Thread regarding ConocoPhillips layoffs

Know a guy being expat for 8 years!!!! And still pretty much young, mid 30's!!! Hard to believe

I'm not sure if the cost team is really consistent to what they said about expat utilization. There must be some expats who did shitty things like kissing the boss ass, making a story of new business case, and backstabbing the boss and co-worker as they're still needed by the company so they can stay longer. Let's see, If this kind of expat isn't repatriated to their homecountry by this oct-des, it means that cost team role is just a nonsense.

I suspect that expat positions are offered to employees, but know for a fact that a lot of employees got to be expats by bending arms and threatening to quit.

Anonymous132663 - I'm curious if you were offered an expat posting in the next three months as part of the restructuring would you take it?? Or would you stand up for what you believe in and say - "no, in the interests of the greater company I cannot accept this" and risk not having a position at all?

Either way - sounds like the general view is that middle management and performance rankings are the general cause for discontent across much of the organization - Welcome to the "corporate America" jungle, watch it bring you to your... It's gon-na bring you down! Huh!

Anonymous132171, thanks for the positive spin on all this. It is too bad more people didn't try to think that way when oil was $100. Back just a year ago all we could see were different groups trying to out-grow each other by adding staff. The managers knew that the more staff they had, the higher the grade of the manager. It was a race to the top. The words being talked about then were Collaboration and Assurance. What that really meant was that the upper managers took their hand off the tiller and the middle managers all tried to out grow each other, or if that didn't work, undermine the other groups. It was a dog eat dog world. Adding a bunch of expats to payroll were just a symptom of this, not a cause. That said, it is their time to all go home. We cannot afford them any longer.

There are 60+ expats working in Calgary on the Surmont Project and global rotators flying in and out like crazy. $43 oil can't ride this train for very long eh?

You will be recognized, valued and rewarded via a poor performance rating and a subsequent layoff notice; performance ratings with no correlation to performance.

Anonymous132103 - I don't think 131951 was attempting to hide the fact that he was an expat.

Great spot on the prey vs. pray. Expats or not I will remind all of us here - right now we are all prey, and all you can really do now is pray...

This very discussion highlights how CoP has a huge challenge on its hands going forward - its employees on this site highlight the resentment, politics, infighting and competative behavior between all its staff. Collaboration and community is a forgotten at a time when it is needed most. Time to put differences aside and focus on what you can control vs. what you can't. If you rely on relationships with others and/or the misfortune of others (in this case repatriating expats) to sustain yourself in the company then your life can't be very fulfilling. Focus on the task at hand, question your activities and behaviors and make sure they are helping your colleagues and the company be successful - you will be recognized, valued and rewarded. You will be successful.

Anonymous131951..... I totally agree with what you said. But it's only fair that expats turn into a financial burden when we become cost focused.... just like too many other groups in the company. Believe it or not, kitchen supplies, tea and even meeting room wall clocks have turned into financial burdens.... the company is trying to save the cost of replacing batteries in clocks, so they eliminated clocks from meeting rooms altogether!!! If expats step up and take a cut on the additional benefits and subsidies they get, they would gain everyone's respect. Especially if they have been expats for years and years in the same location, that now turned into their new home country practically. Many of them even become permanent residents / citizens in the destination country through marriages or direct immigration applications.

But you know what, let alone all that worthless talk. I figured you must be an expat yourself. Wanna know how I figured that one out? simple enough. Grammer and spelling. Expats turn into a prey, not a pray.

The expats are returning home to unemployment unfortunately.

Sad to say but here is a classic case of CoP employees yet again focusing on and asking all the wrong questions and not addressing what the real problem is....

So disgruntled employees, "in a space where you can be totally open and honest - what's the problem?"

the clue lies in the question...

I am working with a person right now who has been an expat for 15 years. The last 6-7 of that in Houston. He can barely do his job but is willing to go anywhere the company asks. Is that all it takes to be part of that overpaid group? I do not think he would last two years back in his home BU because his skills are out of date, but he survives here?

At anonymous 131697--First of all, I was addressing the original comment about expats being financial big burdens for our company. Expats are employees just like everyone else in this company and many of them have made choices to take expat assignments to broaden their horizons and to gain knowledge that is beneficial to our company. How sad would It be if CP confined everyone to an individual BU for their whole career and never used knowledge sharing and international assignments to strengthen their knowledge and allow them to become more valuable assets to the company. You can't paint all expats with one brushstroke. I will agree with you that there are some that are not worth their weight in salt, but that goes with any work group or area. There are a few bad eggs in every carton. I just find the humor in comments that are targeting specific groups and there are many on this website being targeted as easy pray for getting off the company payroll, but the down turn in oil prices should not diminish us a heartless scumbags wishing ill on any of our fellow employees or BUs. I totally disagree with Annuiu's post in that all senior managers are expats. True, many of them have served as expats, but that should not discredit them as heavy, financial burdens to the company. Some areas are expat heavy, but last time I checked, there are not a lot of positions open in their homelands for them to return and unfortunately, some of them may not get the opportunity to during the next round of layoffs. I respect anyone who has been willing to take an expat role and to share the knowledge to make my work more efficient and cost effective. We don't ever count the efficiencies we may have attributed to what expats bring or how much money they have saved for various projects, but we sure are quick to discount them as added burdens and costs as soon as we become cost focused. Sad, but true.

Do you have to be tall to be an expat at CoP??

Why play in the middle of I10 when you can drive down it...gas is so cheap!!

131474 - let's not act like all Expats are god's gift to the company. COP 'status' is highly determined by politics, not job skills. Have worked in 2 seperate BUs (meaning I have previously been an expat) and can say that there are as many shitty ones as there are good. And really, who are you to call somebody overpaid and under-qualified? However, guess anybody can be a keyboard warrior/tough guy/gal - why don't you give a clue to your identity and et others determine whether you're worth a pinch of shit or not.

Until then do the world a favor and go play in the middle of the I10…..

Sorry to tell you "Anonymous131609" but Chevron is basically broke. They are facing a significant cash drain to complete their LNG mega-projects (Gorgon and Wheatstone) in Australia. They could not possibly arrange the financing for any kind of acquisition.

I prefer Chevron! If there is a vote.

I have to agree with the amount of employees that are overpaid and under qualified.

Or ConocoPhillips will be acquired by ExxonMobil or Shell.

There will be no fate for expats just some shuffling around. This is a global company based out of Houston, Texas and not Calgary, AB. Contrary to what you may think, expats are critical to our sustainability and long term success with CP. Only now that oil is $45/bbl are folks complaining about expat costs. Easy to blame one group when the spoiled have been spoiled for so long...most of you are overpaid and underqualified for what you do at CP. We will eventually get to the business model we need to be to be a reactive, flexible, and profitable E&P company, but we have some work to do and expats will definitely be in the mix for our future! Get used to it.

All tall people are confident.

Overconfident tall ones.... I hope you are talking about one that's in Canada!

Good to hear expats are out. Many of them are slime, especially overconfident tall ones.

but they hold senior management positions and are mostly critical to business so its not easy to let them go

Expats are always first to go