Thread regarding Shell Oil layoffs

Have we lost our biggest asset? People?

As our company fights for direction under this clueless CEO with the motto of “ Do less with less” and the leadership that has no concern for morale or wellbeing of employees it is alarming of the feedback among the people actually doing the work how unsecured everyone feels!!!! It’s no secret that our GOA wells are declining and we have no major plans in sight to keep the pipelines filled. Something big is brewing and we are left in the dark, word on the street is a major change in 2026 is coming.


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| 3105 views | | 29 replies (last March 26) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1kbcg4zds

29 replies (most recent on top)

I was not aware any geologists or geophysicists still worked at Shell.. all kidding aside, everyday I see another technical worker's "last day at Shell" announcement. I was glad to leave Shell more than a year ago for a job with less pay, and much less drama, and far far away from Houston (though I do miss HEB).

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Post ID: @ggt+1kbcg4zds

@rj yes I had only been in role for a year, but multiple roles were called out on my IDP. That was all within a year window. Then the following year I was allowed to leave for a lateral, which was frustrating.

Basically, I’ve found if you are good at your job and add value, then leadership is much less inclined to let you go for a promotion.

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Post ID: @rt+1kbcg4zds

@hm

were you denied JG3 roles because it was inside the alleged "4 year window"?

I was denied exit from my SATP until I hit my 4 year. I was being pulled up and out at 3.5 and 3.75 years but denied. 4 year and 1 day I was out. Very frustrating experience, especially after being told the 4 years was "flexible". That was 3 years ago...

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Post ID: @rj+1kbcg4zds

@kr yes. To all of this. Their generation destroyed pensions for 401Ks which weren’t supposed to be for retirement.

Then they made stock buybacks legal. Back In the 80’s they were considered market manipulation and thus were illegal but you can count on the boomers for greed.

And today we have a CEO that is doing just that, Buying back stock and Artificially inflating the stock price with nothing to show for it while simultaneously cutting jobs and pocketing the money for him and investors. This is the legislation boomers passed.

They also cut the corporate tax rate in the 80’s from 49% to 21% today.

Pocketed the money for 40 years and today they are voting to get their taxes cut while raising them for everyone else.

They will have used up all the social security funds and destroyed every other social net built by their parents.

But they will never accept the extensive damage they have caused

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Post ID: @p1+1kbcg4zds

Well yes!

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Post ID: @m0+1kbcg4zds

@ja

Your generation literally destroyed pensions and replaced them with 401ks as soon as it could to save a buck. You also are the progenitors of outsourcing.

If that’s not wrecking a future generation to enrich yourself, what is?

It is a fact that social security has legislated benefits that it can’t afford which will require either significant benefit cuts or tax hikes in the 2030s.

Do you care to address any data or just to keep calling others ungrateful or saying you paid your fair share so it’s not your problem anymore? Seems like an odd behavior in a discussion about personal ownership and responsibility to me.

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Post ID: @kr+1kbcg4zds

@jc

literally so funny to watch somebody act like the 10$ option over the 25$ option is clearly the smart corporate decision strictly because it’s cheaper

it makes me wonder if they buy a bunch of shein and temu that lasts a few weeks to a few months before being trash and wind up spending more on clothes at the end of the year than people buying quality items

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Post ID: @kq+1kbcg4zds

She’ll lost it’s way a long time ago… the people BvB kept close were all blood su-kers, and the woke madness— promoting utterly incompetent people because of identity, ki-led any possibility of growth.

The complaints here, now are about 10 years too late.

I’m not going to bang on about the “good old days” but the decline is alarming.

Every company has a lifetime and Shell is deep into the winter of its life.

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Post ID: @kp+1kbcg4zds

@gy

I am totally willing and to buy a 25 dollar American made tee shirt instead of the cheap shirt from Vietnam that will shrink in the dryer. I prefer quality that will last. I wouldn’t make a good CEO would I?

Doesn’t matter if we are American, Dutch, British or Indian, if we are skilled then we are all feeling the pain when quality goes down because other skilled people have left.

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Post ID: @jc+1kbcg4zds

@h1 - looks like the pity party he referenced has begun at your table. Being bitter and begrudging any generation what they’ve managed to achieve won’t get you your participation trophy. Put your oars in the water and row your own boat. Cheers.

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Post ID: @ja+1kbcg4zds

@dm yep in the last 4 years at Shell I was denied 4 promotions to JG3 when others in the company reached out to my line manager to see if I could leave. Told no every time. However I was allowed to leave for a lateral due to my expertise. I finally left Shell this year to go to another company and instantly got promoted to a JG3 equivalent doing the same thing. If Shell doesn’t understand and start retaining technical expertise then there will be none left in about 5-10 years.

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Post ID: @hm+1kbcg4zds

@gy

Every time I see someone say something like this it is always a retired boomer who is more than happy to take my money for their medicaid, social security, and property tax relief with their voting habits.

Handouts for me, personal responsibility for thee.

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Post ID: @h1+1kbcg4zds

@gy

protectionism is literally working right now in every other country

you seem to be confusing protecting domestic employment with banning role elimination. protecting employment means guaranteeing a countries roles for a countries people first and moving them into new roles when old ones become obsolete.

it doesn’t mean banning the ability to ki-l roles. do you even know that you’re confusing this? perhaps it is intentional or the result of propaganda.

companies used to upskill and retrain their employees and offer community programs to teach new skills and prepare talent pipelines for roles.

it is a new age phenomenon that it’s all thrown upon the individual to do all of this. it was shifted onto us to cut costs and to bring in more excuses to employ third worlders because “there are no skills here or talent” (said while a team in pune has to redo a basic task for the fourth time). the fact that india can’t reliably do the things that are being outsourced into them is proof that this excuse is nonsense. its all about cost, not skills or talent.

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Post ID: @h0+1kbcg4zds

@fb I did not mean all Indians are useless. Just the ones in Shell BLR that are so called engineers and project managers. Trust me I worked with dozens of them. Also the jg2 and jg1 are there to bring their friends fromntcs and wipro in and party at venues on the GCC card with one swipe.

The good senior Indians with a vision will leave the country to work abroad for any good it company. So not at Shell BLR. Proof me wrong.

But the company is strategically ruined from top down. Stocks have done nothing this year, so more cut cut cute coming soon near you.

For shareholders it is a matter of selling at the right time instead of long term investing.

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Post ID: @gz+1kbcg4zds

Globalization is here to stay and will continue to expand. Capital seeks out productivity, low cost, accommodative regions and we’re all the better for it.
Your country doesn’t owe you a job. Is the US going to go back to steam locomotives to protect miners’ jobs? Are US Americans willing to spend $25 for a US made tee shirt or $10 for one at Walmart made in Vietnam? You need to start looking around corners for oncoming changes before you get hit by the pity-me obsolescence bus because the only constant is change. Protectionism does not work.

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Post ID: @gy+1kbcg4zds

@fm

The utterly mo--nic notion that Americans ought to have to compete with people from all over the world for jobs and housing is breathtaking in its repulsiveness.

It is propaganda from a generation that enriched itself directly and knowingly by shipping your prosperity overseas in the 80s and onward to great detriment of all future generations. A generation that continues to loot all others to this day with every voting opportunity possible. Thankfully they all have less than 20 years left, but it will take decades beyond that to repair their damage to society.

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Post ID: @fy+1kbcg4zds

@fb

sure. but i think that was extractable in context

also, don’t forget that they’re making us teach ourselves out of a job by having unqualified people do something over and over until it’s barely good enough

it’s a humiliation ritual and a middle finger . leadership thinks we are so d-mb we don’t know this. truly insulting.

with any luck the people who can teach like that will so flee the company and it will be the blind leading the d-mb and finally some consequences will arise. but that’s revenge po-n so i don’t count on it. i just want a job where i don’t have to deal with this situation that’s illegal in every country but the united states.

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Post ID: @fm+1kbcg4zds

@f2
I agree with the part about the packages.
The Indian stuff comes across a bit off. It isn't that they are Indian, it is that there are a lot of people who are cheap labor, relatively inexperienced, less capable, less productive, and have a requirement to work with them. There are a lot of Indians that this does not apply too. There are a lot of Indian geniuses who do great things. It isn't that they are Indian; it is that there is a hub in India that is renown for subpar work that is mandated to be used and their product has to be reworked before implementation.

I think that you're trying to say that you don't like being mandated to use cheap less effective alternatives. It is kind of like buying brand name instead of generic because the quality is just better, and it is often less expensive in the long run; plus you're happier the whole time.

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Post ID: @fb+1kbcg4zds

@bh don't forget to mention with less stress and bigger paycheck. And no useless Indians to work with all day.

So yes people with skills will land better outside and regret not going earlier.

The rest is useless outside Shell and will struggle. I am seeing it happen with ex Shell who only know Shell. Too bad for them for trusting Shell management.

If Shell stops the packages people will run away very fast, even I have wasted 2 years waiting for the package. I regret it.

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Post ID: @f2+1kbcg4zds

It’s blindingly obvious that people who feel appreciated and rewarded in their jobs are willing to give more in commitment and initiative in return.
Leadership isn’t stupid; they know this. Which can only mean their priorities are elsewhere, not on building, nurturing and retaining a competent and loyal workforce.
You can draw your own conclusions but I’m not into clock watching while going to seed just to collect paychecks.

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Post ID: @dq+1kbcg4zds

@d4

this is literally me lol

technical JG4 stuck and always promised a JG3 promotion if blah blah happens or when such and such is over

but never in writing!

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Post ID: @dm+1kbcg4zds

@bv yep if you are a technical expert you can easily make more money outside of shell. At Shell you will be stuck as a JG4 forever but promised a promotion that never comes.

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Post ID: @d4+1kbcg4zds

@bh

many such cases. the myth of high shell pay comes comes from wells engineering which is the only place where it may be true ( I have my doubts )

anyone else with skills besides sending emails should shop around

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Post ID: @bv+1kbcg4zds

@bf bingo. I left Shell this year because another company paid me more than shell to do the exact same thing I was doing!

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Post ID: @bh+1kbcg4zds

@bb

well, there are two types of ex shell

one has skills and is shocked that they find others pay better for the same work

and the other is far more common so they dominate the discussion. they don’t have skills that are useful outside of shell. they have completely deteriorated and only know how to work shell systems to not get cut. so their next job is a huge pay cut or forced early retirement.

there is plenty of life beyond shell if you have talent

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Post ID: @bf+1kbcg4zds

once you understand how the company works the issue is obvious

  1. shell managers do whatever they can to avoid accountability
  2. there is a cheap hub that does sub par work

so what happens is this cheap hub sc--ws a bunch of stuff up, and then the businesses complain. but the managers don’t know it’s a hubs problem instead of an issue with all of IT or P&T

so then the businesses outsources IT and P&T because they don’t trust corporate for it.

so then some cost cutter says let’s eliminate P&T and IT.

then we’re all sc--wed. except for the people who sc--wed up, because the only thing we track is billing rate of resources so being cheap is all that matters

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Post ID: @bc+1kbcg4zds

NL is already reducing byebye packages with 30% and has communicated it out. So 2026 will be the axle.

And 3 days rto to sit in a traffic jam and with your headset on in office

Glad I left in 2024. Shell folks think they are payed well, until they find another job.

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Post ID: @bb+1kbcg4zds

@ax however that is the problem with Shell, they don’t view people as assets. Management believes anyone can do any role well and the processes will help.

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Post ID: @b8+1kbcg4zds

People are assets if they have the right skills and experience. That is what we have lost.

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Post ID: @ax+1kbcg4zds

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