Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

I have stayed in contact with many of my friends after they retired or if they were laid off. I do not stay in contact with people who are not friends, even if they are highly competent. Maybe your former colleagues were not friends, they simply tolerated you at work and now have no time for you.

: @bni+18IrDmGz How pathetic is it that the environment is so toxic people have to worry about something so petty? That speaks volumes. Pip’d people were handed a bs deal from a mo–n of a ceo.

@1bke+18IrDmGz Gaslighting. Typical

You can ask for a "personal" recommendation from your former boss without any HR issues. When you're asking for a "professional" recommendation, that's when you get into HR trouble. There's no clear line between these two so what the heck am I talking about, it's doable, just ask for it, and EM bosses, please help another human being in need! Just remember all your empathy training, what would you do? Someday, you might be in the same actual shoes as they are.

@sye+18IrDmGz

Please get some professional help. Other than kids in elementary school, people don’t talk this way. Mental health assistance is provided at no charge by EM and all local hospitals and psychiatric clinics.

Other industries like banking and consulting are better at helping people find the next opportunity. I think they are more accustomed to layoffs and can internalize that a former coworker can become a future client or boss. That same tension doesn’t exist in oil and gas really.

Be very careful who you ask for Reccomendations if possible do a test run with people. You’ll be shocked at people who find it useful to say negative things about you.

the whole Reccomendation thing is stupid and archaic anyways but if we are to play the game find some trusted people potentially even outside of work...

@yjh+18IrDmGz clean your semen off your desk.

If you think system is imperfect to allow only the best to continue that shows how little real life experience you have. Bet your one of the managers with a recorder in the pocket. I have worked with one of those before they exist.

OP you are telling me that all these jokers posting on LinkedIn offering to become formal references and write recommendation letters is just a farce to show off to unsuspecting public and gain EQ points for their next “leadership” assignment?

Based on what you say it is terrible that our own friends, colleagues and employees in EM making a farce career out of other people’s loss and using LinkedIn as media for their shameless self advertisement

“Ok let me see how to say this. It’s me not you. This isn’t personal, I just need some space and time to figure things out.”

One week later. You see your ex out with a new companion. 👀👀👀👀👀

Yes it’s not an issue for your boss to give you a personal reference. With at will employment you can be gotten rid of for literately any reason at except illegal. So PIP or not they can still give reference and the company be protected legally. I’ve had a plant manager and operations manger at a chemical company offer me personal references after I resigned. I left to be close to my family.

Don’t make excuses for the corporation. Don’t you do that.

Regular employees switching jobs, economical reasons based lay-offs are all routine career and employment change scenarios. Guess what? In every other industry, it is a norm to list your colleagues asn potential references and colleagues who know of your work write recommendations as who can honestly and correctly comment on your work accomplishments other than your past colleagues?
It has been tested in many different banine scenarios over a decade that ExxonMobil employees will never help or support their colleagues if they find a better opportunity and a new job. Exxonmobil has the worst culture and probably the worst people in the industry to act in such unprofessional manners.  It is truly unfortunate to see that pathetic ExxonMobil employees somehow justify their devolish self centered robot-like behavior.
The pay-back time will come sooner than later so please make sure that you all on the other end of it remember it and treat ExxonMobil employees the same way they treated you. 

ExxonMobil has one of the most worthless sums fake employees who are not human but pretend to be human like and pretend to care. Do not expect any recommendation and help from these j-erks.

These people belong in prison and nowhere else.

@qfy+18IrDmGz, are you an English teacher?

@qmg

this is an example of the abuser blaming the victim. telling the victim to keep it to themselves and move on.

you would make a fantastic priest.

Hypocrisy and double speak in post and responses are very telling. EM is this terrible company with horrible worthless supervisors and a toxic culture that everyone should flee from immediately, yet I still reach out to these same worthless people and get upset when they will not write me a recommendation.

There are obvious legal conflicts with employees providing such a recommendation, and if you care for any “friends” still employed there, you should not put them in such a precarious position to begin with.

Just move on. This is an industry wide downturn, so you can frame your job loss to other companies in any manner you wish. EM is not going to respond to any references anyways.

People are people. There are bad ones and good ones at EM just like everywhere else. It is a job, not a marriage. Don’t rely on or expect anything more.

Why would the company know if your manager gave you a reference? Recruiters and hiring companies aren’t going to share that. They understand as well. If your manager refuses they are being paranoid, and I would say are not a good person.

Get in to a routine of periodically saving any emails that could benefit you in litigation. Do not do it in a traceable way. Don’t forward them to your private mail. Record any formal conversations with managers such as employee reviews and etc and always record anything with HR. Keep emails where people say you’ve done a good job and etc for easy access to show recruiters. Of course if any illegal activity is happening get that stuff in a recording. We have to cover our butts.

HR policy directs employees not to provide references for people who are PIP’d. Look it up in the HR site. Kind of breaks the narrative of PIP being low relative performer if they then turn around and write a recommendation for you. If they do provide a recommendation it would be at their own peril of getting a call from HR for breaking policy. Most people don’t want to commit policy violations in the current environment and risk losing their job.

For layoffs I was told supervisors repeatedly asked for approval to be able to provide references. No response was ever given apparently but my supervisor was willing to help me out as a reference.

People are not inherently good. Have you seen people run and gossip when someone is let go for whatever reason? Some of the same people you may be asking for references may be gossiping about you asking and be entertained by that.

Laid off in December.

I realized how absolutely rotten the company was after the fake PIPs.

Middle management trying to pretend they aren’t directly complicit in permanently altering the lives of dedicated employees. No acknowledgment of the blood sweat and tears people have put in for years.

We took money from the devil and now we are getting our payback. The lesson I’ve learned is always spend a significant amount of time networking outside the company. These remaining psychopaths will throw you out like trash and tell themselves some made up story about “financial reasons” “or no one saw it coming (except the technical staff that have seen this coming for years...)”

You are just now learning. I make it a point when mentoring interns and younger people to teach them as much about the nontechnical side of work as I do about the technical side. I let them know that you have to fit in to be successful, there is a limit of how much of themselves they can be at work, they need to get along with everyone and that it’s not good to share much personal information or thoughts because some people will exploit it. I try to shed light on things as I see them. Such as I was mentoring an intern and there was a bully on the team, he was nice to the intern however. I shined light on some of his activity when given the chance to let the intern know that people are not always as they appear. You needed someone to help guide you as well. I never had anyone and that is why I do it now. I don’t want these kids blindsided by backstabbers. They need to know how work really is. It ain’t college or high school. You don’t get graded by only a test. You are graded for the test and also graded for your reputation (the reputation the work culture wants). The desired reputation differs by company. Some companies want their employees to be go getters and “take over the world” e.g. Tesla. Some work places are much more bureaucratic and want a slower pace of activity. You have to learn which culture your work place is and conform to it to be able to influence the organization and have the reputation they like. If you don’t fit in people will talk about you and it will hurt your “grade”, no matter how well you do on the “test” your actual work duties.

Darren woods or his assistant (AF) will do it for you

Adds salt to the wound. Having good relationships with retirement age people can come in handy. You can reach out to them for references after they’ve retired. Also people who have left for new jobs are good to use as references.

If you were let go 6 months ago. That was not apart of the layoff. That was apart of the PIP process. Due to timing, Likely everyone knows that you took the PIL/failed PIP and they don't want to be associated with you for fear of themselves being targeted.

I’m very interested to hear what people have to say about this.

It’s something people typically do when firing someone due to risk of lawsuits. However with a financial based lay-off, I don’t understand the reason.
This goes to show us how unimportant we are. I’m curious how many higher up people within exxon still talk to Tillerson and other higher ups who have left. Maybe it’s a privacy thing.
It is not a sign of a healthy org. It’s typical for companies to not provide references, but managers can give a personal reference which is what you were asking for.

Sorry this happened to you. It’s horrible. It’s a way to make someone feel even smaller.
I had a friend who worked for a different company than exxon text me and tell me that after he left a coworker whom he considered a friend would not reply to his text messages. Just because people are nice or even act as friends doesn’t mean they actually are or that they care about you at all. Remember this.
Oh and as an extra note, some of the biggest snakes I’ve worked with were very friendly. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing. It’s best at work not to share opinions about coworkers, managers, or business decisions. People love to run and tell. Coworkers are not your friends. They are your competition even if you feel differently.

Typical of a toxic environment. It all depends on the company culture. Could also be due to legal reasons depending on the circumstances that led to the layoff. Yes - it becomes a company liability if a manager lets slip that you were laid off even though you did not give that as a reason for termination to your prospective employer. I've been in situations where employers called on me for recommendation on a colleague and they can be very nosy.

Ex. "Would you hire xxxxx again given the opportunity?" or "Why do you think he left your company?" or "Can you think of a reason why we should hire him?" Then the manager would be on the spot to lie to get that person the job or else tell the truth and be open to retaliation or lawsuit if it comes out that he provided information that he was not supposed to disclose.

However, it should not prevent them from providing a personal recommendation but then that would be kind of pointless. My suggestion is to let it go. You probably feel betrayed but that stuff happens and it is a reflection on them and not on you. I'm sure they feel conflicted about the whole thing too.

Perhaps you can reach out to the managers or colleagues who used to work for that company. They would have nothing to lose by providing you with a recommendation.

To previous poster, is English your first language?

By experience, the manager is the direct line of information between you and the upper level, that is a lie that they do not have anything to do with the layoff. Besides, when this kind of layoff situation happened, it is when you know who is your real friend, those are the ones that are going to get support and they will give you a letter of recommendation. The other people are just co-worker even if you go out with them to lunch for many years. The manager just try to convince people to keep a certain "fake" order inside the team. I just rejected to ask a recommendation from him, I felt that he just opened his mouth just to try to show "mercy" or pity. Some coworkers are afraid to help you out, because they think that are going to be a manager's target and at that same time they feel that they superior because they are still working with the company. Remember, we are brightness and the greatest, and Exxon id–tic idea.