https://twitter.com/TheLayoff/status/1252749752438943745
12 replies (most recent on top)
I was at COP when they bought Burlington Resources (BR). This stuff works both ways. COP employees mad because the Burlington people got a lot of money and protection if they stayed for 2 years some got a massive bonus. The BR folks didn't try to assimilate and didn't care to. They were allowed to keep doing things the same for a while. When it was finally time to do things like the parent company COP, it caused a lot of issues. The COP folks were almost in a "revenge" mode so they could punish the heritage BR personnel. It was hard to watch the pettiness. After you all get over the hump with your merger (bad or good), just ask yourself if you want to be one of the people who acted like a child over this? It is what it is going forward. It won't change, the agreements are made. You would do yourself a big favor if you quit worrying what the people from either company get or don't get and learn to work together. It is pretty obvious your management doesn't really care. Take some ownership and figure out how to get along and do things together. That is your only option is you don't quit.
@2twl, you also have to think about number of employees. At > 50,000 employees, CVX has 3x - 4x the number of employees of Oxy does. Yet Oxy had more traffic to this site. HAL and SLB are also large companies. If you normalized by number of employees, I'm sure that Oxy would lead the entire pack in #1. While Exxon, BP, and others weren't in the top 6, my guess is they aren't far from the top 6. Even the majors are hurting right now. If you're dependent on oil & gas in any way, you're hurting right now. Boom or bust, but it feels like much more bust lately.
Why is CVX #4? what is wrong with these people? Supposedly the best balance sheet, the smart leadership that didn't overspend and whatever else...........
Seems the grass is always greener on the other side.........Conoco, BP, Exxon not a sound? and the leader of the pack competes with the service companies on employee concerns?
I will be totally surprised if Oxy still has Colorado assets a year or less from now. Might be the some of the best they have, but things are going to start being sold piece by piece even in low oil prices. No need to change the name on anything if it is not going to be around in the end. Colorado might be some of the first properties to be sold because of the pain it is to deal with the government up there.
Fun fact: The Rockies asset still issues literature with the APC logo, the employees still refer to themselves as APC, and APC policies and procedures are still followed. But don’t worry, we work for Oxy
The last two comments are some of the most insightful and accurate I’ve seen on this site. Thanks for summing up how a lot of us feel!
If I have better opportunity, I would have left. The only reason to be here is for the paycheck, no matter how sad it is now. Not just for the unclear future if oil industry, but also for the toxic culture we are at. It is not healthy. Not worth my life and passion
@1rdq: You are absolutely right. LAPC here. One of the main keys for a successful merger or acquisition, is blending the two cultures effectively as soon as possible. This is no secret, as there are plenty of books, classes, case studies, and playbooks around this. I was personally in a number of integration meetings, and McKinsey talked about the importance of focusing on blending the two cultures, but those recommendations were met with silence by Oxy execs and there was absolutely no talk or action around blending the cultures, and there hasn't been any effort around culture in anything we've done since the close. Oxy bought APC, and their view has always been that Oxy's approach and culture is all that matters. No emphasis was placed on culture. So it's no surprise that there's a big gap between LAPC and LOXY to this day, and it will remain. Now, given the downturn in the industry, culture will receive even less focus. Basically, Oxy execs threw the acquisition best practices playbook out the window, because they "knew" better. Just like they knew better than shareholders or the smart money in acquiring APC in the first place. I have to admit, from an LAPC perspective who has worked at several companies, I have never seen a group of more ignorant and incapable executives in my life.
The bad part is that a lot of Oxy employees are feeling beat down even before the virus or oil prices. Since the August close of last year it has been one thing after another, and Oxy never meshed with Anadarko from a personnel standpoint, so you have Anadarko people not liking Oxy and Oxy people not caring for Anadarko people. From a personal point of view I think both groups are pretty well, but the combination of employees has not went well. All this could have been handled at the top, and we could have come out a better company. I think this is the result of executives not understanding acquisitions and merges from a personnel standpoint. Now throw on the low oil prices and the virus, and I would be surprised if 30% of the company would not step up to be laid off because they are mentally beat down. And that is in this tough market. I don't think management has any idea how beat down many of the employees are and I don't know if this group of employees will ever be able to pull things off. I am grateful to have a job right now and will keep plugging along, but I am really afraid we will not have a good culture for many years to come, and if any of us are left the next opportunity to leave will see people leave.
Look at the link. 1. Halliburton, 2.Oxy, 3.SLB, 4.Chevron, 5.NOV, 6.Baker Hughes.
ALL oil companies. 4 out of 6 are Service Companies. Man, when Oxy has more disgruntled employees than all but Halliburton, that says a lot. Ugh, I can't believe how we got here. It's hard to be proud of our company any longer. We are Oxy!
Who was number 1?
I'd expect us to be #1