Thread regarding ConocoPhillips layoffs

If you want to leave, can you request a severance package???

I am obviously clueless here. Sorry.

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Post ID: @OP+1jz8t08vp

12 replies (most recent on top)

Wow! I qualify for 60 months!!

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Post ID: @128+1jz8t08vp

@OP EOIs (Expressions of Interest) are typically asked for by a company going through a significant layoff round, which is likely to be announced in 2H 2025.

For the company, several considerations apply. Laying off experienced and motivated employees is not a straightforward endeavor. In many cases whole teams and significant organizational chunks are going to go away, and many of these employees will be let go: the company may wish to retain some of those in these groups, but will then need to bump other employees. Very often the company will do a confidential quartile based ranking, and will try as hard as it can to hold on to staff in the top two quartiles. This can mean someone solidly in the third quartile losing out (obviously, all rankings are imperfect to start off with).

Knowing that a third or even second quartile employee has stuck their paw up as a possible EOI makes things easier. And the more valued an employee is, the harder the company will swallow before accepting an EOI.

Yes, some executives and managers oppose accepting EOs on principle. But that is a two edged sword: someone very keen to leave (perhaps close to retirement age) can be extremely demotivated by being forced to stay or resign without severance, and their peers and colleagues (and some managers) may feel those people have been unfairly treated. Layoffs always have a long lasting impact on engagement and morale, and being seen to behave unfairly adds to disengagement.

This isn’t a Pollyanna view of COP or any big company. Individual managers and executives can be ba----ds, but the overall company’s objectives are relatively stable over time.

For employees, as with all HR matters, what kind of capital (including relationships) matters. If you’re new, likely you haven’t had time to build up much. If you have a long track record and are reasonably realistic about which quartile you’ll be in, and how at risk your job/business function is, you’ll likely have a decent sense of whether your boss(es) will think “no way,” “maybe” or “thank God!” if you do EOI.

Best of luck.

[Disclaimer: no longer at COP, but I went through about ten rounds of these at several companies. EOI’d twice, both times successfully.]

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Post ID: @10m+1jz8t08vp

The severance payout is outlined in the employee handbook, look it up online. 3 weeks per year of service, capping at 20 years.

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Post ID: @10d+1jz8t08vp

🤣

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Post ID: @105+1jz8t08vp

What’s severance like? 3 weeks for every year of service up to 6 months?

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Post ID: @xe+1jz8t08vp

If they offer EOI you can request to leave and you will get a severance package per policy. An EOI is never a guarantee that you will get the package and often depends on your manager. If they are decent they will honor your request and give you the package but I have also heard of them denying an EOI and then it's up to you to decide whether to stay or not and take a chance with the layoffs because they happen every 2 to 5 years.

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Post ID: @wg+1jz8t08vp

@pt People who were under the the world’s best negotiator who was shortly CFO were sc--wed exactly as described in 2015. “We are not going to pay people to leave who are going to leave anyway.” A senior guy in BD was leaving as his wife had cancer. His EOI was denied. Two others were as well.

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Post ID: @s0+1jz8t08vp

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

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Post ID: @rx+1jz8t08vp

The advice from the earlier poster FAILS many fact-check tests.
For the OP, the severance will be depending on your location and what laws might exist for your location. Texas allows a company to let people go without any severance, but the company has an internal policy to provide one.
One of the FAILS you should ignore from the guy who says you will get sc--wed over is that the company would get in trouble if it didn't follow the same rules with everyone.
There are too many crybabies on this website who think the world is out to get them.

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Post ID: @pt+1jz8t08vp

Don't listen to the first reply. It is full of emotional BS and sounds like a person who is struggling to keep his stress in check. Nobody is going to take advantage of you, and if they do, they were going to be terrible to work for even if you stay quiet.
You can ask for a severance, but you wont get one.
It is likely around September, the company will ask for volunteers to leave, and they will get a severance when the time comes and if they are selected. But you may have to wait until December before you can leave if you want this deal.

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Post ID: @jp+1jz8t08vp

EOI's haven't been announced. I don't know whether we're getting them but I'm sure we'll be getting some level of communication soon. If you're an employee your answers should lie there.

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Post ID: @a8+1jz8t08vp

Uh, sure you can, but will it result in you actually receiving a severance package?

Probably not.

Because the whole gist behind offered severance, is that it's to compensate you for the unexpected disruption in your income from being let go, especially when you have little advance notice of it happening. They are offering you a parting gift, to soften the blow. And also for them to avoid you filing a lawsuit. See, if they pay you a pretty penny on your way out, especially if in exchange, you sign a paper saying you won't be suing them, then they get what they want, and you get some extra $ on the way out.

Severance is essentially a payoff to the employee to not cause a ruckus/cost the company money when the employee gets the boot. This benefits the company more in the long run, financially. That's always their goal: how to save and make more $$$. So why would they give you a parting gift, if you make it clear to them that you're already willing to leave? What's in it for them? Nothing. They'll just say, "See ya" and be glad that they didn't have to pay you any severance on your way out.

Some bosses take that info. you'd be giving them about wanting severance as leverage to work you even harder, while refusing to even consider you for any next round/s of layoffs. They actually enjoy watching you squirm and wanting to leave, but not getting any "golden ticket" out.

Don't put yourself in that vulnerable position.
Make your own plans, implement them, and prioritize yourself instead of waiting on others to determine your destiny.

You can be let go from a job and get no severance at all.
You can also quit a job, and get no severance at all.
Severance truly is a gift, not something to assume you'll be receiving, under any circumstances.

If you're not happy with where you are, don't ask for severance, they'll just laugh in your face.
Find another job with a nice bump in salary and leave on your own timeline, instead of letting your boss know you want to leave, while passively waiting around and hoping for them to give you a gift that isn't likely to be landing in your lap.
Look out for #1 (yourself).

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Post ID: @a3+1jz8t08vp

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