Literally can’t sleep at night. I joined XOM last March and didnt have the MAC one, so it’s my first ranking experience. From what I’m seeing in posts here and hearing in the office, people seem surprised by being PIPed and say the outcomes are predetermined. Is that actually how it works? Do most people experience the same thing?
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@3cq Oh hey, lovely HR. In my case, I documented every single item I completed and fully met the requirements of my PIP. Their response was, “we do not think you can sustain this progress.” BTW I kept emailing HR because they were already misrepresenting my performance before the PIP end date.
@3ec HR? HR is in the know for all these sh-t.
@3cq Sounds like your site isn’t doing the PIP the way HR wants it done
@3cq Are you serious? I finished everything they asked, and the feedback was literally: “You showed improvement, but we don’t think you’re competitive in your ranking group.” They make up stuff to PIP you, coming up with excuses to fail you is the easiest part of their job.
Who do you know that completed all their goals and failed a PIP? I don’t know anyone at my site that has failed. I’ve read on this site people complaining that the PIP was too hard so they quit and PILd.
Can’t tell why I got downvoted before - just trying to tell you what’s actually happening. Lots of misinformation out there.
Some years Supervisors are allowed to pass people that complete the PIP because the layoff target headcount not strictly enforced.
Some years senior management does not allow persons to pass the PIP as the layoff target headcount not met, no matter how well the PIP tasks are completed.
@2f1 "NA supervisor" ? so you should know why people complete all goals of the PIP document but are terminated
Announcing the number of employee that Need Significant Improvement prior to the start of an assessment indicates a layoff target unrelated to performance.
The higher the target for work moved to BTC, the higher the target for NSI/layoff.
The fact that most individuals in BTC cannot perform as well as a person in USA given NSI just proves EM Executives value paying 1/10 normal salary.
If this move to low cost/low capability was done to save the company from bankruptcy then it would possibly be understandable, but when done to make less than 1% additional profit, it is just greedy executives trying to justify their multi million dollar bonuses.
@2f1 So how come people who nail every simple task in their PIP and even go above and beyond still fail? Let’s stop pretending it’s about ‘development’ or whatever HR script they recycle. A huge percentage fail because it helps with headcount reduction, and most of the time the outcome is predetermined. I’ve seen enough cases to say that with confidence.
“ExxonMobil at the highest levels believed that the supervisor/manager class and their select ICs are all they need to win. Everyone else is just an expense.”
This is all you need to know. The odds are not in your favor; 40k headcount by 2030 and half of those jobs moving to India. Use your sleepless nights to plan your exit.
Pip outcome is not predetermined. A plan is put in place to target the employee to assess in VG+ for the next cycle. Depending on their group/team/etc that might be very challenging so the pip has to be harder.
But let’s be honest here… anyone who’s been assessing in VG the past 4 cycles, how have your raises been? 3-4% unless you get a CL promotion. Unless you get to be tapped as a supervisor early on the math doesn’t math for your average individual contributor. Most people get to CL 25 within 3-4 years. A CL promotion carries a 5% raise with it. But going from CL 25-CL 26 will take an average performer another 5-7 years. So… if you’re not a supervisor, not a “chosen one” individual contributor, then this company is not worth fighting for IMO. ExxonMobil at the highest levels believed that the supervisor/manager class and their select ICs are all they need to win. Everyone else is just an expense. If you get pipd, unless you had some big error that you can easily correct, I think you’ll be disappointed in trying to stick around. 85% of people pass their PIPs.
- supervisor here who has been in the training for having an employee go through a PIP each of the past 2 cycles…
YES.The moment they rank you NSI they know the outcome of your PIP too
They protect their friends and family from nsi and piping. One supervisor was friends with two from the group. Theg would hang out together and eat lunch. I noticed one on one meetings with the supervisor for them. When I protested the supervisor said everyone was welcome to schedule one on ones with him. I scheduled a few just to see how I would be treated. The meetings were meaningless and the supervisor was annoyed that I was bothering him. He gave me some talk and suggestions about training and visibility. I knew I was not welcome in his good ol boy network. Everyone at b town covers and protects their friends and family. I have never seen one piped or fail at the town. The newbies and outsiders are always the first to be thrown under the bus and piped out. It is a cesspool of inhuman waste.
“Who betrays you once, will betray you a thousand times. There is no need to drink the whole sea to realize it’s salty”
@j6 yup, most of the prefer you to take the PIL. They just do not want to do all the paperwork to terminate you through PIP
PIP can be predetermined if you would not be quiet about a safety or quality concern that the PM was trying to cover up.
PIP % target can cause a Supervisor to PIP the new guy to keep his buddies that he has worked with for 10 years.
In some cases, the Supervisor is given a target % and has to choose which employee he can lose and still succeed. Maybe that is not the poorest performer, just the one his team can cover if exits.
Yes. If they want you out you will be out no matter what.
I got pipped and you could tell my manager was frustrated that he had to pip me. In the 3 month probation period he didn't talk to me about it or bring it up. Then i got a email that i had passed.
In some cases in some companies they genuinely use PIP for its purpose but not in EM. I know some colleagues they completed all in PIP document but they were told they are no longer employee of the company at the end
Yes. Everyone I’ve known who went through a PIP could tell from the very first meeting how it would end. The tone, the questions, the ‘discussion’. The outcome was already decided.
@qe Two colleagues in our section were put on PIPs.one was new to Exxon, and the other had been with the company for 15 years. Our manager had promoted the long‑tenured one to a 28 the cycle before, solely because of her age and years of experience. She couldn’t perform at that level at all, so he had to PIP her. But on PIP, he gave her a leadership role on a visible project and even nominated her for an award. Most people didn’t even know she was on a PIP. It was an extremely soft landing.
The younger colleague had the opposite experience. She had no support, was constantly overloaded, even barely had time to eat lunch. Our manager essentially pressured her nonstop until she was terminated. The contrast between how the two were treated tells me importance of the support you are talking about.
I was a mid career hire. It's not predetermined but your boss decides your fate. You can perform your socks off but if your boss is a pushover that can't fight for his folks and you're new to the company with no "backers". Chance is higher you get sacrificed
two teammates were PIPed last year. One told me it was a formality and no extra meetings or tasks, but the other one had weekly meetings and more structured tasks and goals. Although she passed, she left the company. My understanding is PIP is not for performance improvement at all, whatever it is.
It is common for pre rank meetings to happen. The supervisors also have to enter the starting assessment category for each person into career connect before the rank meetings.
@OP In theory, no.
In practice, nobody is put on a PIP who they don’t want gone. It’s called “Paid Interview Process” for a reason.
If you’re worried about catching a PIP, start applying to other jobs (you should already be doing this anyway).
100%. I knew this guy. He assumed he was safe, but in his final 1:1 before PA communication, his manager suddenly shifted tone. They had a tense conversation, and afterward the manager escalated a made up “misconduct” report to upper management and HR.When the PA meeting happened( with the manager’s boss present as a “witness”) they told him that due to his supposed inappropriate behavior, he would not receive a PIP. They offered him only the PIL option. The entire story was invented so the manager could remove him quickly without going through the PIP process.
This wasn’t about performance. It was about convenience and politics. His manager simply didn’t want to carry the responsibility of a PIP for an IC he had already decided to push out.
@d4 the person helping your manager in process gets "credit" for his backstabbing skills and I assure you gets promotion for the"help"
Get as much experience as you can. Be ready to jump ship when needed.
@dn I was on the technical ladder, but to bump one CL I had to do a managerial position once, and I hated it. The less‑than‑3‑minute defense was so difficult I had to read it and practice out loud at home just to be sure I could defend my direct reports properly. In that meeting, I had to fight for my people against other managers who had been doing this for a long time. I hated this process.
And if a manager didn’t have a good relationship with the head of the organization, their direct reports would suffer more. You could clearly see that managers didn’t put the same effort into defending everyone on their team. And the percentage of PIPs had to be met…
I believe supervisor has to make the list and distribute people on his team into buckets before he/she goes to PA where they get like 2 min per each direct report.
It is called "bait and switch". I am confident that your manager and his manager got their money's worth before telling you that you did not pass.
@OP My manager invited his boss in my PA meeting. In PIP meeting he brought in another senior teammate ,someone who was infamous for being a professional a-s kisser with no technical knowledge , under the pretense of “helping” me. In reality, he consistently guided me in the wrong direction. It became obvious the entire process was orchestrated. They would look at each other with smirking smiles during our meetings, as if the outcome had already been decided. Every task I completed was marked as “not done” in my score card, even when I had evidence to the contrary. I repeatedly emailed HR and documented everything to show that the PIP was performative and retaliatory. Despite my efforts, they failed me and claimed I was “not competitive in my ranking group.” I hope, at some point, they face the consequences of the way they treated people.
Yes, they are predetermined. I really liked working at Exxon so I agreed to the PIP. They gave me 6 goals to achieve by the end of the 3 months. Mind you these goals were impossible, basically would rank me in the top 1% of all employees at Exxon. I achieved EVERY single one. I had a weekly check in with my manager and he had to sign each week. At the end, I had an angel who helped me with the last goal and I thought I was safe. They made me go through he-l, barely saw my family for 12 weeks. They still laid me off a couple of weeks later.
@OP I think so. I had a great teammate who knew, based on the projects she was given and the overall vibe, that she was being set up for PIP. She worked incredibly hard on every task they assigned. They piled on so many things, and it felt intentional because of how difficult they made it. She was working nonstop, but they still failed her.
Sometimes transfers early in year allow your previous group to PIP you to achieve their target. Your new Supervisor can help you pass your improvement plan and keep you, unless HR is instructed to fail a target number of individuals.
If you remain under the Supervisor that put you on the PIP, possibly failing your improvement plan is already determined.
If your Supervisor tried really hard to keep your out of NSI, but the layoff target % took too many victims, your Supervisor might can help you pass the improvement program. HR seems to have placed a roadblock of no possibility of an improvement plan for NSI two times in 5 years with no NRE protections.
The bad thing is the ranking system is so bias that the guys actually getting the work done can be at the bottom and the PowerPoint presenters that do not even understand the statements on their PowerPoint slides get ranked at the top.
Ironic that so many people deserving NSI can end up at the top of the rankings because of Sponsorship.
I have a different perspective based on what one of my managers shared with me: they know who their lowest relative performer is at similar role/CL levels. In assessments, unless there is glaringly missed expectations and skill level, many often go in with "Good" and the room discusses relative tie-points and differentiators to flush out NI, and then subsequently NSI from that group.
100%. Your management is given targets and tends to leverage individuals who don't impact their delivery to maintain the base. If you are at threat for PIP, just realize that you have more value outside of XOM than in. Start looking and leave on your terms.
Yes mine was doomed from the start. You can tell if they are for you or against you.
Yes they are predetermined