Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

I guess we'll bobble our way toward $30 oil. That would be good if we can do it

There was recently an article published that Darren was trying to make EM profitable at $30 per barrel.

By coincidence, Darren trying to make the average pay of Engineers $30 per hour.

I predict a multitude of root causes from Bangalore go uncorrected when Darren PIPs too many “checkers” in Spring.

Everyone knows that if it wasn’t for KLTC, Baytown wouldn’t have been able to restart after the freeze several years ago. Also KLTC provided key, long distance monitoring during hurricane Ida. Monitoring the unit from across the world and providing insights to events in the unit that already happened and remedied is value added. LOL.

They get buried in the process and forget what it is we are actually trying to accomplish. All they see is their little piece of the puzzle and not the overall objective we are trying to accomplish. Result is a real lack of any meaningful work as each person focuses on their little widget only and has no vision of what needs to be done and how everyone needs to work together to succeed.

How about KLTC ?

my experience has been fine, just like working woth anyone from houston

if byc was in canada will you still feel threatened and hate? maybe its something that you need to fix in yourself

A friend of mine was just made redundant at Leatherhead. Not retirement eligible so given 2 options.
Option 1 take the redundancy package and leave the EM.

Option 2 take an assignment in Bangalore for less than 20% of his current salary.

He does have dual citizenship UK/India, but being offered an 80% reduction in salary due to the country that issued your second passport seems like a form of discrimination.

Offering all the Bangalore staff just 1/8 the normal EM salary based on National origin seems like grounds for a class action suit.

Do not expect world class work products from anyone paid 1/8 normal salary and also has to learn how to use a toilet from the instructional cartoon on the back of the stall door.

This conclusion is based on hundreds of interactions.

They are task oriented and not goal oriented.

The process and box checking is the focus not the deliverables.

But the worst is they can’t even do the assigned tasks correctly. So most of it is rework done at site - just throwing 10 gallons of sh#t to the site in a 5 gallon bucket.

I have seen the work life at both BTC and the US.
For a moment, just one, let's set aside the obvious, and understandable, frustration of EM porting work out and reducing HC10 headcount. The BTC was set up to move scalable work to TCs, starting primarily with upstream, eventually moving to midstream and manufacturing. The initial set up invested heavily to get good local talent, both fresh and experienced. They went to top colleges in India, made competitive offers to experienced hires. Lots of HC10 employees were sent to develop a better culture, even if some of them were part of a toxic cult in their past life, they still fared much better than traditional Indian managers in other local companies. This lasted 2-3 years. On the asset side, folks were still trying to figure out how to work with this new model. BTC employees were being given opportunities to learn, grow, take charge of their work. They weren't perfect but it was still a rather stable setup. Eventually, post-COVID really showed the company's cards and pi---d off HC10/assets, and around the same time, the nationalization at BTC saw more locals take up management roles and stink up the atmosphere pretty quickly. Benefits were stripped away, people were openly blasted for asking questions during employee forums, the good people (per Indian standards). Engineers are told they will have x amount of work but at a remote center, you are limited by what the assets send over to you. The assets were also hesitant because of the difference in quality of work. Eventually, the good ones (per Indian standards) started jumping ship. The ones that stayed on hate their jobs. They get very little in terms of training and industry exposure, have cr-ppy morale because they are being beat by both the internal culture as well as the base assumption from the assets that they're not worth jack. EM has expected that people will leave BTC in droves each year and plans hiring accordingly. It has also pivoted to hiring from "lesser" universities as well ss the bottom of the barrel experienced folks hoping that they will be more willing to put on the golden handcuffs. The center is now reduced to an engineering call center, with a highly deteriorated culture relative to HC10, and an uninterested workforce. The business units can see this in the work ethic and in their interactions with some of these engineers. They will 100% jump off if they get the chance and it's not just for the money.
A decent effort was made with seemingly good intentions long ago and then fell off rather quickly. Beating up BTC engineers at this point is simply a way to vent your frustration towards the establishment. It's not going to stop this train. You know it.

All EM employees ashamed of our Executives sourcing such low cost 3rd world labor to justify their millions in bonuses.

Legal but unethical.

Loyalty has been sacrificed.

If Executives lead by example and replaced the management committee with low cost 3rd world marginally acceptable error prone id--ts then maybe we would have a tiny piece of respect left for them.

Any savings by using labor paid 1/8 the salary is not worth destroying the loyalty of the global workforce.

BTC engineers get paid 1/8 the salary of HC10.

Their work has to be corrected by HC10.

Tracking of error rates is forbidden.

The 1/8 salary guy that makes errors is ranked higher than the HC10 guy that makes the corrections.

Many HC10 experts get PIPd, quit, or retire.

The remaining HC10 fear for their jobs and are miserable, unless they have a sponsor.

Loyalty is history.

The 1/8 salary guys are all jumping the Chevron going after 1/6 salary.

Good people, in general. Work hard to learn and get up to speed. Have an arrogance about whatever limited knowledge they've obtained so far compared to a bigger picture required, but, honestly I can understand that position. They need to prove themselves, compete,learn and show results at same time.

All the critical aspects below are real and very observable, but are never acknowledged.

Cultural differences not addressed by anyone in supervision or management.

In BTC no freedom of thought or critical thinking.

No QA either inherent or via review. Quality is therefore poor.

Negative impact on HC10 employee morale and engagement is irreparable.

They are effective and have a positive attitude.

One piece of the equation that isn’t talked about enough is the impact the BTC has had on the employees who you still need in the USA. Totally demoralizes them and many quit and if they haven’t quit yet are looking. I have never seen such demoralized and pi---d off workers.

There are some things they can do just fine. Those things typically are things which could be automated with a little bit of effort and technical acumen. Things that require more than just following a script or series of steps written down they don’t do well at. They are very caste / bureaucracy driven mindset and hide behind the processes and roles and responsibilities rather than just working as a team to get things done. They will jump ship if another company is offering. Few rupees more and if they get their feet on the ground in the USA forget about it they are never going back to India once they see the good life.

I find that the BTC employees act as I would expect someone who knows they are « low cost » would act. They don’t have the same commitment and drive that we have traditionally had in the company. Seems executives are looking for good enough now not the best like we used to. The company is losing technical capability so quickly it makes your head spin. I am sadly watching our competitors follow us in this race to the bottom. We are destroying our once great company and no longer have the ability to innovate and do great things like we once did. Seems the executives have given up and are set on just selling off the company in pieces and a slow managed decline until we cease to exist. Very sad.

Deliverables need correction every time.

Some blatant errors are potential multi fatality level design mistakes.

After 2 years of being corrected, the now competent BTC engineer jumps to another company that will send him expat.

Then a college campus hire fills the spot and makes worse mistakes.

I'm fed up with India!

Honestly, They’re just trying to do their best and to better their lives. The core problem in this concept is we are purposely eroding our competence at the local sites where we operate these process safety bombs with this tactic like it is a disposable business. These are hard to operate if you grow up in the same site your whole career, let alone from half a world away. We’re writing the script for the next BP Tx City event. The one that spent some time in the states quickly see the pay/life difference and try to stay. Get told no, and quit, marry someone local and work for a competitor. At the local level, your competent people are getting tired of correcting the work and at some point, won’t be able to.

Nice rage baiting. I'm glad to see you getting replaced