Good luck tomorrow everyone.
31 replies (most recent on top)
Well if corporate had employees working 5 days a week every week they could lay off another 20%
I had the opportunity to work in an IT Project last year at Ovintiv in Calgary. I was surprised to see the amount of people they had for this Medium Project. Many contract PMs reporting to a Contract Senior PM which had good connections at the top, many contract BAs not doing much, and a small number of good contract technical resources. They also had many employees in IT, mostly on vacations or whining about how busy they were. After working for 13+ years in the O&G industry i recognize Ovintiv is one of the worst organizations I worked at. This reduction doesn't surprise me. They have contractors there working in the company for close to 15 years and people laugh when you mention this is against CRA directions. Someone above mentioned this is a small company that they run it like a big monster, and I think that's a good description of Ovintiv. Good luck everyone in Calgary, the next few years will be very tough. AI is coming and oil under Trump will be between $50-60 a barrel.
Facilities will be next After they clean up all the offices of laid off employees
Encana/Ovintiv has been plagued for years by idolizing leaders. The top heavy organization reflects this - everyone had to be a “leader”. Rarely have senior management been significantly impacted by prior rounds of layoffs. On top of that, the reward for saying “yes” to superiors far outweighed that for technical competence or telling the truth. Favoritism was allowed to run rife. What will fix the company’s woes is a takeover by a company focused on ruthlessly efficiency and not how nice the (too many) offices look or how polished the (too many) presentations look. Sorry for all those caught up this time… and those who will be next time.
With all the people let go, do we all agree its regulatory, safety, and maintenance where we are going to drop the ball. Definitely no change in effort to stack up quarterlies showing 4 layers of redundant management a windfall future that will never come to pass. Not to trivialize the stress people let go are feeling, but I wish I was one of you.
I agree OVV is a poorly run company. The CEO has never worked anywhere else so there is little chance things will change. He obviously has no idea. This wasn’t deep enough. The pain will really hit when somebody who knows how to run a business buys OVV.
Does anyone else feel like it was mostly the experienced “older” employees (especially the ones who are creeping up on retirement and could get their benefits for 10 years), that were let go in favor of the younger, less experienced people that often “work” from home?
Well whom ever received a package yesterday… consider yourself lucky. A restructuring package is more lucrative than a company buyout package. Industry proven !!!
Sad but true - we are massively over-staffed as compared to peers. I didn't like seeing friends leave yesterday either, and one day it will be me, but oil is $70-$80/bbl and our net debt has stayed almost flat. That's ridiculous. We have 5X the Ops folks most companies our size have. A few items to note:
- Haven't heard any high ranking execs that were let go - my bet is very few of them, lay off those who do the work instead. A real cost cutting would focus more on the exec level.
- Don't let Brendan fool you - the exec VP that "retired" - look at the filings, she is making more this year than any of us will make in our whole life.
- Our scope of management is terrible. Average EVP should have 200-300 people under them, ours who left had like 50. Average VP should have at least 100 - we have many VP's with 5-25....yes a VP whose scope is only 5-25 team members! We have directors or senior managers that have 2 - 4 people. Again, the layoff should have hammered the management ranks - that's where the bigger bucks are too.
- Finally, it's always easy to say cut some people and figure out work we arent' going to do any more. But then you try to cut work and the VP's always say "Oh no, I need that report" or "I need to be able to explain everything to my boss in case they ask". We outlook and forecast (inaccurately) the heck out of ourselves, we create massive quarterly slide packages that take hundreds of hours to prepare and then get reviewed in huge groups with managers, then sr. managers, then VP's, then COO, then CEO. Why don't we couple what we aren't going to do anymore with the people leaving
OVV is so poorly managed. The drop ~120 people yesterday and they still have too many people. Worthless entities like the Chief org, supply management, along with a bloated reservoir characterization group. Their G&A is over the top when compared to other similar sized companies and they still can't get it right. When will the stockholders realize the overcompensated and poorly ran leadership is to blame and make real changes?
Wish you all well in finding a job, it will be a tough road to be sure.
I am in the US side of things. We have too many people when compared to our peers, given our amount of production. Its that simple. This is never mentioned at the town halls as they have to project a cheery attitude.
Some groups are right sized, and some are fat. Also, you still have groups north and south that refuse to understand that things are competitive. So if you are fighting to keep your expensive process or your piece of expensive software that you have been using the past decade, WAKE UP!!! You are part of the problem. Land, G&G, SCADA, etc. Teams on each side of the border have to have their own special thing, because they "are" special.
And while I enjoy working with my Canadian peers, some of you need to sack up and stop whining. This isn't some near socialist operation. Business is business. If you don't find your day 90% full with work, or if you are kinda bored and hanging out, again , you are part of the problem.
RANT OFF
Yet someone like EVP Corporate Services making $2.3m annual plus bonus is retained.
I’m operating one of their plants right now. Hoping we are all safe but you never know. Someone has to keep their facilities running! Maybe some new coveralls ahead! Hope they give some vacation back that was taken away
Anyone worried about a round 2 of layoffs in the event Coterra acquires us?
In Calgary I was surprised by some of the cuts to my team and floor. A mix of young and experienced, and a lot of technical expertise, so I'm not at all clear on the logic of those staff reductions. I hadn't heard much about how bad it was in the rest of the Bow though. Any way you slice it, today was trash.
Any insights on Calgary vs Denver vs Woodlands?
Our floor is done. Mostly senior people.
My floors getting it now. Sounds like they're staggering it.
Is it fitting or ironic that today is world mental health day?
Most of the people I’ve seen have a lot of years with the company. Lots of valuable people on the list so this is definitely a push to reduce payroll.
Hopefully they start at the top.
I wish they’d just start telling us, no one is doing anything productive today.
Great way to build morale. So "wholeheartedly proud."
The grass is greener on the other side… You may miss some of the efficiencies that this cutthroat culture brings, but all in all, there are still companies out there that put their people ahead of being in the top quartile of profit margins.
Best of luck to most - save for the handful of people that perpetuated this grind culture and ruined a once great company.
A grossly mismanaged company full of amazingly talented people.
10 rounds of layoffs in less than 10 years.. this does not happen in other companies and you do not deserve it.
Load up your flash drive and enjoy this day. Hopefully you get a package and if you don’t, send out resumes and leave.
Good luck to all of my Finance colleagues tomorrow….in Mike Liedtke we trust
I’m just shocked. I feel like all discussions regarding everything the company has going made it seem like we were doing fine in most areas. Rumor mill says this will be a harsh layoff, and as stated, HR and VP decided…. I just don’t see how a harsh layoff benefits us, especially since we’re downsizing the operating space in the building that should be saving a ton a year
How would layoffs stall impending corporate takeover? If Coterra really wants to acquire OVV it will become even more attractive when G&A is lowered.
The reason for the takeover articles regarding Coterra is because it is indeed happening. Ovintiv has a very high ratio of G&A per unit of BOE/day when compared to our peers. Coterra saw this as an opportunity, i.e. a chance to capitalize on our assets and streamline a company that is grossly mismanaged & “top heavy” in terms of compensation. If this round of layoffs seems rushed, it’s because it is - this is an attempt by the management at this company to “rearrange furniture on the titanic”; a hasty attempt to move Ovintiv’s expense ratios in line such that executives can preserve their jobs, or at least stall an impending corporate takeover. Interestingly, none of the managers or senior managers on the teams were consulted this round in regards to which personnel should be let go off their team in this round. All of these decisions are being driven by your VP and HR, which makes this the most impersonal round of layoffs yet at this soulless corporation.
The reason? Do more with less to boost shareholder returns.
What is the reason for the latest round of layoffs? Oil prices are decent, we have the best assets….