Thread regarding Shell Oil layoffs

How do you compare Shell to other supermajors or majors

I've worked for both Exxon and Shell. Shell definitely paid better than Exxon. Shell is a lot slower to make decisions. Both have a full spectrum of employees who range from great people to down right evil. Exxon folks were more likely to keep and replace a scapegoat to keep in the bottom 10% to protect the rest of the real team. Exxon fires folks frequently without making a show of it. In Shell, it is really hard to fire someone for a good reason but really easy to fire someone for no reason other than wrong position wrong timing. There seem to be a higher concentration of top notch folks at Exxon, but more of them seem to have psychopathic tendencies. Exxon has a better culture of internal training. Exxon has there own way of doing things... Shell claims to do the same thing as everyone else but somehow does it better. At Exxon, everyone rallied around whatever method or idea the boss had, At Shell everyone felt and acted like they had the right to impede or veto any idea.

People who have worked for multiple majors, spill the tea, how do they stack up.

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| 2692 views | | 13 replies (last June 26) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1jwvmywv8

13 replies (most recent on top)

The best comparison relative to today,
When US companies begin merger talks people think it is a great idea and both share prices rise because it is a company buying a great company.

Shell leaks talk of buying BP and it is so terrible that Shell share prices plummet. The same held true when BG was purchased, the Shell shares fell.

Shell will go ahead and buy a struggling company to try to make money via "synergies". VS. US majors buy good companies to make money with their great assets.

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Post ID: @3e7+1jwvmywv8

At Shell: Due to DEI and female hiring quotas, configuration of genitalia is viewed as more important than skill or area of expertise. Many incompetent women in roles where they are completely drowning. Many 'eye roll' moments in meetings. Especially pronounced in the Mobility and Convenience group under David. I did not see this at XOM.

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Post ID: @2fp+1jwvmywv8

At exxon they do a lot of non-operating partnerships to augment their full plate of operating ventures. They don't try to take over something that is working well. For example, remember how long XTO stayed separate from exxon? At Shell, they seek to get 100% and the botchup the development and operations adding useless widgets and seeking to have 80% confidence in in a p50 estimate , so it takes longer to make a decision.

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Post ID: @115+1jwvmywv8

Being at the Woodcreek offices on a rainy day...it shows Shell had no idea how liquids move. And try walking to the parking garage from buildings D or E without having the water funneled to the pedestrian walk way. Or even why do you have to walk around the building from the garage... why not have a garage entrance like building F? BECAUSE like everything at Shell it is all just for show, not function, or profit.

Building F cafeteria on a windy day... the doors just clap and are hard to open.

The point is they accept really bad designs and don't really correct them that extends from office space to well construction.

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Post ID: @wg+1jwvmywv8

@pc+1jwvmywv8

4D Chess

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Post ID: @pg+1jwvmywv8

I recall back in graduate school that Shell was the only company that during the ENTIRE interview process did not ask one question about Geoscience, mind you this was for a Geologist position. The main focus of the interview was having me explain my views on the future of space exploration.

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Post ID: @pc+1jwvmywv8

at shell you can’t use the toilets because they are always being cleaned

does this also happen at exxon

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Post ID: @kj+1jwvmywv8

Spend time both Shell & EOM, shell culture was workshops / deep dive with no end result and just spinning wheels and lots of procrastination!, EOM on the other hand was straight out of the playbook, quick decisions, no need to go through layers and layers of management for something simple and everything done in a much more standard and structured way.

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Post ID: @ec+1jwvmywv8

I worked at Exxonmobil before DEI was a thing. It seemed free of overt prejudices.
At Shell for the last 5-years ( maybe a bit more) DEI and mandatory DEI training has gotten a bit too much. In their effort to get more women in leadership, I have observed a lot of women getting promotions that are not merit based and then watched those women incompetently fail at their job only to be shielded from consequence. There are still a lot of women who are great at their jobs and probably deserving a promotion but the undeserving ones promoted to a level of incompetence makes me aware that DEI over merit is Shell's way. I have only observed Shell using DEI to promote women or LGBT+, I have not observed them really applying it towards race or religion and absolutely never towards background or diversity of ideas. If anything diversity of ideas is stomped on every time,

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Post ID: @dh+1jwvmywv8

Shell should hire strictly on SAT scores. It's one of the best indicators of IQ.

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Post ID: @ba+1jwvmywv8

Re @ @OP+1jwvmywv8

Shell hires smart, motivated people. I don’t think many of them enter the company with ambitions for management explicitly. However, the compensation and power structures mold these individuals into pursuing management positions. If you fix the incentive structure, the behaviors will change. I don’t think it is as simple as hiring somebody who just wants to sit behind a desk all day and not talk to anyone.

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Post ID: @b3+1jwvmywv8

Worked at Shell and at an independent. Independent is so much more technically capable and makes better business and technical decisions.

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Post ID: @av+1jwvmywv8

Shell chooses graduates that want to be managers not technical. The whole issue starts there. They really need to look at what they want. You 100% can’t have a company of only people that want to be senior managers. YL says we’re not competitive and this is why. Sort out hr and get them to select the right people.

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Post ID: @ag+1jwvmywv8

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