In my team it has become the general rule that the best performers are first to leave. This has been going on for a while. I get the fact that there are a lot of companies in the industry out there, and that a knowledgeable employee can certainty find his way and has the option not to put up with the cr-p that has been going on at this company in the last couple of years, but what frightens me is the passive attitude of the management towards the ones that are leaving.
I swear, nobody from the management even talked to those people, much less asked them for their reasons for leaving. If this continues we will soon be left with the workforce of young college grads that only think of EM as a stepping stone in their career and a name in their CV
16 replies (most recent on top)
@2tbx+1cBNVZhR
The people you talk about are hi-pos or managers (hi-pos that have been already promoted). Depending in what part of the company you work, there are individual technical contributors (100% hands-on technical work on specialized software, not PowerPoint or emails), who go up to CL29 and make $300K. Many of them have published scientific papers but are ranked at the bottom because they are conveniently ranked with supervisors and young managers, who obviously have to be on top. We had a lot of them years ago, today most have retired or have been forced to retire.
@1bqy Definitely not a “blue-collar champion” (whatever that means).
I’m just tired of hearing/seeing people who make over $200k per year to read/send emails and sit in virtual meetings talk as though they’re god’s gift to the global workforce.
Hotshots
You are correct. There is no concern about the number of people resigning. You need to take care of yourself and not allow all the work to be put on your shoulders. Align with your boss on priorities.
@1arh+1cBNVZhR
Hey, you, the blue-collar champion, have you ever heard of something called spell-checker that often changes your words if you don’t double check them ? Or you think this posts are New Yorker Magazine articles that require weeks of word-crafting ?
If you imagine that turning valves is all that’s to be done in the O&G industry, maybe you should check the way oil fields are found and appraised. Shockingly enough for you, you might discover that more than a high-school diploma is needed to do that.
@ixkw is spot on. Part of the culture shift required at EM is to stop considering EM as your Mama's teety. You're in a business arrangement with them, not a safe haven from the ravages of the business world. Set mutual objectives and expected benefits. If you feel you are not on track then get objective feedback on the reasons and upside. Be proactive, dont wait to be pushed aside and PIPed.
Who cares about attrition or what ExxonMobil thinks about it or what your manager thinks? Putting faith into ExxonMobil is a choice, but my opinion is that people need to get into their head that THEY are in charge of their own career, they are the manager and CEO. If it's time to leave, go on your terms and for your reasons. I left before the dumpster fire last year for my own reasons. No exit interview, which was funny, since I was told there would be one. Anyways, it's your career. Be selfish about it.
“Your insulting generalization shows that you have a very limited knowledge what the way on O&G company works overall.”
@afw, presumably a white-collar professional, actually wrote this.
Sorry if I poked a nerve. True, every once in a while one does come across an O&G employee who knows their job and does it well without having to be told ten 10 times in 10 different ways, but they’re the exception. Most landed their positions due to personal connections and do little more than forward emails, update spreadsheets (manually, most can’t even build macros), and tinker with legacy software platforms appropriate for a declining industry. That’s when they’re not sitting in or calling pointless MS Teams meetings.
By definition (EM’s definition !) talent exists in the company ONLY in hi-pos. That’s why when occasionally a managers quits, the other managers mention it sobbing, like a loss in the family. Non-hipos have no value, no talent, they are just “losers” doing the d-mb work to be harvested by the “made men” - the leadership material. The moment our management will care about “attrition of talent” among the “losers who didn’t make it” they would be blowing up the system that feeds and protects them.
@gjm+1cBNVZhR
Your insulting generalization shows that you have a very limited knowledge what the way on O&G company works overall. While it’s true that in any field within the company there are people with fancy titles doing nothing, there are also a bunch of white collar individual contributors doing good work. That’s why you still get a paycheck.
@OP The attrition is the point. EM said as much back in June, and the intent to drive attrition was widely reported on by the business press at the time.
Most “white collar” O&G employees aren’t doing much for a day’s work aside from sending emails and sitting in virtual meetings, often to the tune of $200k a year or more, so there’s hardly a loss of talent for the company or the industry.
What group?
I heard a manager saying toda… XYZ gave 2 weeks notice, sad he was good but who is the person that will replace him since I need something done today.
They care less….just think about them.
I can tell you from my own experience, not one single manager asked me why I was leaving...guess they already knew.
Dude, that's 100% true.
The only people that stay are the ones that can't find jobs.
I left right away 🤓
EMHC = nursery or nursing home?