Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

The ' Chevron Way' only works at Chevron, and not very well at that. The longer an employee stays at Chevron, the less able they become to adapt to different ideas, methods and procedures that are used at other oil companies. Chevron does, in reality, have a reputation of being heavy on PC, meetings, group think and poor project execution. It is a great career if you can actually last here for 30-35 years, but not so great if you are laid off and having the Chevron reputation hurting your resume and hiring opportunities.

Your career plans need to be much broader than Chevron. If your "business plan" is to become independently wealthy, Chevron is just a stepping stone. You need to position yourselves to move- on beyond Chevron after 5 years. You have a flawed plan if you are thinking of a 10, 15, 20 year "career" with Chevron. Is it your dream to become a long-term Chev-roid? It is 21st century. Think big. Maybe start your own company.

If my smartphone is no better at spell-checking or keeps inserting its own words than Chevron is failing to improve itself, then both my phone and Chevron will get tossed in the garbage. Patience extends only so far.

The Career Development Plan (CDP) is not for everyone. Some employees are good at, and very happy doing what they are doing right now. Just because some of us are comfortable doing our same job for another 20 years or lack ambition to pursue different paths within the company, doesn't mean we are worthless. Some job positions are permanent within any company. If the incumbent wants to remain in the position, don't insist in him filling out the form every year. The supervisor only needs to encourage (or insist) the job holder keep up with the latest technologies or training to msintsin the position useful and delivering the best results possible.

It seems that the Chevron career path development ensures that employees become somewhat knowledgeable in one area and move on to another and so on. The high level of knowledge, expertise and experience is never attained because employees are always moving around to 'develop' their career. This very well explains all of the problems that Chevron continually has in designing and executing projects. What if an employee really loves what they are doing and want to develop their career in that particular field by continuing to do it, all the while gaining valuable experience, knowledge and expertise? Does the manager lay off this person for lack of interest in other areas that will 'develop' their career in other areas? All you end up with are 'Jack of all trades' types and not one true expert. CDP is hurting this company.

Yes 4hwm, good points. As a dreaded middle manager, I look for those who take their own interest in their career and try my best to help guide them. If a direct report puts little effort into their CDP and career, why would I? If a direct report is excited about finding that next opportunity to advance their career, I will help them along as best I can through either direct advice or pointing them in the right direction. My current team is a mix of those who don't give a crap and those that will advance soon.

So don't always blame the supervisor/manager (yes, there are some that just check the "approve" box). Your career is in your own hands too. Use the rubric or don't. Doesn't matter to me. There are better ways to plan your career but YOU are the one that has to initiate the effort.

Well said @4hwm.

You forgot to mention the staff in Houston that works only on the career plan rubric and crap like that.

Friend, do this.

Study your career ladder for your job and circle the skills you need to develop in the next two pay grades that will qualify you for promotion.

Lay out a timeline of two promotions in 5 years for which the above skills will qualify you.

This will demonstrate that you are proactive about it. Then your supervisor will have to get off his a-- and do something.

If you really want to see him squirm set up a CDP accountability meeting every other Friday to check progress on the career plan and his part, getting you the assignments and skills to do what he himself already said you need to do.

This is how it's done out in the world. No rubrics and crap, just good old fashioned skills development and accountability.

If nothing else this will set you up for success outside of CVX.

Pretty much the entirety of Chevron's workforce can be categorized as "middle management". Good luck with your non-existent position, @NNrcxIt-3iqn. I heard Walmart needs greeters - LOL!

I think the take-away here is that the process inventing Upstream Capability middle management crowd is killing us all with this sort of stuff. UC was a GLK invention that never worked and has become a warehouse for out-of-touch, high level staff.

Maybe we should get together 1) the whining HES millennial who wants a promotion and plush overseas posting at the Fall PDC, 2) the unemployable losers who were laid off because of their narrow skill set after 30 years of poorly planned and executed careeer development then were duped into requesting the annuity and 3) this Neanderthal who is unable work out the Value of a high quality CDP. What would those people come up with as a solution to long and fulfilling careers? Hmmmm.

PS I once told an oldie to put on his CDP that he plans to retire in a couple months. That was a high quality CDP and we executed it flawlessly to mutual satisfaction of all parties.

I was involuntary retired last year, but reading and remembering this sh-- makes me feel happy about not having to do it anymore.

2cwa - Not all jobs will or can be replaced with robots. Since the middle management animatrons with AI chips won't be paid anything, my salary will continue to go up. As for the upper management types in the department, they are slated to be replaced with androids with GPS chips. They do even less work, so their electronic brains will likely always be "recalculating".

2qpi, Good idea, but what sort of job will you look for after you have been replaced with a robot, 2qpi?

Chevron can save lots of money by replacing all middle management humans with Segway-like animatrons outfitted with simple artificial intelligence chips. Nothing too fancy. Maybe something between the chip found in a 4-function pocket calculator and the A8 chip in the latest iPhone. The only hitch would be that everyone's supervisor would be called Siri. Anytime an employee needs to ask their boss a question, they'd need to start off with "Hey Siri". But the good thing is you'd get a reply right away, even if the response sometimes would be "it's on the website". Maybe some supervisors can be called "Hey Google" for diversity sake. Just thinking out loud here...

I received the form several months before my scheduled retirement. I copied my form from last year which was a copied from the year before and the year before that, etc etc The form meant nothing, never has. It's just a cover your a-- game; still I played it and then collected my retirement. Why would they give a 65 yo guy, who is going to retire, the form to fill out, ha!

Read investor analysis reports. CVX can't be profitable with oil below $65 per barrel.

The CDP, just like the ePMP, are only form-filling exercises. They don't actually do anything productive for the employee. These forms are only a guise to make it look like the company has a real process for employee evaluation, career development and advancement. It's Chevron's buffer or defense in the event of a lawsuit or DOL audit, nothing more. My advise is to play along. Fill out the damn forms and try to apply what they consider "quality" to its content. Remember, sh!t rolls downhill. Upper management instructs middle management to go through the motions, then your supervisor tells you to do the same. You've got no choice to play along to get along. Just fill out the forms and get on with your normal day. Tomorrow is any other day and more BS is on its way.

Can you email me the slide? My cai is SWAT.

I agree this is useless busy work, but the guidance is coming from the General Managers of Upstream Capability down to the functional managers. Purely a "tick the box exercise" so they can justify their continued existence and pay grades.

After reading your post and thinking about it, based on my past experience with myself and previous coworkers, it appears as though your supervisor is making up busy body work to justify their own employment and also giving you a warning that you may soon be gone. You have to understand how office politics work. If you suspect that something is not quite right, then you are most likely correct. Go by your gut feeling.

The answer is none.