyway and have different incentives than me or my peers. Simply put, the fundamental misalignment of incentives (both in ranking/assessment + long term careers) is a main reason why I left. I have zero faith that BK or others on the EMIT LT actually care and are just doing what Dallas wants to meet short-term objectives. At the end of the day, the EMIT LT are going to place numbers on a PPT which shows how costs are controlled and the EMIT LT do not have a concern for headcount. If there is a concern about HC, it because the US attrition rates are higher than expected and it slows the growth of GBCs to lower the overall EMIT cost #. Again….this is a reason why I left – there is just no faith the EMIT LT want to keep jobs in the US and someone is always looking to save money. Like I heard before on these posts – you’re just a year away from being NSI 😊
A few more comments:
• The potential buckets were changed in 2020. There is no longer a +1 progression from a CL 28, 29, 30, 31, etc. If I recall, the new cutoff was CL29, then a gap until CL32 or CL33….this felt like a “course correction” to stop salary increases for the majority of managers like me
• MSP – don’t need to say anything else. Its MSP or Bust for ALL of GSC. I even had some friends in Procurement say their group was being MSP’d. Same for EPS. The GSC LT is just the same as the EMIT LT – which is “let’s show Dallas how we are saving money and “brining value” to the corporation” – again – how can I be sure my job is around in 5 years??
• Borrowing to pay the dividend when we lose $22B. Executives still get the dividend check, so its really hard for me to address question from my staff of the 401k freeze + no raises when we borrow to pay the dividend, which benefits executives’ RSUs. I heard the spill about it being an “important part of our capital structure”, but that means nothing to the mid-level employee. This was very hard for me to swallow as a leader and I could not use the standard ExxonMobil pitch about me not understanding what capital structure means.
• For the same reasons as above, the 401k match pause was a slap in the face. Did this REALLY make a dent when we could have just paused or lowered the dividend?
• The ranking/assessment process and our stance of “its not a layoff” – technically true, but give me a break….this process is from like 1985. Move on and find a better way to rank people or get over yourself about getting sued for firing people. If you don’t want people around, just rip the band-aid and move on. The MLRP is NOT away to “help” people…its truly a way to reduce staff….and I don’t care what HR says. Its also ridiculous that manager have to beat each other up every year for their employees assessment – even more so now with the extra buckets…..just go back to the 1/3 sections so there is more wiggle room.
• Technology is way behind….the fact that we touted Zoom as a cloud success is sad. We should be light years ahead in our cloud technology (which could have saved the MSP item from above).
Reasons for staying:
• Base pay is excellent…at my YEE, you will likely not find a better company paying higher
• Top notch benefits for Medical and Dental
• 401k match (when it comes back) is good.
• Learnings scale…..not a lot of companies operate at the scale XOM does in terms of user counts….
I’ve heard the comments about “I left to join a tech firm and making so much more” That might be true for someone with 5-10 year experience but for me, that wasn’t the case. I had a hard time getting anyone to go over 180k. Some HR reps promise bonuses or stock, but base pay is what matters for the 401k and annual % increase in raise….XOM wins on this almost every time for those in the 14-19 year range (and no, you’re not going to triple your annual base pay salary….but jesus BK, why even say that!).
After typing this post, I realized that there are so many divergent thoughts on EMIT. My general sense is – if you’re between 10 – 18 years, you better decide in the next 3-5 years if this is right for you. The younger crowd will have time to recover or job hunt later. The >18 better pray and save….its only a matter of time.