I am glad that someone here mentioned sponsors. I think that the sponsor system is one of the main reasons for the departure of best employees and the decline of this company in general. Do you agree?
3 replies (most recent on top)
Sponsors had zero impact on my leaving. Purely pay, I more than doubled my salary with a much higher potential salary in the future. I saw plenty of people who definitely didn’t have the so called sponsorship be promoted and plenty of people rumored to be sponsored get PIPed. So honestly I think it’s a bunch of made up BS. Maybe 4 years wasn’t enough to see it.
Sponsorship exists in all companies to varying degrees. The problem is XOM moves so slowly to progress people that many high performers quickly realize that after a few years their market value eclipses what is going on at Exxon.
For example, if I’m a new hire out of school and crushing it, why would I wait 3-4 years to actually be “ranked” and therefore be able to earn a higher raise / CL. That’s basically 2-3 years of waiting just to be given a chance to play the game. Or I can build my resume and switch to a new job with a much higher raise after 2-3 years.
This is why virtually none of my intern and new hire class, including myself, are still there.
Well yes I agree you need it to survive. Is it right? Absolutely not. Folks should be judged fairly on the work they do and not how well liked they are by managers that are inable or unaware of the work that the employees perform. The answer is quit promoting basket weavers and lta performers to management positions. Have someone at the helm that has a clue about the work the employees are doing. Someone from the ranks and not the boot licking club. I see clueless managers paying for beer at team building. Says a lot for no one gets hurt.