Can anyone comment on how ranking panels go. Would like to improve next year.
35 replies (most recent on top)
@p5 the latest guidelines on PSP means a jg5 will almost never get shares. Even for jg4 it will be very rare. There should still be roughly 15% of each jg pool that should get 1.3 IPF, including jg5.
Is it common for JG5 to get 1.3 IPF and/or PSP?
@kq at my site about 12% of JG3 got a 1.3.
@kk can you give an insight on how many JG3 getting 1.3 for your GMship ?
@a9 yes, this is the way it works in my experience. I’ve been a manager of a few different teams since 2019 and the ranking sessions always go mostly the same. I come in with the other team leads with a starting ranking for all my people. We spend almost all the time debating 1.3s and .7s. With the size of my team, I can come in with one 1.3 and have mostly been successful getting that through. This is the first year I had to give someone a .7, but they were clearly lagging the rest of the team. PSPs are pretty much nonexistent for jg3 and below now. Personally I had frequent 1.3s and PSPs until I became jg2, 1.0 all the way since then.
I think about 75% of the team leads I work with do care about their people, although Shell is terrible at teaching someone how to be a good manager so if it isn’t natural for them to work with people they often don’t come across well. The other 25% seem to care only about their careers, which is so detrimental to Shell in the long run. Those often seem to be the ones who get the furthest up the ladder but are making some of these stupid big decisions.
Step 1 - Do your job moderately well to slightly above average (Don't waste time doing more than this)
Step 2 - Be likable, but don't help your peers in any real way
Step 3 - Make your boss love you
Step 4 - Seek out other LT members and find a way to help them out
Step 5 - Oversell yourself wherever possible
And learn to look busy but composed
it’s a mess.
the complete inability of the leadership team to have any original ideas means they have copied the worst part of exxon in a futile attempt to save a quick buck
wael has not done anything except double down on proven reserves and buy back stock during his 4 year run. it has not meaningfully moved the price relative to our peers. the era of dividend stocks is dying. literally. old fogies who are on pension are shrinking in population by the day and youth wants growth stocks.
sacrificing everything to buy back stock and therefore boost earnings per share so that the EC makes bonus is not a long term strategy. ditching business assets that allow trading to make better trades is not a winning strategy at all. vitol has happily bought out “unprofitable” assets and used them to boost their trade floor capabilities.
in 10 years this company will be a middle of the road player in LNG and not much else. waels plan is to permanently shrink shell in every way imaginable and hope nobody notices. the excuse is that other peers are doing this too. it is funny, when i was a child i was told “ if your friend jumped off of a bridge, would you do it too?” and now my CEOs answer is an emphatic yes. off the cliff we go, as long as dividend is odd and stock is bought back nobody cares.
he-l yeah
Invariably employees will be su-ked into the process of one-upping peers. Game theory style. Only takes a few subscribers and then the others have to compete or get left behind/jobless.
@by agree no one should put themselves at legal risk.
To cause pain we should operate strictly by the book and only work the hours we’re paid for. If the day is swallowed by meetings and there’s no time left for real work, then slowdowns aren’t a surprise — they’re the logical outcome of leadership’s own choices. That’s not an employee failure. That’s management creating a system that can’t deliver and then being forced to live with the results.
For anyone who sees layoffs coming, the decision has already been made long before the announcement. The only thing you control is how you protect yourself. Severance terms should be examined with a cold, clear eye, and no one should sign away their rights without fully understanding what they’re giving up. You’re paid for your time and your expertise — not for free labor, not for unpaid handovers, and not for cleaning up leadership’s mess on your way out. Companies act in their own interest every single time. Employees should stop pretending they owe anything beyond what they’re compensated for.
A wise man within Shell once told me, many years ago, “performance is 90% perception.” In my old age I finally understand how right he was.
@b9 Leaking confidential operational or commercial information is a serious risk for everyone involved. It’s not just ‘us vs. them’—sharing protected data can lead to legal consequences, job loss, and real harm to the people posting it.
Also, this platform is nowhere near as anonymous as you think. Posts can be traced, accounts can be subpoenaed, and metadata is not invisible. If someone shares sensitive intel here, it’s their own name and livelihood on the line, not the board’s.
I get that people are frustrated, but encouraging others to expose themselves legally or professionally isn’t the solution.
@b7 Damn right it’s us vs. them. If you are at one of the downstream sites. Post turnaround dates and units to Exxon, Valero, Marathon, and P66 layoff sites. This will give them an advantage on pricing with their trade groups on offtake pricing for customers. If you are in deepwater, throughput rates of both gas and oil and which terminal. Send take intel out to Exxon, BP, Concoco, Apache. If you are in trading post potential deals - hint like trying to keep certain refineries from closing (Valero Bencia) and margins per barrel of both feedstock and finished products. Can get that from OP spreadsheet that gets sent out monthly or quarterly. Acquisition targets are tied to NDAs but fu-k it. Post. If you are in LNG or gas, post cargo loading dates, terminals and destinations. Fu-k Shell LT. This is the only thing that will get the attention of the board. An employee base so pi---d off that we start divulging intel that hurts bottom line. Board and LT don’t give a fu-k about us. Share it with other peons in our peer companies. They’re no longer competitors. It’s workers vs. LT now. Wael wants to fu-k with us. We’ll fu-k him out the door.
@OP Leadership choices have dismantled the culture and technical excellence that once powered this organization while rewarding themselves and punishing us Meanwhile those responsible for massive strategic and financial failures continue to move upward or exit with premium compensation.
It’s become us vs. them. The people doing the real work absorbing the operational and morale fallout, while those at the top focus on optics and preservation of their paychecks.
@b2 No we are fu--ing not good person. I’m going to continue ki-ling it in my commercial role and sharing juicy details on this site whenever I feel like. I won’t break an NDA but guess what…formal NDAs are few, this is anonymous, and I just don’t give a fu-k anymore. I don’t have kids and save almost enough. Enough that i can survive with a lesser paying job and enough to get joy from fu--ing our LT for fu--ing us.
@b1 continue fighting the good fight then. I left the company last year after being denied multiple promotions and just the overall unknown about the company. Shell is not that great anymore compared to other companies.
@b0 go look at my post. Fu--ing nothing and over 100 views. THey’re terrified. All of their posts have dozens of tick or comments, so they’re very active on this site. Three different sites my colleagues worked at; all the same stories. One had a story worthy of a harassment lawsuit (white male victim to manage imagery). It’s a fu---d culture and we’re a fu--ing dumpster fire. Not kidding; I’m posting sh-t for them in spite of our sh-t fu---d bullsh-t leadership. For perspective I’m coming off of an SRA, max shares for JG3 and a 1.3 and another bonus on top of that. I’m ki-ling it. I’m fighting for us. Not su-king Wael’s di-k.
@ar I know every department had to at least have 5% with an IPF of 0.7. But I agree the whole forced ranking is just going to force shell down Exxons path of no collaboration and more backstabbing. Great way to improve culture.
@ay I say we start posting Norco’s, Geismar’s, Polymer’s T/A schedules on Exxon’s threads. Throughout from Appomattox? Share it. Want to know when an LNG tanker gets loaded?? Fu-k it, share it. FU-K WAEL
@aw I’m revolting now and using this site to do it. I’m not an insider obviously but fu-k Wael. Any information that may help, I’m sharing. FU-K THIS REGIME!
@OP I posted a question on Exxon’s thread asking for input on their forced ranking that we’re adopting. I think I frightened them all into hiding. 50 some views and crickets but their side has so much more traffic than ours. that’s an indication of the culture Wael has adopted. Command, Control, Destroy, then retire with a golden parachute. I’m feeling closer to peers of other companies than I am to supporting our LT. Fu-k Wael. Fu-k anyone above a JG1.
@aq yeah those days are long gone. We need to shed 40k people in Wael’s mind to match Exxon’s headcount. this is how they’ll do it. PIPs for .7s, mind you those .7s won’t totally be warranted; then they’ll be let go for low performance with less severance to pay out. That’s how Exxon does it. Maybe some groups need that in SHell. Nevertheless, here we are.
If I recall correctly, when a coworker received a poor IPF—and therefore a less-than-stellar bonus—his response was… strategic. He would report to his desk, fire up a thrilling game of Solitaire (this was pre-internet, so entertainment options were limited), and essentially enter a period of quiet reflection that lasted several weeks. Once he felt sufficiently “compensated,” he would casually resume working as if nothing had happened.
He repeated this routine for years without so much as a raised eyebrow from management. Not exactly my preferred method, but everyone copes with disappointment in their own special way.
@an we heard this too is coming this year. Going to be arbitrary .7s handed out just to meet the average. PIPs are going to be used as “improvement tools” or something like that instead of disciplinary as they were. Welcome to Exxon where you’ll die early and be miserable until that day comes.
An actual distribution is being enforced. Expect to be PIP’d if you’re in the 0.7 bucket. Expect to exit for “underperformance” if you’re there twice in a row, or possibly 2/3 year rolling average they’re still deciding. If you leave for underperformance, expect severance to be different from reorg severance.
IPF forced ranking has been fundamentally flawed since its inception at Shell. It operates as a zero-sum system, where gains for some employees come only at the expense of others. By design, employees—particularly those at JG5 and below—are placed at a disadvantage, regardless of overall team performance or individual contribution.
This approach to performance-based compensation inevitably pits employees against one another, fostering competition rather than collaboration. Over time, it breeds resentment, as many recognize that outcomes can be influenced as much by perception and relationships as by actual performance. Ultimately, the company benefits from cost control and differentiation, while employees absorb the negative consequences.
@OP these anecdotes are worth considering. It’s less important to put emphasis your IPF but rather making connections with people. Shell is very focused on relationships not from a formal sense it’s just how we work. I’ve been at Shell 15 years and didn’t start really making progress (JG3 now and thinking I’ve likely topped out) until I just started pinging people on skype (remember the days before teams haha) and or emailing them. I looked at their titles and just asked them for coffee to learn about their job. I made connections that way. I delivered a small piece of a project and used that to ask a GM to be my mentor. We met quarterly and I would complete tasks on my own time or would just bring questions for him. That connection helped me land a new role and promotion a few years after that. I’ve had a few 1.3s a few great years but these days that wasn’t enough to get the 3. Connections and relationship building did it. JG 3 isn’t that high in Shell at all but it’s way more competitive than what it was when I started at Shell. Relationships and connections with a 1.0 for 5 years will get you a promotion or job in a reorg against people that have a couple of 1.3s in 5 years. Prepping for a reorg starts now, literally every week thinking about how to make connections across Shell. It’s not a secret but it’s also not that easy for people. It’s uncomfortable for most especially a natural introvert like me. But if you can get over that hump people love to share and talk about themselves just ask. It’s way easier to do before a reorg has been announced.
@ad I was at convent when it was shutdown. That year I got a 1.3, PSPs as a JG4 and still didn’t get placed at Geismar or Norco. I found out my IPF two days after the announced the placements. My manager was like I hope this makes you feel better and I said it made me feel worse that I was waited that well and not placed!
I got 1.3 two years in a row. I hustled for it. It did not help me get promoted and I was impacted twice in layoffs. Maybe it helped me secure a role in the new org, but other than that nothing. I am sure you do just fine. Anything above strong rating is even more competitive than past years.
@ab yep you are ranked according to your director level against your JG. Depending on line of business it could be GM/VP or LT level at a site. It really depends on if your manager will fight for you. Since 2019, I got 1.3 twice but it never helped me get promoted and I got 1.3 in the Covid year with no bonuses or raises so it didn’t really do anything.
@aa Usually rankings are based on JG only and don’t take into account PIR.
Does the ranking favor those who are still in the lower PIR ?
@a8 Sorry OP didn’t mean to hit submit just yet. Meant to add that usually the team lead will rank on their own first. Then will convene with their line manager, those at that level all defend their rankings amongst the larger group to meet the broader requirements to average out. I hear there are changing metrics this year but that’s only hearsay. Getting above a 1 these days won’t be helped by this site. If there is anyone you trust on your team to ask, I’d start there or go straight to your line manager and just ask what it would take to get a 1.3. If there answer is aloof, which is likely. Try asking one of their peers. Best of luck
@OP These tend to be specific to your team lead and a level above. Level above depends on team size and group. Like if someone has only a few direct reports. It’s rare at Shell these days to have just a few direct reports but there are some out there. Do you mean improve from .7 to 1? Because 1 to 1.3 is very rare these days although it does happen. You’ll be hard pressed to get legitimate advice on how to go from 1 to 1.3. Very team specific. .7 to 1 is follow your PIP if you have one without any mistakes.
Forced Rankings this year we all got shafted…Delivering more business impactful work than your peers doesn’t tip the scales.. The difference in $$$$$$ between a 1 and 1.3 doesn’t equal the amount of personal time lost spent doing extra work for that 1.3.