Better to stay at EMHC or goto Permian? My manager wants a decision Monday.
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Good place to train Indians. They'll learn a lot about the business there, esp. since they'll be providing technical advice going forward.
Midland leadership very careless and production minded. Another person lost their life on a Permian location earlier this week.
Well Op, what was your decision?
They will start sending BTC over to fill the positions, I’m sure that’ll work ok just great
There are breakfast spots in midland that aren't chains you re--rd.
If you move to a location where there’s no traditional cafe that serves sunny side up eggs with biscuits and gravy, don’t go there. Out there every breakfast comes with picante and most out of a food trailer. And no, I don’t count IHOP, Dennys or Kettle as traditional. They are chains.
The “management “ here in Midland is autocratic and ignorant. Do yourself a favor and stay in Houston.
Midlabd/Carlsbad us the @$$ho-e of TX and possibly the whole country. Should be 40% tax free uplift. Forget it
They can’t get anyone to move to Permian. That should be answer enough. Hard to staff location with no financial incentive to go there. Don’t be fooled by the 10%. That won’t even cover the higher cost of living and it isn’t tax assisted like expat uplifts are.
If you are willing to homeschool your kids that makes it a lot easier choice. Even the private school options are bad. One just had five administrators arrested for felony charges. They didn’t report se-ual abuse of their students. Google it. Happened last month. At least one of the high level leaders in Midland home schools his kids. Most people try to get out before their kids fall too far behind academically. They will fall behind. If they are on the football team don’t believe the grades you see. There is seriously shady stuff done to keep football player eligible to play. There is a womens only public middle school but it has somehow developed a girls dating girls culture. Possibly led by the teachers? Who knows. Some people who tried it ended up pulling their kids out because they were alarmed over the school culture.
@cee+1fA5bB3p Trailer trash haha I love it. It is embarrassing to have people visit our Carlsbad office. The front of the building is actually falling off right now and we are trying to figure out what to do. It is hard to get work done because we are in loud common areas. There are no huddle rooms like in Houston to have a meeting or take a phone call so everyone is shouting over each other trying to hear their zoom call with someone a couple of desks over. To add insult to injury and make things even worse the city of Carlsbad was giving out land for free so companies could build new offices. We insisted on paying for the land. What genius did that? All our competitors took the free land. We still own the land we paid for but haven’t started building. I guess we spent all our money on the land and didn’t have any money left to build an office.
Plan to spend a lot more on healthcare and deal with low quality. There is no HMO option so you are stuck with the much more expensive PPO insurance. I have never paid as much for medical as I have in Midland. I have kids and none of us have health problems. Just the usual like young boys breaking bones while playing. I have paid thousands for medical bills which were under $100 on the HMO. If you need to see a specialist plan on having to wait and wait and wait or make a special trip back to civilization in Houston. Just another example why families should avoid Midland. You will lose money. Pay more for lower quality service healthcare. Don’t get me started on the schools. If you have teenage boys like I do you will notice grocery costs are much higher here than in Houston just like cost of everything is higher here. Prepare to lose money. I don’t know what they use for the basis of their benchmarking they always spout off about but it certainly isn’t a family with teenagers.
@mly+1fA5bB3p If you move out there and happen to be one of the few people who like it and don’t have kids who actually need to learn how to read them best scenario is to learn Uncon and jump ship to a competitor who will pay better and treat you better. With oil prices high you can make a lot more across the street.
@ryi+1fA5bB3p If you are a former employee you are probably thinking of the old benefits. All the benefits have been cut over and over until there is hardly anything left. Former employees don’t understand the current situation. The old company was much better. As for TDA they are trying to not offer because everyone in Carlsbad and Midland would then ask to go on TDA. They could pay more which would help but they can’t fix the incredibly terrible school. They are really bad.I’ve never seen anything like it.
@1ejo+1fA5bB3p and if you are a white male plan on being an individual contributor as many of the leadership roles are being filled by non white males. I don’t mean this in a negative way it is just an observation. They are good engineers but there appears to be an effort to promote diversity which is fine. I have a hard time understanding some of the accents but am starting to be able to understand better if they don’t talk too fast. Again not a criticism I only speak English and they speak multiple languages. There are also roles that people seem to just quickly pass through as HiPos which causes a lot of churn for the teams because people are always changing out too quick.
There is no tax equalization package for Carlsbad. There is no cost of living adjustment for the Permian. They can cancel any uplift without notice like they did during the pandemic even though they had said in writing it would go to the end of 2020. Permian is a losing assignment financially. You will make more money if you stay in Houston.
If you are seeking career advice, a layoff site is not a good place to get it.
I have spent 30+ years trying to stay out of Houston. Only backfire was when I ended up in Poydras in New Orleans. Each of us is different. I definitely have not enjoyed temporary assignments at Bell, Greenspoint or new campus. Corpus was good in 80s.
Carlsbad is not a livable situation, it is a little Matamoras. Move to Artesia and drive 22 each way. Prepare to pay state income tax in NM or get tax equalization package?
Great opportunity to get asthma and a terrible education for your kids, and a divorce from your bored and depressed wife.
It’s an awful place with awful people. None of the Texas charm, all the bad stereotypes, and far away in the middle of effing nowhere.
Everyone I knew it went, ended up quitting and losing money.
Get a Dog when you get there.
It’s tough if you’re not a white male
Join to get enough experience to make a good career move with a more nimble unconventional oil company.
This type of urgent decision ultimatum should tell you the answer.
Polish up the resume and make your own decisions.
Just Remember the ExxonMobil management moto " Winning together" Yea RIGHT
@xmq+1fA5bB3p You have hit the nail on the head. Inept management at every turn. Look no further than Delaware geoscience and RE.
Dang as a frmr employee kind of sad to see such negative reviews. I guess it makes sense though -- domestic relo not nearly as cushy as international so if you're in a rough domestic location it ends up being a net negative. Maybe a TDA package as opposed to a straight relo would help offset the costs since you'll get paid a monthly stipend? Plus maybe in the eyes of the company they'll be more incentivized to bring you back as they are paying extra to effectively loan you out to another office.
I did a TDA to a different domestic location and it actually ended up being a very positive experience. Although it was in a decently sized city so I wasn't out in the desert. :)
If you want to continue working for our company, you need to say yes.
Please also understand that you should never accept a relocation unless you and your family are prepared to work there for the rest of your career.
Your manager may tell you that it is a three-year rotational assignment, but the rules can change two years into the assignment, and you may be stuck in Midland-Odessa until you threaten to quit.
The workers out there are still upset about how they were treated during COVID. Prepare for a mass exodus of talent which will put further strain on those who remain.
Remember if they offer anything extra they will take it away the moment they think they can even if competitors manage to continue honoring their word to employees.
Remember the days of 2 year roles are gone. Plan on a 5 year assignment. Only exception is HiPos I suppose who still just check boxes as they ascend to stock awards.
Why does management seem to forget how much work their requests cause? Take a look at infinite number of scenarios for company plan. Maybe if they would give us staff and time to build tools but so much is manual to get an answer.
Stay in Houston. Management especially at senior levels doesn’t understand Uncon business and tries to run it like rest of upstream. More ExxonMobil process and ways of doing things being imposed every day without ever asking is this the right way for Uncon. Management from Houston will visit for half a day a year and criticize what is being done without first even trying to understand. They think they know it all without having ever been in our shoes or done this type of work.
You will be joining at a bad time. With oil over $100 Permian will be asked to do more and accelerate then employees will be criticized if things don’t happen perfectly. Management setting the team out there up for failure with unrealistic expectations, constant changes to plan and overwork.
EMHC better
Beware. Many examples of people moving there only to be PIPd. Then what do you do? You have to move yourself back to a city you actually want to live in and find a job all at the same time. With all the resignations the employee pool there continues to shrink making ranking a brutal process for anyone in Midland who doesn’t quit. Better to just stay in Houston.
It isn’t as bad as all the talk and rumors you’ve heard. It is actually worse!
The amenities in Houston at work compared to Midland alone are enough to stay in Houston. Compare the campus with the gym and nice offices to no gym and being shoved into a cubicle or office “bullpen” with ten other people crammed in. Not that you would have time to workout in Permian. Everyone just gains weight and raises their blood pressure due to long work hours and stressful workload. Carlsbad is even worse. Prepare to be trailer trash working out of a single wide trailer. We can’t even afford a double wide trailer out there.
Only worth it if after you do t have to pay back relocation you resign and go work for a competitor in Midland who pays more base salary and gives bonuses! Don’t believe benchmarking talk. It is total BS. Everyone else pays more out here. You can confirm by talking to people at other companies.
I hope you are married because the dating scene in Midland is non existent. Of course if you are married your partner is screwed because their chances of finding a meaningful job in Midland are slim.
For all the talk of it being the crown jewel management actions don’t follow. Those who make the sacrifice to move to Midland aren’t rewarded by the company financially or in terms of career progression. Any promotion opportunities in Midland are taken by HiPos who get out as quickly as possible so managers and supervisors are constantly changing. Just look at how GHG team was staffed. Rather than promoting those in Midland who have paid their dues the best roles went to people from Houston. Some of the people in leadership roles aren’t even moving to Midland or are doing TDA.
If you are a minority Houston is much more diverse than the Permian. There aren’t any ERGs in Midland. Even if there were there would be no time to participate due to workload!
Most people who have said yes regret it.