Do you find it to be a problem?
22 replies (most recent on top)
On Nepotism:
If someone would have asked me in what industry nepotism is most pervasive ten years ago, I would have told them finance, which is well known for plucking incompetent princelings from elite universities and placing them into senior leadership roles. The 2008 financial crisis is a good example of what happens when this is done.
If asked today, I would have to say oil/gas is the most nepotistic. The industry is essentially an old-boys club with a bottom line. The distortions in the oil/gas workforce are apparent at every level, from front line supervisors to the executives. This is starting to show up as major (and preventable) financial losses, with cracks in virtually all internal business units growing by the day, if not the hour.
The entire industry is one moderate economic shock away from total, irreparable collapse, to the extent that large companies like Exxon would be strained to provide their most basic services (ex. their retail stores). As far as I can tell, industry executives have put in no backstops, probably because none has the competence to tack against the coming headwinds, nor would they care to if they did.
TL;DR: Oil and gas holds the world title for nepotistic incompetence.
@1ico+1hHkwvNq There is a place that all expats go to gather when they get an assignment in US! A must to join for a smooth career.
Yes if those employees did not have mommy and daddy then they would be PIP or NSI due to aggressive behaviors
Grease brothers Annandale
Look up the bonnin family in Baytown
No, it is not a problem.
Yes, it is a problem
@1rvd+1hHkwvNq That’s interesting. I have noticed that I had met far more people of a certain religion here, but I never thought that much about it involving specific recruiting or nepotism. Frankly, these folks were some of the nicest, most genuine and hardworking, fair people I had ever met. I’m still friends with a few who have since left the company.
Honestly, I know my religion isn’t highly represented in the company (or Texas for that matter), but I don’t really care about that. As long as the best people move up in the company, I would be happy no matter what religion (or no religion) they were. That they is not the case in the company right. We have the worst folks moving up in the company and their beliefs run the gamut of religions & non religions. It might be an issue, I guess I just don’t see it.
Since religion was mentioned, there are a couple of religions 1.5 % of US population that have an extremely higher percentage of employees at EM.
Either some managers or some people in HR are recruiting heavily from those 2 religions.
Once recruited, they network within their religions and help each other move upward.
I know certain religions count every member as part of the family.
I call it cultiness, but you could call it nepotism in some business areas.
Nepotism is definitely a problem at Exxon. Other American companies have clear no nepotism policies. Exxon has always encouraged it. The problem is that if one family is Executive or at least hipo, family members pile on and play that political card within their work group and circle if influence, however limited it may actually be. It creates a total PIA even though the family member is a no account POS if standing alone
Based on observations over three decades at EM, there is no doubt that nepotism is a problem. So many managers with their kids being hired and getting special treatment. You also have to be extra careful and wear your kid gloves around them because of concern that they will say something negative about you to mommy or daddy. This was also an issue with dual career husband and wife situations. Once had a boss whose spouse was in my rank group doing the same job. This should not have been allowed by HR, but complaining to them would have only made matters worse. Truly an unfair and intimidating environment to work in under a forced ranking system.
is permian worse than others?
it is an issue
All companies have problems with Nepotism. We are not an exception.
I've worked for 4 Fortune 500 companies and all had this problem.
It's good to discuss it as it creates pressure on the folks who are practicing nepotism.
This is a troll post. No. It's not an issue. Yes, there are family members that work here (it's a big company) and there are policies that do not allow family members to report to each other or the same manager. Generally spouses, siblings, or offspring would work for different business lines (Refining and EMRE, or Fuels and Chemicals, etc).
I only promote my family members. The rest to the bottom.
Most of the people that I have worked with that were second and third generation EM were very good.
I was surprised at the layoff when I knew of second gen EM people laid off and many couples where 1 spouse fired and 1 spouse retained.
My dad says this isn't a problem at all.
Sorry to bring that out to “The Layoff “ people. Take a look on Permian and you will find out what Nepotism is.
Yes. It’s a problem. I knew it was bad, but until I had a manager who was the son of a highly thought of retiree, I didn’t know how powerful nepotism was in the company. This man was not only a complete imbecile, he was an overall horrible person.
I wondered how someone so bad at his job could go so far until someone told me who his father was. He was brought to HR a few times for inappropriate behavior (bordering on se-ual harassment). He had his admin so uncomfortable things like lie to his wife when she called because he was out with his girlfriend and didn’t want to get caught. He allowed another person to steal things from the company. He expected no overtime but wanted everything be to be there when he arrived and not leave until he did.
He was an absolutely horrible person & employee but was untouchable.
Absolutely. It's rampant.