Thread regarding Marathon Oil Corp. layoffs

Poor little inferior fella.

So basically you know everyone else is better at your job than you but instead of working harder you just want them gone?

You realize the people on H1B cost more than you, right? Companies make more money paying people better than you more money.

It drives me nuts that you s--- at your job but have such an entitlement mindset you feel like you deserve the job just for being the subpar worker you are because of the country your daddy had a one too many Jack Daniels in 45 years ago.

Do you want a little participation trophy for showing up to work as well?

And....

The oil industry doesn't always work with the cheapest resources. Sometimes the higher priced option provides strategic advantages and/or a better return for the buck. So it is with expats/visa holders. If they were truely a lower cost option management would have replaced everyone with H1-B employees. The premise behind this tread is BS.

We're in a global market and you can't be competitive unless you work with the most cost-efficient (cheapest) resources. This is a basic economics problem.

The larger problem is why am I working my --- off but the person that giggles with the boss is the one that's getting promoted

Tag...

So, you’re still suffering delusions about ‘massive amounts of “cheap” foreign labor’ in the oil industry? An “un-deniable fact”, you say? OK, show us the evidence. Anecdotal stories about that guy down the hall with a funny accent don’t count. He’s probably just a Yankee. No, lets see some reliable and verifiable statistics. What’s that? You don’t have any? Hmm, isn’t it convenient how the world of alternative facts is never supported by hard evidence? When I was a kid we called that pretending or worse lying. Presumably you are an adult. Start acting like one and stop pretending your problems are caused by a fictitious horde of H1-B boogeymen. They aren’t, they rest within. Get help please.

We simply don't need massive amounts of "cheap" foreign labor. Period. Their only purpose outside of Silicon Valley is to drive labor costs down. That is an un-deniable fact. Some of them, maybe most of them, are good hard working people but the obvious fact is that their presence increases the labor supply in any field they are in and thus drive down wages. The laws of supply and demand aren't canceled just because they are H1 B. On the lower end, illegal aliens from SOTB have driven down wages in the construction fields and in the actual oil fields.

I am still not sure why so many damn Americans hate their fellow Americans so much that they want to acquiesce to greedy management notions of flooding the country with cheap labor.

Tag

Dude, face up to the facts: YOU chose to out yourself as a self-righteous xenophobe, then when people correctly pushed back YOU were offended. Wouldn't your energies be better spent reflecting on the validity of YOUR beliefs?

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish" (Euripides).

A condescending fool.

To be honest I don’t really care for the word “dude”. Unfortunately the moniker does suit you well. No, I’m not with HR nor am I “egging people on”. That description is more appropriate to you, isn't it? I do agree that this company is messed up. I also agree that the CEO is responsible for creating this mess. Shocker! Who da thunk it? We have some common ground! But… dude, that’s not the message of this thread, is it? Be honest with yourself now. The original post never mentions management or the CEO. Instead it promotes a hate message targeting and scapegoating expat visa holders, at “Marathon, and most other American oil companies”. I, and others, have already explained why that statement is untrue. So, since you can’t be factual, the least you could do is come up with a consistent and believable story. Is that too much of a challenge for you?

The apparent expat on here has a personality disorder. The one who loves the word dude. This is normalcy for MRO. I'm really hoping it's an HR person who just likes to egg on people. A typical snowflake who won't shut up. Yes. This company is awful to be employed. This is real. This is reality at MRO. I bet you can't wait to work here. Come enjoy the fun. Our CEO created this mess. New members welcome.

Dude, "America first" is accomplished by building relationships and leveraging off them not by succumbing to envy. No matter. Let's cut the bull and get to the heart of the issue. This discussion isn't about H1-B visa holders is it? It's really about you. You're feeling vulnerable because of an unstable labor market. Rather than working harder to make yourself more competitive and guarantee your survival you invent phantom bogeymen and lamely blame them for your own insecurity. Fine, do that. Doesn't fool anyone, only makes you look lame. Meanwhile the real world chugs on. But that's OK, your ranting is good. Good for the rest of us that is. Incoherent thinkers are easy road kill next time they reduce head count (if you still work for the company that is). So please, go tell the prez your theories, I double-dog-dare ya! It'll be fun to see his reaction when you tell him the part about those evil "Scotch". You do remember his Mum was a Scot, right? Oh, and by the way, Scotch is a whiskey not a nationality.

To the tsk tsk fool, the Irish, Canuck, English and Scotch who work in the Tower are not on ex pat deals they are on US payroll.

America first

Tsk, tsk. Still at it dude? Just can’t get it thru your head that visa holders aren’t part of an elaborate anti-American conspiracy to save the company money? Well, it’s a fact, they aren’t. At the risk of triggering your envy/resentment further let me elaborate on an earlier comment in this post regarding expat compensation: oil expats typically cost significantly more than a local employee, not less. In addition to their base compensation they also get paid a foreign service premium (a bonus), cost of living allowance, car and housing allowances, home leave expenses, foreign tax equalization, education benefits for their kids, etc, etc, etc. Add to that the cost of HR overhead and visa expenses and they are way, way, WAY more costly than local employees. Individual cases may vary, but a quick guess would be 2X+. The same applies to Americans going overseas with certain foreign locations paying even more. Oil expats in Africa, the Middle East or Southeast Asia often pay foreign service premiums that by themselves are 45-65% of base pay. Those locations typically add on company paid security and domestic staffs too.

Why then, given the high cost of expats, are companies like Marathon willing to pay extra for these employees? Because the people making the decisions, rightly or wrongly, believe the folks selected for foreign assignments are key to the companies survival and growth. They are generally long-term employees (geos and engineers mostly), often with unique basin knowledge, skill-sets and technical expertise and have proven their value to the company. You may disagree with management’s decision to do this and you may disagree with who they selected, but then this is a capitalistic company not a democracy and hence you don’t get a vote do you?

Fume all you want about the practice. Perhaps doing so will make you feel less helpless, temporarily. But remember this: the number of expats compared to total US staffing are relative small. Plus, the company has documented their personnel decisions out the wazoo; they are conforming to the law and will defend their decisions vigorously.

So here’s where you come back with something like: “The H1-B people are bad and the prez is going to change the law and bring back American jobs!” No, he’s not. It’s been well documented that he employees H1-B visa holders in his own businesses. He’s not going to damage his company despite his… ahem… pledge to place it in a “blind” trust. But OK, just for the sake of argument, lets say he does sign an executive order revoking H1-B visas or get’s congress to do it him. What then? Will MOC get rid of all those “Europeans” you’re prejudiced against and happy days will return for you? Not likely. Most of those folks won’t be adversely affected. Some have been here long enough that they are now permanent residents, even citizens. They won’t be going anywhere. The ones that do have to leave won’t be let go either; they’ll simply get transferred back overseas, to populate a new technology center or swap jobs with their foreign posted US counterparts. Management handpicked these people, they’re key employees, remember? Net oil jobs added? Zero. Money saved? Questionable. Huge waste of time.

We all want to see a healthy job market in this industry. That will only happen when oil prices return to a sustainable and profitable level. That won’t take place until the supply glut is gone. That is fact. Meanwhile, your whining about mythical hoards of cheap foreign H1-B visa holders stealing American oil jobs truly sounds desperate, like a person with “little drive” and a desire for a “socialist entitlement” state.

To Miss Cindy....

Or you write a description for the position that is so tailored to the specific experience that an expat has that any American would be virtually unqualified for said position. I have heard of this done countless times....

It is funny how he who has no legitimate argument tends to call those with whom he disagrees and "ignoramus" or "stupid" or or one of the many types of "phones" that most of us are sick of hearing.

And you are dead wrong in inferring that there are no qualified Americans to take these jobs. Companies like Marathon have people in the HR department who are specialists and getting the politically favored their precious H1 – B visas.

Now, please go back into your office and review a few more resumes or, better yet, devise another one page program, such as the "stand out achievement card," that you can stretch into four or five months. You would then be a hero in your department.

Hi Ignoramus! I used to process H1-B Visas for a tech company. Trust me: the government reviews all documents and requires the company to show that the position cannot be filled from the available applicant pool here in America. If the companies are hiring people from other countries for high-paying jobs here, it's because there are no qualified Americans.

So true, they have a persecution complex and xenophobia. Need help. Sad.

We have a legitimate obnoxious nerd on this thread.

1) I have no idea what your gender identity is, nor do I care. As to my use of the word "dude", I suggest you do a search on it's meaning. It fits you well, particularly when it comes to your understanding of the industry.

2) I referred to him as "your prez bud" because you chose to imply, in a Brown Shirtish sort of way, that you had his ear and would whisper sweet nothings to him about the abusive MOC expats and he'd rush to your rescue. Not gonna happen pal. Fact is his sec of state, who really does have his ear, will explain to him the way this industry really works and that will be that. In short: your threatening, harassing and bullying comments only serve to identify you as a bigot. Sorry if you don't like being recognized as one, but I thought we all agreed this nation has become too politically correct?

Oh, and yes I am American and I've got the long form birth certificate to prove it.

1) How do you know it's a "dude" with whom you are arguing?

2) Did not vote for Obama in '08 or '12, but he was "my prez." Do you intend to infer that Trump is NOT your "prez," or are you one of the expats in the USA about whom people on this message chain are complaining about?

Hardly. Get a grip.

The management IS EXPATS!!!

Ha, ha, ha!!! Hardly! Dude, you sure have a chip on your shoulder! Believe it or not I've honestly tried pointing you in the right direction, but you're stubornly holding on to that delusion of yours. It's not serving you well and that's an honest assessment. As to Marathon being best in class, I agree it's not. Lots of mistakes here, but those were by management not the expats.

Little sensitive about the European socialist entitlement having little drive. There is nothing best in class about MRO, especially all the mediocre expats in the US.

No dude, you did. From the start. Your prez bud isn't gonna bring back oil jobs by yanking visas when the real problem is a globally competitive market where US shale is simply at a cost disadvantage. Blaming Brits and socialists for that just proves you're Irrational and don't have what it takes to survive in this industry.

Missed point again.

Goals change but some things will always be fundamental. More than anything this business is about production. More specifically, profitable production. You do understand it pays the bills? Without it we all lose our jobs. It's also the reason why unconventionals have draw attention. Bypass E and go straight to development and P. Near immediate cash flow at a relatively low per well cost. But it also comes with rapid production decline and is extremely price sensitive. Unconventionals are essentially the equivalent of an all sugar diet, tastes great but not much nourishment. They're also not exclusive to the US. Just wait till management figures out there's a more profitable unconventional play In Argentina or Russia. Their labor rates really are lower. Ahhh, the beauty of capitalism!

Rarely do European socialist have drive. Marathon has a disproportionate number of expats company nsidering the goal is to be a US of unconventional independent.

I would venture to say that Americans have benefited the most from international expat postings. The pay bumps and other benefits tend to be larger for those going outside the US than those coming to the US. This is an international business and its workers move around the world a lot.

two different things. Not talking about production.

Actually, MOC still is an international company. Over 46% of production comes from outside the US. Even in this depressed market the EG assets have been making money, meanwhile the US has been hemorrhaging cash. They could sell EG, but then why would you want to? It's the only thing working at the moment. Be thankful international is still part of the asset mix, it's helping to ease the pain right now. But hey, stop getting me to sound like I'm supporting management, I'm not. Try directing your criticism to the real problems and not made up ones.

MRO is barely an international company. whats left you can't sell.

Marathon's an international company which means some employees are international as well. A small number of those international employees sometimes get the opportunity to work in the US. At the same time a small number of US based employees sometimes get to work overseas. In the end it's at worse a zero sum issue. More likely , since Marathon is a US company, more US based employees benefit from the arrangement over time. All international oil companies do this and it's not to save money on US salaries. Expats usually cost more. They do it for developmental training and strategic reasons. With low oil prices everyone is worried about their jobs and expats make easy but unjustified targets. The real problem is way too much oil and not enough demand. Fix that and the oil job market will take care of itself.

Wasn't there a post on this site about the Scottish Mafia a few months back?? Why do we need those guys? How come an American can't do those jobs?

How original. Sorry pal, the expats aren't the problem, it's your narrow mind and refusal to acknowledge reality that is.

Troll 💩

Ha, ha, ha! You crack me up Dude! The last two years of layoffs are all about oil prices and nothing about expat workers. You,'re just trying to find a scapegoat for your problems and you think you found one. That DOES make you a bigot. Oh, and you also forget that lots and lots of Americans have and do work overseas. I was one. They make a crap load of money and bring it back to the US. Over all the relationship helps US. No matter. You are clearly stuck in a dark hole of your own making. Good luck with that.