Thread regarding Pembina Pipeline Corp layoffs

Mamagers coming to work drunk or severely hungover and being celebrated and promoted. The way all the tight groups stay together or at least survive layoffs because of cliques. Usually cemented by lengthily drinking binges. When does the work get done? Doesn’t seem to matter. Invoices and expenses going way over on projects and VP questioning the li---r bills but somehow there are never consequences for these people. Instead: promotions and rewards.
Also the top heavy nature of every team. A manager who only has two people report into him. And probably taking all the credit for their work.

Take it for what it's worth. When I had my severance package reviewed by a lawyer, she told me that she knew a couple of fellow lawyers at Pembina. One thing she mentioned is that Pembina tries to never layoff people on an individual basis, and prefers to if possible let things playout with a resignation vs. a package. She said that money is not really a concern but instead it's a mental thing with the company not wanting to set a precedent where employees believe they can just be packaged out. Keeping employees in line. Can't comment on the tactics used from within but the story below sounds pretty brutal. Hope she is well.

I'll add something that still makes me angry to this day. I was hired at Pembina in 2014 and sometime in 2015 there was a female on our team in her late twenties who was going through an obvious challenging time with her mental health and was struggling. It was heartbreaking seeing it take place from the sidelines, and I genuinely wondered if she would even be in the office the next day or if she took her own life. I remember seeing our HR business partner visit the office of our manager to obviously discuss options about the situation. A day or two later after that visit, the manager took her office away, assigned it to someone else, and increased her workload and field visits... to obviously make her resign and rid the company of any liability. Another note to the story: This is the same team that debated hiring a black man to replace said manager. It's all true and disgusting.

Pembina is the only company I worked for in my career where if a quality person and decent performer accepted a position at another company, we didn't openly celebrate them or look inward as to why they left. As soon as the person had one foot out the door, they were criticized and their contributions minimized. It was serious Stockholm syndrome. People need to accept that these cultural issues are tolerated from the top down and there isn't anyone high level in the executive "pipeline" under Mick who have an appetite for changing these things. As long paycheques are cashed and the shareholder is looked after, who cares. I'm curious so see how far behind the eight ball Pembina will be in 5 years.

Alright, here is another terrible one for the list. When all of the Covid stuff kicked off and we started to work from home, a former colleague of mine started to experience symptoms of the virus. The team was texting this person checking in but when they talked to management, the only thing they were asked was "who were you last in contact with at the office" and "let us know when you are able to get back to work". Nothing about their health. The manager told them that HR and the company "nurse" would reach out to them to check-in but that never happened. Was chatting with them a few months ago and they said that after that went down, they had their resume open on one screen while working, and that Pembina paid for them to find another job. The response was very Pembina-like.

"Later, top management is asking why the projects fail."

That's when those same managers and supervisors who are full of hubris pick their scapegoats to take the fall, and no one dares speak up for fear of retribution. Rinse and repeat. It's all toxic.

Interesting that a number of these posts are now downvoted. Imagine being so bent over by Pembina that you spend your Sunday afternoon downvoting the truth. Long live the cult.

Have you noticed that the same managers and supervisors will always be in management positions. None of the old managers and their friends get fired. They just shuffle them in different positions, simply because it is convenient to protect them and keep their friends working at Pembina. Many of them have no idea about what they are doing in those positions, but they are friends of the powerful old guys. Later, top management is asking why the projects fail. Well, managers and supervisors are in those positions because of the networking and not their own merit.

Shame!

I agree with some of the comments saying that Pembina do some kind of illegal things in the way they treat the employees, for instance discrimination.

It is false that Pembina supports diversity and inclusion. It is just marketing but it doesn't happen.

Surprised no one mentioned how they treated their former employees during the layoffs last year. They paid out the bare minimum in staff who gave everything to the company (and bought into the Pembina culture). The company even played hardball with 20 year + employees over peanuts. Pembina also decided to update the severance schedule document mere days after sending it out requiring former staff to obtain a signed letter from their bank if their wanted severance monies to be deposited to an RRSP..... During a global pandemic when almost everything was closed. It then took them over a month to deposit the funds. I know a few people who couldn't get that signed letter and had to take a cash payout and get hammered even more with taxes. Pembina also only gave former employees two weeks of additional benefit coverage during a global pandemic and told everyone to use up as much as they could. It was sad to think of any staff who themselves or their dependants had serious health issues and were so callalously cut off. It was all another kick the by a classless organization.

Does anyone know if Pembina is aware this site exists? Some of the comments - that I'm sure are all true - are incredibly damning..... Calling some of this stuff "unethical" is ridiculous. The actual word is illegal and should be reported. I had two people who don't even work for Pembina send me links to this site. For such an intensely private company who use the Mannix approach of flying under the radar this has to be concerning for them. Keep the posts coming......

Wow. I forgot about the woman being laid off before Christmas. 2014? In typical Pembina fashion no one spoke openly or called out the brutal decision for fear of their own careers.. It is impressive how the company manages to keep its staff on such short leashes. Manipulation in its very purest form. Almost cult-like.... although no one will admit it.

Clarification on point #4: the debate was around hiring the individual based on their skin color. Not credentials or experience. There was considerable concern within the particular team that they would somehow lose credibility with field personnel due to hiring an ethnic person. And yes, Calgary took the concern seriously hence the debate.

Another item for the Pembina Pipeline Corporation list of shame: firing a single mom 3 days before Christmas with HRs full support.

Don’t forget racism and discrimination. My supervisor treated people who spoke the same language differently. I was even asked about the race of a person based on a name on the resume as my group was looking to hire . The manager was told that the supervisor only wanted to hire someone form her own race as it is easy to communicate and HR agreed. When someone complied in my group regarding discrimination, he was let go by the manager .