Thread regarding Weatherford International Ltd. layoffs

We can boost effeciencies if we don't mess with stupid radar cards, unless they are good and not mandatory. We can boost efficiencies if we eliminate journey managemnent and gps trackers. Eliminate the useless spreadsheets and meetings. Eliminate the useless quality checklist. Let us do our jobs and we will be efficient. We can't get ready for a job without 2 hrs of wortless procedures and paperwork. It has become a joke and with the waybwe are going there won' t be anybtrees left from all the useless paperwork. If it isn't broke dont fix it. The only problem was the downturn and prices were cut, but now we feel its necessery to spend more money on more useless steps in the process. Go back to the basics and we can save money and maybe morale will come back.

Safety is fat!

Just look at the titles of the management on the company web page. They are all bean counters. They should merge roles of this overhead first.

Customer service is suffering and top line would be much better if they would quit cutting the personnel required to service customers. This is particularly true in the PB. Very bad attitudes out there---nobody expects a long future with WTF so nobody is very happy.

It's hard to cut your way to profitability. Better to grow your sales and that is getting much more difficult.

I was laid off recently from my management position. I had worked for Weatherford for years and had witnessed them mistreat and throw good people away time after time. I foolishly thought they would never do it to me. In my time as DM I had almost zero autonomy as far as decision making. Everything was dictated by the Area Operations Manager who knew nothing about my product line. I was actually excitited to hear they were eliminating unnecessary management. Yet somehow the clueless AOM is still there and I was sent packing. I’m not bitter though. It’s even somewhat humorous to me now. It was just hard to stop worrying about the good people that reported to me. I wish them the best if luck.

Weatherford was built on buying previously successful companies and then merging their operations together.

The company was structured as a top down organization and limited any local decision making ability instead of a bottom up organization.

When Bernard was in control, he would convince the BOD (without having more than a general knowledge of the industry), he would buy companies mostly because they were successful previously. (Eventually, the BOD turned on him and made him the fall guy)

Then, he would limit and restrict these smaller companies ability to make decisions. Any innovative thinking was restricted or limited. It didn't help with the various tax problems or Deep Horizon. But the real killer was the collapse in the oil and gas price. Weatherford had bought these companies and then they would try to lease everything that they could (Building, vehicles, etc). Low initial cost to lease but over the long term, the costs increase and planning on the oil and gas price remaining high.

They put an emphasis on anything in the Middle East at the detriment of North America and concentrated far too much on Big Iron. Poor CEO Mark M (who was poached from Halliburton) is now travelling to various places and handing out Weatherford T-shirt's as one can see on their facebook page.

They do have some good equipment but when you have the people who designed and built the equipment leaving or laid off, there is trouble. To give a better example, how long will a vehicle go with only adding fuel and the occasional oil change. Eventually, it will wear out and without anyone looking at what parts are wearing out and making improvements. A similar parallel can be made to an airplane. How long will it fly with only fueling it up and minimal maintenance. (Surprising long) but eventually, even the best designed planes will need refurbishment and if you don't have the people or the equipment for this, it is eventually going to fail.

I have no doubt, that Mark M is a great guy but when he says that we need to squeeze operations and cut them when they are already are stretched to the limit because of the 5 billion or so in debt, I would be very worried.

i know all weatherford employees around me looking for opportunities outside the organization. All stressed and they are still working there because they have no other options. Weatherford thinks they are the only folks in the market. They have no new technologies to compete with others. Their systems are old compared to their peers.

Not just been happening since the downturn, Weatherford management and failure of structure coupled with poor pay have been the cause of the company losing dozens of good people over the years. Incompetence and lack of industry knowledge from the management are the main issues....

I agree. Many good employees are leaving after years of dealing with WFT incompetence, and piss poor pay. Not that the industry has recovered, but this was the first year that O&G had some (very few, but some) openings again. I was lucky to get away from the dumpster fire and went to a competitor, and now feel appreciated.

During the going away lunch for my college and I who quit, our manger made it all about the people staying.....

They fail to mention how many good people quit in the last 6 months. It's a lot.

Pigs will fly before we see an increase in work.

I'm so happy I quit over the summer.... good riddance WFT.