Thread regarding Saudi Aramco layoffs

OMG, any idea of the total number and the department affected?

We do not know the number. We just saw the security guys with boxes showing up again.

Heard people in Finance were impacted (again) this time as part of round 2. Not sure about other departments though!

How many were let go this time around?

Heads up new list issued last week. Here we go again.

Article I saw only had pictures of Saudis standing around looking proud. No breaking news there.

It wasn't a Saudi truck

I left the company too. Voluntarily. US companies now pay as much or more than Saudi Aramco.

With that said I have zero tolerance for saudis who work for non-saudi companies and run their mouth about expats. Saudis have developed and produced NOTHING on their own. They can't even raise and feed their own children without an expat to beat and abuse to do it for them. So when they drop by here to use our website on phones and computers we sent them we need to make sure we remind them of that.

I did see an article awhile back where they built a truck in Saudi Arabia. That's real progress, they're getting up there with Mexico.

Saudi Aramco should trim some extra Saudi fat.....especially at management level. It is well accepted the fact that w/o expats very little will be accomplished, especially after massive and ineffective Sauditization.

I am all for Saudi Aramco trimming the fat, and that fat is surely in the 85% Saudi work force side. I’ve never imagined such lax, unqualified, inept environment could exist prior to joining-in. However, laying off Saudi’s doesn’t make good politics/PR. Leaving politics aside, the company (from what I gathered) over-hired after ’09 - and those who were hired were a mix bag.

I understand the frustration of those who were laid off, but perplexed with this sentiment from expats, were you expecting a politics free - happily ever after - enduring employment?

Most of the expats that I dealt with harbor some resentment, which is understandable, given the double standards they're treated with, almost all knew their jobs were a “comfy" quasi-retirement gig with REALLY good money against actual work-hours done.

I am a Saudi, came from another industry, worked at SA, and despite all “perks” and promises for housing loan, or free higher eduction, decided to bail-out shortly before completing 2 years, returned back to the same industry, and couldn’t be more satisfied. I couldn’t take wasting my life for another minute. I really can’t sympathize with people (Expats or not) who kept complaining without doing the same.

My wife had her salary slashed by 42% along with all state employees - It would be naive to continue to expect being an overpaid “alien” in this country without having something of value to show for it.

What Aramco is doing is what any multinational company would’ve done years ago, let alone a country whose sole earning is from one commodity.

Update: Layoffs have restarted as of today. Unsure of the total number but they are hitting Core Area.

So much for the alleged break. Looks like its going to be a long stressful year.

Does anybody know what was given to the leaving employees? Especially those having kids in boarding or attending local schools. How was the exit process? Any special consideration?

I (think) we are in a cease-fire but hearing whispers about another round in March/April. They are also (allegedly) still clearing out the last group.

I would be interested in how that is going if anyone has some first-hand knowledge. If it's been painful or the employees are being treated badly it might be time to just pull the ripcord. Things are not going to get better.

I'm all for Saudi bashing as the next girl, but any comments related to Expat layoffs?

It was a good run while it lasted. PDVSA also had 300+ billion barrels of crude reserves but the fraction of capacity left after all the foreign companies were kicked out won't even pay for the printing companies to print new bills. The rest of it? Down the same social welfare toilet that the saudis are flushing. Shame to watch. Aramco had a lot of potential to be one of the great companies.

Any more forced departures? What happened with the unconventional staff?

Good point. 2019 is somewhere near break even in that regard.

We are talking about people who stupidly believe that they will still be happily collecting monthly dependent fees that exceed the cost of a mortgage on a home somewhere else.

Not so sure here. The posters of charts and graphs are very impressive. Have other companies who championed OE failed in the process? I see some big names touted. There moght be something to it unless this is a BCG creation made to dig its teeth into. I have an aversion to leeches. Need to buy a Bic.

Stunning news:

Results of the carefully crafted time-consuming IDP for 2016:

Nothing

OE was a brilliant way to generate lots of team leadership assignments for leftover / spare Saudi "leaders" so that they could borrow working staff from other "leaders" to help make them look busy.

A company needs work-sharing programs like that when their ratio of "supervisors" to working employees exceeds 1 and I am sure that leading the creation of charts and graphs without actually changing or improving anything was a real career booster for a whole generation of Highly Qualified Leaders to move up the next ladder of Saudi Aramco management without getting any dirt on their hands.

"Operational Excellence" was a joke, just to make a boss happy. What a waste of time. These are the guys that should have "invited" to leave the Company.

How many millions do we spend operating radio stations when everyone has internet. I think the DeeJays are great but how much money do they bring to the table? Just Saying. I'm sure Operational Excellence will notice this. OE will make this company great again!

Yep, that Individual Development Plan system should have been rolled out to Saudis only. Did anyone ever get anything of value out of the hours and hours of setting that up just so the supervisors could report that everyone in their groups had one?

@IF2wAWy-2mpzq I don't understand. By definition, getting rid of surplus people is Aramco making redundancies. Unless you have a different meaning?

Layoff means they will take you back - rather they are getting rid of people. In the words of the Minister there is no redundancies at Aramco - which is true, they are getting rid of surplus staff, it how they go about it that is the issue.

It is rare to find a Saudi "on the job" so it is not exactly stunning to hear that on the job training is a dirty word.

@IF2wAWy-2luis wrote, "Why do Expats require training - apart from some IT - as they are supposed to have the relevant skills when joining Aramco."

Aramco advertises career development when a job is posted on their website. Expertise and knowledge are a continuous process. What is not fair is having a bunch of Saudi going abroad every single year attending conferences and coming back w/o debriefing or adding something to the organization. Instead, many expats are required to prepare a year development only attending local or online training, and in mosts cases, the plan is unrealistic and will not happen at all. Then the same Saudi Management asks to justify in the PMP why this didi not occur.

So, welcome to the club.

@IF2wAWy-2luis I'm sorry, your post does not make any sense? Perhaps if it was comprehensible I may be able to understand how it is relevant to the topic of expat layoffs?

Days of 'training Saudi's' never really started from my prospectus, rather was expected to train long serving Expats whose lack of knowledge was proving detrimental to their well being. On-the job training of Saudi's by Expats training Saudi's - is/was a dirty word. Why do Expats require training - apart from some IT - as they are supposed to have the relevant skills when joining Aramco. Another failure supported by Management, applauded and implemented by Expats without any resistance.

Ha. The days of "training saudis" are over. Let them mill around like roaches after a Bengal treatment. It's funny to watch.

That.

Add to it: Awarding leadership and authority to the lowest performers (those who have a perfect record of no mistakes because of never having done anything) has created an impossible and yes toxic work environment for the employees who are assigned to work for them.

@IF2wAWy-2hvap wrote: "Aramco is a toxic environment." Yes, it is. It is well known that after 3+ years there you will not be attractive to the "real" outside world. The Company environment, the attitude of new Saudi Managers w/o any working experience but an MS or Ph.D. title is frustrating. Also, the behavior of the top chain food chain payrolls is disappointing, the learned to survive creating a sort of "SILO" environment where data & knowledge is not shared among colleagues and especially young Saudis.

If the comments on this site show anything is that Aramco is a toxic environment full of spite.

@IF2wAWy-2htsu You are correct, but of course you realise this will be read as a compliment? Sarcasm and critical reflection aren't skills learnt through Elearning or OOK courses.

I read that an expat once managed to get some work done.

He was accused of sorcery and executed on the spot.

Ouch

I doubt that the people who drank clean running water and used flush toilets before they arrived in Saudi are going to return home and switch to stale bottled water and a hole in the ground when they leave. I also believe that they will cook for themselves, clean their own homes, and raise their own children just like they did before they arrived.

I doubt that they will beat their wives, or divorce them for too much or too little makeup, or run families off the highway in a race to nowhere, or push and shove their way to the front of lines, or make loud scenes in restaurants and other public places. I doubt they will flood public hammams with stink water for others to wade in, or import strange men to carry their wives and daughters around.

The Saudi Way is Safe and like the Ramadan bonus it is Reserved For Saudis.

With that said, I am sure that when Americans perform their work in the 'saudi way' of planning to start planning the plan for plan planning and do that for months or years without ever actually accomplishing anything they are doing exactly what their Highly Qualified A$$ Kicking Good Family Name Saudi Supervisor Armed With 100 People Years of Seminars and Online Training But No Accomplishments told them to do.

Those who do not, the "problem expats", are surely on the layoff list.

Thanks for playing.

Americans are not being targeted in this layoff - rather all others, as Americans are easily persuaded to do things the Saudi way, all for the mighty $, with no thought of others or the implications of their actions. This mentality is all too easily seen, in everyday life within Aramco, to the detriment to all others, especially Saudi's.

The end of the Sauds is coming. Move aside for the real Saudis!