Is it just me or have we all been blindsided by offshoring / outsourcing? Did we actually have plenty of warning i.e. telltale signs that we failed to recognize?
What are the telltale warning signs that a department will be offshored/outsourced?
27 replies (most recent on top)
@hzc+1m5gRs6M I bet almost 1/3 of the Midland office on Holiday Hill Road is BTC expats at this point. All with under five years experience. I wonder how those work visas are justified?
@3glx it is high time for all the stanky curries to join forces and take over the jobs performed by the baconators.
Oh wait, that won't happen because all the H1B geniuses are scared $hitle$$ about losing their jobs and being sent back home to bathe in the pure waters of the Ganges......
This comment probably comes from a person who belongs to the “New world” that was discovered when people were trying to find alternate trading routes for “spices” that forms the basis of “curry”. Ignorance of history!
Also, the person from the “newly-found-land” probably eats bacon for breakfast and thinks that the “stuff” that comes out after digestion wouldn’t stink-up the restrooms.
Oh, on the accent part. Try speaking another country’s language with the same accent as the natives and let’s see how thick or thin the accent is!
Fu-k these stupid BTC/MSP mo--ns. They can't find their way out of a paper bag but DW got a 50% raise.
pbq+1m5gRs6M I am sure you have heard the saying "you get what you pay for". Exxonmobil will in the end get what they are paying for which in this case is low quality work products that do not require critical thinking. If anything that deviates from a documented WF the process is either completed incorrectly or with low accuracy. Fact!!!
BTC, LCS, EMPTE, the low caliber, toxic culture, and dwindling morale is a sign of a disaster waiting to happen for ExxonMobil.
@1btz Oh god, this guy again.
He’s salty all of his threads were taken down so he’s going to grind his axe here. Must be retired (good).
I personally think he’s secretly into trans-women and doesn’t know to deal with it.
@OP a telltale sign is when your T-gender boss demands that you get down on your hands and knees and do unmentionable things to him/her/it
Look the irony is nobody thinks they can be replaced “they are special “ (me too generation). Because they all got honorable mentions ribbons. However, nobody is special anymore.!it is the haves and have nots. Does not matter if you are apart of any of the rainbow or race especially not age. Your job will be outsource if Exxon Mobil can find a person to do your jobs cheaper. And yes the pip is the hr answer to “we tried to work with this person but….thanks judge for understanding “ now can we get them off of our payroll?
@1hej This guy again.
I hereby christen thee “Sir Deepwater”, and afford you all of the rights and privileges that come with being a knight in Fantasy Land, complete with thoroughbred stallion, diamond lance, and unsupervised liaisons with all of the noble maidens of the realm.
I think AI will actually trump the low cost centers. The work will just get less and less overall.
I am currently a consultant with 35 years of offshore deep water construction experience I retired from EM in 2016. My day rate is currently $2800/day. The oilfield is back, I have more work than I can handle. I am currently pushing
off work to colleagues that have my experience level (which are few)
Life is good.
The warning signs went up in late 90s with jobs being outsourced to Thailand. That was the beginning of the end.
US tech companies are saying, 'We can hire an engineer in the United States for $300,000 or we can hire somebody great internationally with very similar experience for $75,000," Chris Bakke, CEO of the tech-recruiting platform Laskie, previously told Insider.
If your job is not in the field… you will be outsource.
You will be safe if you are an EM manager….. maybe.
When your husband comes home late smelling like perfume and cigarettes, then that is your leading indicator.
Offshoring controllers and payroll incur near zero additional risk.
Offshoring technical expertise does incur technical risks and potentially lead to catastrophic failures and loss of life.
Offshoring technical expertise will be a root cause of future failure(s).
I was always taught to avoid situations that looked like a future root cause. Now I am being pushed to embrace situations that I know will be a root cause. I have personally caught multiple design assumptions from BTC that would have caused failures if not caught.
When there is a catastrophic event, Dallas Execs will take zero blame for pushing that root cause. Will just keep all those bonuses based on meeting root cause milestones.
Glad I am retiring before that event happens.
BTC was originally sold as enablers at low cost to release high value HC10 staff to do more demanding activities. Then, that work got more evenly spread between HC10 and BTC. Now, they are not to be called BTC, but to be called Bangalore office, making them equal in all respect. Clearly, the corporation is positioning them as equals, which means a price premium for HC10 will not be supported. 2 years maximum before virtually all work will be migrated.
Boiling frog mission creep in action.......
I was waiting in the car rental line at the Midland airport, the guys in front of me were talking about bringing over BTC employees to the Permian. For what, I don’t know, but I’m positive Bangalore Bhupinders don’t have business being in West Texas.
Let's be honest: O&G salaries in the US are inflated relative to the actual work. I know excellent engineers working in Aerospace or NASA with 20 years of experience making 150K which is the average salary for CL25 (3 years of experience).
I work in the US and I feel I am overpaid myself. I see my ExxonMobil job as easy money. It doesn't require any advance degree and I don't work in anything of fundamental relevance for EM. I see myself as an expensive redundancy and if I were the decision maker, it would make sense for me to offshore me.
As a matter of fact I'm surprised I have not been PIPed yet. I always get placed in the middle of the pack. I believe the average quality and quantity of work is mediocre at best so it takes very little to get away and make an inflated salary.
Obviously I am not $tup1d and I understand the market forces. What we are witnessing is a US salary deflation and india salary inflation. Eventually the gap will close and offshoring will stop. I am prepared for the day it gets to me. Meanwhile I don't complain and milk the cow.
@OP, one of the most notable signs is when the stench or curry permeates through the building and smell coming from the bathrooms makes you pass out.
Other than that, look for a bunch of foreigners (all named BOB) with thick undiscernible accents hovering over your shoulder when you are busy working.
They’ve been offshoring controllers roles for over 20 years
@OP It’s just you.
Outsourcing/offshoring has been happening steadily in every industry since 2004.
They start out telling you only operational jobs will move. Engineering and decision making will stay.
Then surprise, it all goes.
It leaves you confused as you have been told for decades how important it is that the work be done with excellence.
Then you find out they really do not care how well it gets done. Ir not done.
I don’t know how anyone could be blindsided. The company has been pretty open about moving as many jobs as possible to Bangalore, Kuala Lampur, Argentina etc…
I am personally asked several times a year about which part of my job could be farmed out to cheaper cost centers.
They do the foreign shadowing all the time, look at all the people from Argentina for accounting roles and trading scheduling
There was a post on here months back about a conspiracy that the company was as secretly sending LC country employees from sites like BTC etc into the HC10 sites like EMHC and Annandale to shadow the experienced employees so they had the knowledge to ramp up the operations at the low cost sites. The post specifically mentioned an uptick in “foreign workers” at the HC sites. Now I live a good conspiracy just as much as the next guy but even this guy as a stretch for me. But I’ll be damned if over the next few months and into current Day I just see more and more and more foreign people. But not just foreign people, like authentically foreign, right off the boat, barely speak English if at all. And I see them being integrated into the daily operations at the Clinton site. I think it’s still a bit far fetched but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they were infact, doing this to farm us out to LC sites.