For goodness sake, we all know we work in a cyclical industry. Enjoy it while you can. Baker Hughes has much better benefits than its bigger competitors
7 replies (most recent on top)
It's definitely frustrating the job to job career, however it comes with all the energy industry. I would love to see oilfield stable. The companies become greedy over produce, and it keeps prices low. I do think they need better severance packages. I am grateful for every job my husband gets. I would rather have steady, than boom and bust and would be better for employees and their families
I wouldn't say that BHI has better benefits than its competitors. Back when they matched 401k, it was better than HAL. Baker matched 5%, HAL matched 4%. Now Baker matches 0%. The "pension" is not a pension. It's a retirement account that you have no control over. While you work there, Baker puts in a pittance each quarter, and interest accrues each quarter. In my experience, it seems to be 1% interest accumulating per quarter. I've been at BHI for 7 years - if I left today, and interest remains constant, it would be worth ~ $100k when I retire. A drop in the retirement fund bucket, but still, it's non-trivial.
Where Baker really lacks is perhaps the most relevant benefit these days: severance. One positive is that they provide 3 months health insurance. Let's say this is worth $3-5k. However, the Baker policy of 1 week severance per full year of service is embarrassing. Every other oil and gas employer (I'm sure there are exceptions, so don't bust my balls)n is 2 - 6 weeks per year. Let's take a 5-year employee who makes $80k a year. At BHI they would get 3 months of health insurance ($4k), and 5 weeks of salary ($7,692) - a total of $11,692. The same employee laid off from HAL would get 10 weeks salary ($15,384) and 1 month insurance ( $1.33k) - a total of $16,700. That's 43% more severance at HAL than at BHI.
A dinnae ken aboot th' ither places bit tis bin a lang time sin we used bicycles at th' bridge
Awh bull. My Schlumberger pension provides far more benefits than Baker's. Plus they train better, pay better, organize better and the stock price reflects this. Only reason to work for Baker is that uou can get away with snything as the management has no clue.
Oh you must be talking about that 401k right?
Well said. Appreciate what you have. Tomorrow you will have even less. But your appreciation should only increase to compensate. Stay happy and keep getting f*. Stay in your little pond but always stay happy.
Well said.