Thread regarding Imperial Oil Limited layoffs

Yeah I'm going to call BS on your claims of racism! If that were true, why would they have hired you in the first place? Is that a normal thing to hire people you are racist against?

I've worked for several oil and gas companies and the layoffs happen regardless of your race, not because of it. Mostly lower level positions are laid off. Over 100,000 thousand have been laid off form oil and gas in the last few years. Are they mostly minorities?

In Imperial Oils case, they had many "Diversity" hires in the 20 years. I've been in meetings where I'm the only white person. So of course you're going to end up with lot of so call minorities being laid off, when nearly half of your lower level staff is "Diversity".
Furthermore I know for a fact Imperial is offshoring work to India. I didn't know racist like to offshore work to non-white countries.

I'd also like to know, how does the county you originate from, treat minorities? A real shining examine of equality and progressiveness? More like hypocrisy and repression I'll bet. That's why you are here!.... Right?

Perhaps you need to watch less CBC, CNN and MSNBS. Your Race Card is no longer valid here!

To all those that work hard but don’t see the rewards of your work, you’re better off in another company. Don’t stop working hard and lose motivation just because this company doesn’t appreciate you. You deserve better and you deserve a company that recognizes your talents. Better leave now before you sell your soul to this sinking ship.

@5hkf+187yLXjG
Again sounds like whether or not you have the clout, the right drinking buddies, ever got invited to parties or part of the old boys network aka relationships, people with the same likes dislikes, tastes, beliefs and perspectives. It is no different than women being left behind in workplace because they don't have the "right" friends at workplace, it just surfaces a little differently with race. Reality is birds of a feather flock together.
Diversity is more of a fashion accessory in this age than an actual thing. And Exxon is pretty old conservative school. If you look at a typical field employee or texas and Alberta in general, they like UCP and Trump with some very old fashioned conservative beliefs, being liberal (cuss word is woke) is looked down upon.
I wonder if you have similar drinking buddies in personal life as the folks in yourdepartment? Many of these things operate like the old boys club, the euphemism used is trust. If you aren't part of the dominant club, it is a handicap.

#exxonmobil
#imperialoil
#racism
#discrimination
#s-xism

It’s crazy how sites like Sarnia has no black operators ( it’s a white boys club down there ). Years ago a black guy I knew did his co op there and he was the only one not to receive an offer after school. It’s barely impossible to obtain a co op in there if you not white & have family in there. As to how a huge company in this modern era can be so naive and racist, it baffles me

I can't speak to the minority element, but I think a lot of things described are pervasive with the company regardless of gender or race. There's a giant subset of people that are very capable and do great work, but don't throw a pared for themselves or fully go on the kool-aid, and they are consistently screwed in rankings.

I’m a minority female and work literally 2-3X more than others (have done 2-3 roles at the same time multiple times) and I do it better according to unofficial feedback. Yet I always get screwed over during ranking by those same people who say I transformed their teams for the better.

Meanwhile, the Caucasians who spend all their time shmoozing while I fix their mistakes are promoted.

Agreed, I’m a minority I worked twice as hard as my peers, went above and beyond, put consistent effort with forming relationships with people of all levels, and had a way better resume than most people my level. These posts how minorities can’t relate to white people because of a class difference or dissimilar values are false. I grew up affluent and was private school educated. I’m an extrovert and make friends easily. Yet my manager constantly found every small flaw in me, undermined me and undervalued me for no reason, he didn’t do that to anyone else. My white peers would perform below average and get away with everything. Slowly my self esteem and self confidence started to erode and I knew I was in a toxic environment. I found a way to get out forever.

IMO has institutional racism. Just look at their % of minority employee population (~13%), compared to the availability of minorities in the job market. Also, how many minority people are CL26+? If there are, usually they are female, as they are considered double minority and they "k–l two birds in one stone" for the company (e.g. for minority hiring reporting). The Finance function is also one of the worst groups with racial bias.....

I agree 100%! In fact, I experienced it myself when I worked at IMO as an intern. I am a person of color and there were other students that were caucasians in the same department that I worked at and I was discriminated at many times from the top manager to the administrator. Every morning, the administrator would walk by and never say hi or anything, however, the administrator would walk up straight by my cubicle and go to the "cacausian" student's cubicle and say hi, chat and ask how he/she is doing and what not. While for me, no one walked by or said hi. Not that I really care as I was busy with lots of work but this is one example.

Another example happened towards the end, the top manager took the other students for coffee one by one just before they finished their term and he/she never invited me for coffee or anything!

Also, I wasnt given any early offers and I remember very clearly, on the day of the final student presentations, I was talking to a few other students and all the "Caucasian" student males and females have already been given early offers and all the visible minorities including myself, were not given any early offers. These are just a few examples among many others. And what is funny is that IMO keeps advertising D&I, yet 98% of the entire department I worked at were cacausian males and females!

@2naw+187yLXjG

The s-xism is real. My opinions are usually ignored but when those same opinions are parroted by men to the same audience, they get attention and traction.

@3liz+187yLXjG

Maybe Controllers play dumb so management thinks they can’t do layoffs because of the supposed workload. Why else would people not use macros that would free up at least 50% of their time?

Trying to teach Controllers Excel and SAP skills is like trying to teach your tech-illiterate grandparents how to use a computer.

@2sek+187yLXj

Finance Function aren’t skilled in Excel. If they were, they could slash their headcount by at least 50%. I know. I used to be in FF. Left because I couldn’t handle the inefficiencies anymore.

We are good in excel and making great strides with our PowerPoint skills, watching the engineers in the planning group, which is part of upstream BAR. But no one can exceed our theatrical skills in pretending we are adding value to the business, playing politics and the art of deception. Our SAP skills, well.....

I am intimately familiar with the workings of the finance group. Almost all transactional work is performed at the GBCs. If this company were truly independent, 70% of the regurgitation could be avoided. Many of the finance group managers are unqualified or incompetent....and this is the opinion of a majority of those in the finance group who are well regarded by us in the business.

@1gau+187yLXjG
Interesting info, I didn't know. What level managers are we talking about, at QP or at the operation levels in the plants, foreman and sorts?
I am surprised people are still overtly s-xist and racist in this day and age? Perhaps I didn't have enough interaction with the wrong sort of the people or fell for the farce.
Where did you notice the true colors come out, did you actually make the observation first hand or hear say?
I am curious though, are you coloured, were the remarks directed at you?

@2wse+187yLXjG
I am getting the point regarding Imperial biases.
But it is not unique, that is very much reflective of the society that we live in (especially pronounced in Alberta or in smaller towns) and very much prevalent in other companies too, the same types of people are employed at imperial and elsewhere. Glass ceilings are real, but I have wondered if the discrimination is active or more owing to being part of the in crowd/ being part of the old boys network which tend to be people of similar race/ education/ socio economic class/ tastes/ background/ experiences/ priorities/ values in life. It would be similar to concept of people connecting/ chemistry. Chances are your own chums are people similar to you especially as you get older beyond school.

I am curious regarding your termination/ severance contract. Mine had a specific clause not to make any disparaging or defamatory or derogatory remarks against Imperial including social media. Also a separate clause that the severance is subject to full and final release of the company from full and final settlement of any claims, demands, damages etc related to the termination of employment?
Is this common to everyone terminated?

There’s lots of successful minorities in manager, senior leadership, and CEO roles in other companies not only in North America but across the globe. Please don’t blame society or the world, you’re not getting the point about imperial being bias.

@1mim+187yLXjG
Having chums is being part of the "in crowd", the drinking buddies, old boys network etc etc.
Lots of the in crowd filtering happens when people do their internships, I was an experienced hire so it didnt happen for me. The euphemism is the "right cultural fit", "developing trust" blahs blahs.
Being colored will make it very hard, not sure if it is racial prejudice or you will be sidelined because that chummy relationship doesn't exist with the in crowd. Political power and in crowds go hand in hand, ones without that backing will lose jobs quickly.
And it reflects kind of society we live in rather than just imperial, and probably it is the same across the board in all the companies. I have heard similar things for women in tech companies for instance.

You should hear some of the older managers. All polite in front of other managers/staff, racist/s-xist bigots when other mgmt isn’t around.

@1yuj+187yLXjG

Controllers is only “overworked” because most of you don’t know how to use Excel. Most of your jobs can be replaced with a macro.

This has nothing to do with being chummy, friendly, or outgoing. You can do everything right, have the best personality, be great at building relationships but still never be in the “in crowd” because of your gender/skin colour. I’ve seen this multiple times here. You can’t fix this. It’s deeply ingrained in the culture.

It’s not just controllers. Downstream F&L is the worst of them all.

I agree, Controller's is toxic and very white at the top.

You need to recognize, it matters how chummy a person is with the people, the euphemism is relationships. So if you are not cozy, your evaluation will suffer. Being coloured would make it harder because tastes, life experiences, ability to relate to others is different.
I lost my job some time ago and I found having chums makes life harder.

@1zsf+187yLXjG You are woefully ignorant about the work responsibilities of controllers. The department is worked to the bone. They didn't lay anyone off because they can't lay anyone off.

At the QP campus, almost all offices are occupied by white males or females. This is a telling sign of their status I.e CL level. People of color have a long and challenging struggle to break through, if not laid off before that. Most recently, there have been several white females promoted to certain managerial positions in the toxic finance group which includes, tax, treasury and controllers. The business absorbs the cost of this group with very little to show in terms of value. Yet, not a single layoff....

I think some people are in denial and just don’t see that there is a correlation with gender and race and how people are treated. I’ve heard people making complaints to HR on this only to get let go themselves for speaking up. You can’t change a company and its people but you do have the power to leave.

It is a natural reaction for individuals to find a reasonable reason why they are being let go. But automatically pulling the race card is an easy out. This all comes down to bottom line and shareholders. Think about the other 100k people that have been let go over the past 4-5 years in our industry. Race and gender I am sure plays a part but all out saying a company is racist because of making reductions is a stretch. I agree with a previous statement “ utilize the imperial name on your resume”. It will help

Everyone knows the racism is real. Instead of complaining it’s better to quit or ask to be laid off and find another company that values your talents more. Better to not suffer in a toxic work environment. You’re only doing yourself harm.

Imperial has a good brand name to put on your resume. Use it as a stepping stone to get a better job.

Imperial is 100% racist, employees should be taking them to court for discrimination

I think the culture guy should be fired.

Of course managers realize there’s institutional racism but it works in their favour so they’re fine with it.

This is so true. I have been thinking about leaving imperial for this same reason.