Thread regarding BP PLC layoffs

Having worked at both BP and XOM, I would say BP is a better company to work. The people are nicer. XoM is a mad house where everyone thinks they are the best in the world. In reality, XOM s—s. Your experience is useless anywhere else because XOM is not built for employees to be expert in what they do because if you get too technical, you are definitely not going to be managment material.
If not for marcando, BP wouldn't have had to do so many layoffs between 2014 and now. That is something a lot of BP folks understand. XoM on the other hand have convinced their employees that they have secured jobs for ever. So the layoffs came as a surprise to them and their ego.
I know people that left other oil companies for XOM only to get cut within 2 years of being at XOM. Horrible.
The industry is dying but XOM thinks they would be the last one standing.
Goodluck everyone!

Invest in R&D? I wonder what kind of liquor they were served. The problem is due to fundamental ignorance. They had people running R&D who didn't know what R&D is. They pressured the TVPs of R&D departments to produce a return. Now, how is that investing in R&D? The TVP was scratching his head to wonder how was he going to compete with his peers. What was the result? The TVP would rather his department languish than to spend money to get the projects done. So as long as he spent significantly less than he was budgeted, perhaps that would count for something. Then the same TVP would turn around and blame those within his departments for poor performance. When I saw that happen in real time, that was it for me. I lost respect for the company.

That’s a great point about bp “investing in R&D” but never really expecting to operationalize it. The investment is the expected result. It reminds me of the agreement bp had with Tesla to store electricity from wind farms in their batteries. It never went anywhere, it wasn’t meant to go anywhere, it was a PR opportunity.

Exxon has had many journal articles and patents come out of Clinton, plus lots of real R&D people. Bp will "invest in R&D" which simply means wasting money on buildings and fancy equipment that will never get used in a meaningful way. The focus was always on spending budget, doing superficial texhnical work, declaring victory and moving on to the next shing thing. Many many projects never amount to a hill of beans...because they were never going to be done right or for any work to proceed long enough before some new manager or exec showed up and wanted results immediately or changed direction entirely. Bp has the attention span of a gnat and rewards b—s—ters more than solid researchers or engineers.

Why are folks saying ExxonMobil is better managed? As an ExxonMobil I employee I’d be absolutely shocked if that was true. We have so many useless layers of management that are afraid to make decisions. Plus, the crazy decision to still be holding on to the dividend. Last big point, we haven’t done sh– about climate change where other majors are making commitments/progress toward clean energy.
Smaller note, someone mentioned better R&D? Enlighten me?

I think @1rku nailed it.

Exxon folks were more engaged and have traditionally cared more about the company. Also, much more Koolaid used to be served over there...

Here at BP, most people just check in and check out, collect the paycheck. Future is always is uncertain and the management is just substandard.

So, if things go bad, we kind of expect such an outcome here at BP. At Exxon, it's a new reality and folks are finding it appalling (we just find this as 'just another day in paradise')...

A good example of similar behavior on this board is Albertsons and Whole Foods. Folks at Whole Foods used to be treated well and are generally very p-ss-d when things go bad (hence a lot of messages, mostly negative). If you check out Albertsons' board, you'll find a few messages, but typically folks are disengaged. Finally, just pick any fast food company here on layoffs.com and you'll notice that there are no messages even though there is a ton of layoffs - it really has to do with the level of engagement the employee has - I think most fast food folks care little about what's going on as they know they are the 'commodity' and they can be disposed off easily...

bp is and has, for a long time, been f—ed. everyone knows it. complete sh–. nobody cares. the happy ones are the people who smile and wait for death or retirement

A commodity is exactly correct...cattle to be bought and sold. We over hire then over fire on the down cycles. The amount of money we pay out in severance over the years has to be an astronomical figure.

Why cant we better manage headcount?

We are used to this at bp. Being treated like a commodity that can be bought sold or thrown away is normal for us.

I have a close friend who is an XOM engineer and she shares your sentiments - she feels deeply betrayed and completely lied to.

"BP employees are more jaded..." I agree with you. Frankly, as a former survivor of many purges, I became much more cynical, much less trusting of every decision made by the company. It was always a wait and see when the next round will come along. You begin to wonder, will that coincide with my plans to leave? I soon realized that optimism I felt as a "rookie" was soon to be capsized. It was always fear that I felt when there is a changeover at the top. I knew that the incoming CEO was all about to create chaos, which was justified by his assurance that he had the "perfect" plan. When there was a changeover at the BUL level, it was the same thing. All of the business unit was thrown into chaos. No one did any work but to get up to rearrange the deck chairs to anticipate the "utopian" new arrangements. I even had to move a few doors down the hall. But, when it was my turn to leave, I was angry by it, but soon realized that there is life after BP. And it is a blessing. For those going through this, I give you my heartfelt wishes. I truly understand. I know what you are feeling.

IMO Exxon has been better managed, more respected, and done more legitimate R&D and more legitimate technical work over the years than BP has. So it is understandable that long-term employees would become angry and frustrated when experiencing a relatively rapid decline in the company.
BP employees are more jaded because it has been a long and steady erosion of morale and one crisis after another in the company. So most people at BP are simply disappointed and tired. There is no energy for anger, just a desire to eacape alive.