Thread regarding Halliburton Co. layoffs

The days of being a company man are gone. The company will not support you. Get it will you can. How many VPs do we need?????

Sad to see the implosion of the industry (not just HAL) This has been building up for many many years in Houston. All the money spent on power towers and wining and dining across the industry trying to impress someone, I guess each other.
The whole town is too far from the wellhead to ever understand how the company/industry was once more like family, asset accounting pitted departments within a company against each other to please Wall Street.
Yep I’m one of the old farts that worked hard to make a difference and saved the company many dollars only to be walked out by someone that had never seen a well head.
My suggestion is to stick with a non-public company or start your own.

Y’all need to get over this idea that the company you work for is a personal relationship. Your company is not your family. I’ve worked for the same company for most of my adult life and it is a large part of my identity (unfortunately) but I am acutely aware that this is a business arrangement of my time for their money. At the point it is no longer in the company’s interest, I am gone and vice versa.

I was told by a 40 year employee during the last downturn that he kept the perspective that every pay day, he was square. They don’t owe him anything and he doesn’t owe them anything. The company does not get investment dollars in the egalitarian effort of running a charity that employs as many people as possible.

I am not trying to be mean or callous but you are entering into this work arrangement under an inaccurate premise if you think you are working for your buddies or family for some greater calling. We help people dig holes in exchange for their money. Period.

It's been a LONG time since Hal's been loyal to anyone! Be loyal to yourself, not a company. To them, you're just a number

Pretty sure Frank-Dodd made it illegal for one person to be Pres, CEO and Chairman...although I believe El Jeffe is just that....

Corporate Observer is right. The CEO and Chairman shouldn’t be the same person for exactly the reasons mentioned. I watched the same thing go on at Emerson. The board was cherry picked by the CEO. Well until an activist came along and forced a bit of a shake up.

@lsg+14O26SqG No, Miller may not be on the Comp committee. But he is the Chairman of the Board. He also selects who is on the BOD. Yes they are voted for by shareholders, but have you ever seen competition to be on the board?? To say he does not influence the BOD, well, learn more. There is a very valid reason why the CEO should not also be the Chairman. That does not make it an independent BOD. Also, the BOD approved Lesar’s BHI deal with the second largest breakup fee ever. Second to an AT&T deal. Since we was a longtime Chairman with most members picked by him, shocked they signed off????

The O&G field has always had layoffs and for anyone to be surprised they are happening has not studied the past much. It is sad, hard, and it s—s. But it has happened many times over the years.

The Roman Empire didn't fall in one day...so if you've been with HAL a while you've probably seen signs of things to come. Also, I know some of you may of been surprised, but to tell the truth, wasn't the writing on the wall before you got that dreaded call/meeting notification? I knew what was up when I saw HR caller id on my phone. This company's position is weak. If anything, you are the collateral damage of the executives trying to survive and live for another year. It really s—s, but think about how things have been before the oil price plummeted and the pandemic. You should be relieved if you're being honest with yourself.

Now, page 50 (especially the “for cause” column) is interesting. It’s all a very good read about our company.

I’ve been working for 40 years, now at age 55, I can say that 35 of those years were with only two companies. Having good work ethics, carrying your own weight, being well respected by co workers, all speaks of the integrity of an individual . However the reality when the day is done, the company’s only concern is what you bring to their stocks , their bonuses, their bottom profit. They do only view you as a number, and your number is easily replaced with one swipe on the chalkboard , and a few strokes of upper management . It is a hard lesson to learn, but it took me 40 years to realize that I needed to change my view on how companies value myself.

Page 4:
https://ir.halliburton.com/static-files/496e3b30-0a7b-4cc7-9298-58371c2c58d7

Miller is not on the compensation committee.

It is a weakness of corporate regulation that allows companies such as Hal to combine the role of chairman & CEO. The board of directors oversees the CEO and sets his remuneration. Hence the CEO as chairman is voting and influencing these decisions.
This is an important reason for inflation of CEO compensation relative to the average corporate employee in recent years.
Furthermore the role of chairman is a full time job in a large corporation and one person cannot effectively fill both roles (not to mention president)

Contingencies are better than loyalties.

I am all for people at the top making more. They earn it. That said.
Jeff Miller salary = $17M
Salary cut by 25% still leaves him $12.75 M + Options + dividends
His compensation alone is enough to keep 127 $100K employees .
Count in all the other top level executives and I just think this is the wrong move.
YES - you have to cut costs to stay alive and employee costs are a huge portion of it.
Keep folks on furlough and while it hurts you can still live.

My problem is that I hate changing companies, it's stressful - you need to meet new people, you are a rookie again, etc, etc.

I'd rather stick around, but I will need to adjust my attitude and start not to expect any loyalty from any employer

US public corporations are run to benefit the shareholders not all the stakeholders (including employees).
It is very telling that the dividend has not been cut. Hal has 877 million outstanding shares and the dividend is $0.18 per share per quarter. That's a lot of cash. Equivalent to many many employees.

Miller has 680K shares, so the dividend is an important factor in his thinking.

You work to make money to live, and support your family, etc. It s—s to have the rug pulled out from under you when you did nothing wrong, in fact you were probably excelling in your position. Unfortunately companies since the early 80s stop caring about people, it is all about this quarters numbers. For 50 years now higher education has pumped out C-level id–ts who look at people as exchangeable parts, you are just a number on a spreadsheet. This is especially true of any company greater than 30 people. Take a breather, chill, dust your self off. Tune up your resume, reach out to all the people you know. And/or decide you want to something else. Go back to school and/or start some other Buisness. I had a manager quit in 1982, and jumped from software/hardware engineering to florist....happy as a clam.

You folks talk like this is the first time mass layoffs have ever happened. Believe me, it happened in 1982 just as bad or worse than it is now and I heard the same whining about "loyalty" from ex-employees (I was an ex then too). So in reality over the past 40 years nothing has changed, businesses still have to control costs or they disappear.

How do they reduce their losses? Well, they could sell off equipment (good luck with that anytime soon), they can sell real property (again, good luck), or they can lay off employees. The future "expertise" of the staff doesn't matter if the company disappears.

The bottom line is that you work to feed your family and for personal satisfaction. If you don't fulfill the latter, then you're a fool. Perhaps the oilfield (or telecommunications or aerospace or...) isn't for you. That's okay, find a profession that both feeds your family and satisfies your passion. This really isn't the end of the world.

Those higher-paying jobs need to be reserved for the right cronies.

Remember Hall is not a people’s company. It is known for political games. Managers will crash and accuse you for something that you have never done.

There is no loyalty among employers, with the exception of maybe a few small businesses. Take care of yourself, first and always.

It's a job. It's not a future and it should never be a lifestyle. You work to take care of yourself and your family. Maybe if we all thought that way, we might get our priorities right.