It's wishful thinking. Hoping that people are quitting in droves and will somehow sc--w over the management that's doing nothing to stop them... It would be great if it was true, but it's not. Our attrition is the same as it always was. It never moved from the numbers that are perfectly acceptable. If there were more people walking away than usual we'd notice it in increased hiring and reduced layoffs/firings. None of that is happening. As I said previously, wishful thinking.
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We are losing people but we haven’t gotten near the number they are wanting. So there is no concern. Yes, those people that are leaving are the best so they do have job postings for those positions since they don’t think anyone internally can do them or because management won’t allow people to move into the opportunity because they are short staffed.
Man you're not kidding. I took off a while ago and had to really scrub my brain out before interviewing.
Here's a couple bits of advice for XOM folks leaving
1) exxon is famous for the arrogance of the employees thinking they are amazing. And its true that academically we target very high performers. But here's the deal you dont get to be arrogant working for a company that is losing money hand over fist. So dont think that the Exxon name is going to buy you a lot
2) absolutely positively do not trash the company during an interview. How stupid would you have to be to do tbat?
3) if you worked in operations the amount of abuse you were willing to accept, like being on call 24/7 for 3 years, is actually impressive. Thing is most other mature industries know to actually properly staff operations roles, so this isnt a requirement at a lot of places. It is still impressive though. Just make sure to frame it right (see number 2)
3) for those of you who worked in some of the more fungible areas like supply chain or whatnot, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your skillet makes you employable elsewhere, and you will likely make more money there.
Congratulations for not spending 10 years in coking. The bad news is that you almost definitely overestimate the value of your experience. Most of our methods in these areas are at the level of masters level capstone project. At best. There are like 10 people in the company that even have any kind of an academic background in these fields and its generally very slim knowledge. The fact is we spent 50 years hiring chemical engineers to do jobs they werent qualified for, and because of that we are extremely behind the times and dont even know jt. If you walk into an interview for a scheduling role and you've never heard of Littles Law you're going to have a hard time, so study before your interviews, and (keeping in mind point 1) be humble about what you think you know
4) no one cares about your PowerPoint skills. Im sorry so much of our career development was based on that
Why do I suspect that this was written by a 50 year old distillation tech lead with zero transferable skills?
Anyone thinking that voluntary attrition isn't a serious issue is working in a bubble of people who aren't able to leave and are living in denial.
I won't go into specifics, but in the areas where fungible skills are more common, we are seeing unprecedented losses. Like 50% in some groups.
The only people who can't see this are the ones pretending this is the 90s and we can just continue to ride the upstream gravy train and maintain an unprofitable refinery. Or they're old enough that they can just cynically skate into retirement while the company flounders. And then blame the failure on "the millenials", while conveniently forgetting that its the company that THEY built.
So basically everyone leadership.
@OP The CVs landing in my inbox from XOM and other O&G employees implies otherwise. They may not be leaving, but they’re definitely looking.
Most of you seem to be looking for a safe harbor. Many of you are overselling the value and transferability of your skills. More than a few are foaming at the mouth with bitterness against your current employer. One trashed their supervisor (really). These are all reasons not to hire you.
I get the impression that most O&G employees, especially the ones with 5+ years of experience, have no clue how to interview for a job outside of their industry. Invest in some coaching.
This place is a dump.
According to OP, it always has been.
yes, it said “moral” instead of “morale”…
OP is a troll. In my organization attrition is 5-6 times the typical annual one
@ert+1cqXfIdP - did the email subject actually say “moral” instead of “morale”?
The results of our famed ranking system. M0r0ns are now highly placed individuals in the company.
OP it’s that kind of thinking that will get XOM to have a process safety incident because something was missed
I got a meeting notice the other day for a lunch talk. It was from a highly placed person in out technology organization. The subject was “employee moral”.
We’re doomed.
There is at least on group based in Houston that are having “coffee talks” to address the attrition issue and discuss the value in a Career in the company.
I work in a refinery and at least half the people I've worked with before COVID have already left the company. Either by their own choice or not.
The best are already gone. They are the easiest to place in other companies.
Where it’s high it is and high and where it’s low it is typical compared to historical attrition.
They aren’t going to hire to backfill people in the US unless absolutely necessary. All attrition is desired. Potentially damaging but desired. Dallas HQ doesn’t have to pick up the work slack, others do.
Don’t worry OP, you can keep believing this if it makes you feel better about staying. Hope you can survive the reduction to 50-55k employees by 2025!
Deep down you know people are leaving uncharacteristically and it’s making you uneasy....should you leave too? Do they know something you don’t? For you OP I say “no” you should stay and keep your knee pads tight!!!!! Yes they realize something you haven’t yet.
Wait until they start “locally outsourcing”
jobs in US and Canada. Meaning, you’re an electrical engineer in UIS at EMHC, they are going to get a contract with Jacobs or Mustang or some other engineering firm that actually does all of our engineers work and farm your job to them. They will tell you your role is going to become a contractor role, you’ll no longer be with XOM but you’ll be offered your same role as a contractor.
Don’t believe me? Ask EAPS (formally GREF) folks about what happened in 2016-2017 when they “locally outsourced” hundreds of jobs to CBRE! They weren’t laid off! They still had the same job! Just not as an XOM employee! Winning! Same headaches with no benefits and the company gets the same person but saves money. Knee lockers like you will bend over and say “Gee whizz thank you!” #yourekindaxom
Attrition is much higher than normal. 5 engineers have left my group since February. This group has not had an Engineer outright just quit ever then looses 5 in just a few months.
Anyone that tries to convince people that this is normal attrition is brain dead, on crack, or both.
Hiring people doesn’t happen overnight in this dinosaur dumpster fire
Repeat after me - all attrition is good news, because it’s one step closer to the 3B structural costs savings target. Thank you for your contributions, quitters!
Are you purposefully trying to trigger people?????
What group are you in? HR has announced hiring +200 new employees into America mfg sites in the next year
Who say I’m leaving! I am “working from home”. Had been spending a lot of time on my resume and zoom interviews! Wish me luck!
Its not hoping that people leaving will sc--w over management. It is hoping that good people find a place that respects and values their contributions. It is showing on recent strikes, benefits cut, disguised PIP, nepotism, force retirement, etc. Management is screwing itself because people with skill and experience are getting dropped off without replacement
Just because your site isn't facing layoffs and firing doesn't mean other sites have that luxury
Attrition is welcomed in high cost locations. That is actually the end goal. Sending jobs overseas and no cost to unload employees in current locations.
It depends on the specialty. IT and engineers have skills that are transferable across industries. Geoscientists not that much. I think attrition is high in some areas.