I am just a lowly contractor and believe it is 50-50 at best that my contract will be renewed. Many regular employees are gone from where I work with new people showing up all the time. You can see the fear and uncertainty in many faces. I have been in the oil business a long time and have been laid-off before. I am not a slacker and have seen many good, dedicated people lose their jobs. No matter how much I try to always do my best, I may well be unemployed at the end of my contract. I am just not going to be scared or intimidated anymore. It is affecting my mental health, always being stressed out, not sleeping well, etc. It would almost be a relief getting out of this business and having the burden of uncertainty lifted. Fortunately, I do not have a house payment, almost no debt and my children are grown and on their own. How many others are out there who have thoughts similar to mine? I will never recommend anyone to be in the oil industry as a long term, fulfilling career. It is just too unstable.
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you remaine please say so. the other comments are excellant and inspiring
To be fair, things are predictable and repeatable. All projects will go substantially over budget and complete substantially behind schedule. This is highly predictable and repeats itself with every project.
Bingo Anonymous130094 you win the prize. Process's are supposed to make things predictable and repeatable speeding up decision making as well as quality decision making. Until Chevron throws off these shackles of OE nonsense it will not produce. I was a Navy Nuke and that is the definition of process. And it created amazing productivity. I know what a solid management system looks like.
True dat, Anonymous130094
A common thread in most of the posts, is reference to "clever by half" processes (ie., ChipDip) which thrive within Chevron. The bureaucratic "drag" accompanying such nonsense is immense, the seemingly endless meetings, and all the falderal that goes with them, typically become the "reason de journee". One must wonder: Just how much "chip" were Gorgon and Big Foot "dipped" in? Too little? Or, too much? I worked with some truly great people in my career with Chevron, and I worked with some of the most laughably inept and arrogant weasels I ever had the displeasure of meeting, in the entirety of my working life. If not for the experience of having worked with several other energy companies, prior to Chevron, it would be tempting to just shrug and consider such a mix of competence and incompetence as normal. But,... it isn't. Chevron has, truly, become a seething cesspool for a special breed of incompetence, capable of embedding within the host organization and thriving on a witches brew of "feel good", "sound good" processes that actually do little more than nurture those who suck, upon them.
I whole heartedly agree with Anonymous129966's comments. If you can afford to leave, and possibly live with a reduced income, do it. I took the separation package in the 2010 Downstream ROM, and have been working in a series of contract jobs since then. The pay is not steady like at CVX, but gone is the constant stress of ROMs, PASA, Idiot Moments, OE, LPOs, infinite ChipDip studies.
The boys in San Ramon need to wake up and recognize that the burden of these self-imposed and wholly contrived processes are counter-productive. The life-long Chevronites like to brag how great "their" company is, but it's become a gold-plated organization, lots of managers who supervise the process followers, and not many actual do-ers.
Ahhhhhh the old saying God often makes decisions we can't. The other thing is you can not conquer something that does not exist. Fear is made up thoughts in your mind....they are not tangible. Now if you go into your office and your boss puts a gun to your head I think fear is the reasonable because it is tangible. I live my life free of fear. I live in the present and enjoy life, I am at peace....not always happy but at peace. There are two things you can do when faced with this shit. Accept it and totally be at peace with it or make a change. I asked to be left standing and took a package from Chevron. I was getting calls from ex managers to come and work with them. I could just no longer be at a place where I can not make a difference. The negative energy in that place is enough to make the most enlightened person sick. Get out of there. Nothing to fear.....how many times have you changed things up and somehow you magically are still alive :-). Good luck and remember you are not alone.
Yup....no need to be scared....more to life than Chevron and oil patch....they may do you a favor by laying you off...
If I didn't have a house payment I'd find a job at trader Joe's or Costco or anywhere I could get medical tilll I'm old enough for Medicare. The hell with this corporate crap. The environment I'm my department is so toxic I'm surprised I don't glow in the dark. And it's only going to get WORSE.