It might appear that everything is great right now, but it’s not. Some things might be on the upswing, but overall, we are still feeling the effects of how EM decided to layoff people through forced retirements and PIPs in 2020.
It wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t misled in an email from DW saying there would be no layoffs, only to have people forced into retirement or suddenly be PIPd when they were told they were doing great work. Before that email, everyone knew times were tough and there may be layoffs, so when we received the email it gave many a false sense of security. A few months later we were all blindsided when either ourselves or many of our co-workers were suddenly being told we were poor performers. RE people were told either retire or you’ll probably be PIPd.
Choosing to tell people they suck instead of just admitting we needed to reduce head count caused an enormous erosion of trust. We have always had to work under the ranking process that has been scientifically proven to be counter intuitive to the things we are supposedly expected to do (collaboration, innovation, etc.), but EM somehow found a way to make that process even worse by removing some safeguards that were in the system (now you can go from the top to the bottom in one cycle).
So, no matter how good things are as far as the price of oil or choice discoveries, you have an entire workforce on edge with little trust in the company and it’s management.
Many are still taking up the slack from all the experience we shoved out the door a few years ago. Not to mention, even though they are now overloaded with duties, they are being told to do more as people quit in droves. Then comes PDS time, these same people are told they need to improve significantly.
As often is the case, mismanagement, stubborn refusal to change, poor leadership, disrespect, and an overall disregard for people & their skills, causes a company to fall into a toxic place.
I’ve been here over 30 years and it’s always been tough, but there was an understanding of the process and culture. Now, it is a hot mess with everyone feeling like they are in the hunger games on a one year contract.
Posted by @kpo+1ixltXWS, this deserved to be in its own thread.