Thread regarding Occidental Petroleum Corp. layoffs

Couldn't agree more with the last OP. One thing, FB, Amazon, etc all have extended WFH through the summer. Some of us need to work 5-6 more years before retiring. Some have lost retirement - ie Enron, layoffs from companies previously worked for, stretches of unemployment, etc, And I am sure many others do. With OXY's emphasis on Safety, as we have mandatory attendance at Safety meetings, etc why wouldn't OXY not extend WHF through July especially if there are COVID bumps late June? I sure miss being the in office, but this is for the good of all concerned and our Health! As you say, the younger people may be wearing masks at Greenway but have exposed themselves in non-work situations. OXY needs to take this in consideration.

The County Judge extended the current policy until 6/12 to encourage people to work from home. I am nearing retirement age, and for myself I don't care if I get laid off rather than return to work. I would have put in for the VSP, but if I can WFH that will be even better. WFH has been great to keep away from crowds and I control where I go, and who I am around. Officials think we may still see a spike in Covid cases in early June, and the last place I want to be is in an office environment. If I were 20-30 years younger I would not mind going into the office. The fact is the virus is spread from human to human, and now that they are opening so many places that means more contact people will have with each other. I saw on the news last night where the bars were not practicing the social distance thing and that is not good. I work with a lot of young people and I am sure they are ready to get out there and have some fun, and good for them. They are too young to let something like this influence their life like it does an older person. But if I am going to work and be working with the same people going to bars and other places I am putting myself at risk. I understand that we all need to get back to work, but I for one am not willing to trade my retirement years for a paycheck and the chance to die from this virus, so WFH is a great thing for me. I enjoy my co-workers but at what risk. Being in my low 60's I basically might have 15-20 years left and only a smaller amount of years to get out and do things. Also, I will not be signing any forms releasing any employer from liability if I get or die from Covid. As far as I am concerned that is a risk the employer has to take if they want people to come back to work too soon. If Oxy would have offered a better VSP I think many 60 and over would take it to keep their exposure down until they find a vaccine. I know people my age that have died from Covid, and it is a serious threat to the older employees. Oxy needs to provide mask and make sure everyone wears them in common places, and it should be a given that people can work behind closed doors.

lol, the guy who is complaining that the bathroom smells like urine...

I would be curious as to which floors were told coming back in June. Only FOUR people can be in an elevator at a time. Can you imagine the long lines to get from 22 to 31 floors. Did most of you on upper floors get a WFH notice for June?

I am a Land Negotiator and I was told only my managers/directors are going back starting June 1st. If I am on the chopping block for layoffs, oh well.

Why do I get the sinking feeling that if you’re told to continue staying at home until further notice that you’re on the layoff list. Anyone else think this? Or is there a large contingent continuing to work from home?

“Though your services remain vital to our success, you will not be a part of the group of employees asked to return to Oxy workplaces in June.” What is the group? Anyone know what criteria was used to make decisions?

Why stay married then. If you can't stand to be around your spouse you are going to be one miserable person. I go to my office and she goes about her business.

How is WFH working out for people with non-working spouses without kids at home? This seems like the WFH would be a major imposition on the alone time of the non-working spouse.

WFH is going great for my team and I feel much safer this way. I hope WFH continues until there is less of a COVID threat to me.

I fully support those who wish to work from home, especially if they feel more productive. Millennial here, and a geologist. WFH is not for me, as I suspect it's not terribly kind to other colleagues of mine who work in the technical roles. Screen space is a big factor (only so much I can do from here), computing power is another (we typically use at minimum 3 different software types). But maps are pretty critical too, tools that help us visualize the subsurface. I am incapable of printing a base map of a 1:10,000 scale here at home, at least not one I can read. I shall be very glad to get back into the office, even if it means lots of new rules and regs pertaining to COVID.

This probably sounds silly but I miss the routine. I actually enjoy putting on some slacks and a nice shirt and driving in for the day, fitting in a trip to the gym somewhere and grabbing a Starbucks. Much more capable of getting work done and being a good little communist if I'm sitting in my office. If that makes me an old fart, then so be it.

How is WFH policed under the current situation?
Let’s face it, we get paid by time and not the job. So you have to be doing your job at least 80 hours every two weeks. Does your supervisor take role every day? Are you instructed to log into the system by a certain time each day?

To: @2wev+1508ausO

Give up my 9/80 in exchange for ONE WFM day a week?! You must be out your damn mind. It should be the other way around. Come into the office once a week...and that’s it. Another millennial here...to the other disgruntled millennial - whatsup homie! I agree. Some of y’all older folks / WFH deniers need to get with the program. We can DO EVERYTHING from home. Come into the office one or two times a week MAX. No need for the rest. Some of y’all are low key pressed that you can’t cheat on your significant others anymore while you’re at work (yeah...I went there). If those Greenway walls could talk! Alright I’m going to stop sipping this tea because it could turn exceptional real quick.

The attitudes of the early career WFH people are very immature which is expected for youth. You are not alone because this cycle has repeated itself throughout the generations where youth think they have a better way of doing things. It leads to progress but you cannot expect change overnight. I would suggest initially trying for one WFM day a week in exchange for giving up your 9/80 schedule. That would certainly be fair as the purpose of the 9/80 was to eliminate road congestion which you would not have if you did WFH.

@2clk+1508ausO I get it lets pretend she does but why doesn't she stand up and fire all those sh– heads. Instead she always after us small worker bees. In a new projects, mergers and upkeep with day to day we get k–led from all sides not the sh– heads. Get it?

Believe or not , I think VH cares us. That is what she did not do the mass layoffs at last downturn and offer a generous lay-off package this Jan. Her only problem is she is surrounded by those incompetent and manipulative liars. Take her bad decision aside , she is careful about when we reopen greenway plaza. Give her some faith. I think we will have a good return plan.

I think return to office once a week. And team building activity every quarter will suffice for the face time. We take turns to use the office will save us 75% of the work space .

Face time build some favoritism, which led to where we are now. No gossiping in the hall way, two hours coffee time and useless lunch and learn. No unnecessary buddy relationship building. WFH is a great way to show the value of Your work by quality and quantity. This makes Kissing xxx and stealing credit difficult, as every communication has a record to track. Vote for long term WFH

Face time build some favoritism, which led to where we are now. No gossiping in the hall way, two hours coffee time and useless lunch and learn. No unnecessary buddy relationship building. WFH is a great way to show the value of Your work by quality and quantity. This makes Kissing xxx and stealing credit difficult, as every communication has a record to track. Vote for long term WFH

To the post below, if you don’t trust your employees to do their job, then why hire them? You are a troll.

So managing WFH employees will require an increase in the HR and security functions.

When the company managers detect someone has not logged in by the start of core hours there will be a wellness check requested. The roving security officer in that sector of the city will check up on the employee to see what’s up. If the employee is not working they will be written up. No one will get fired but your bonus will be diminished based on the number of write-ups.

Wow! This could reduce professionals to non- professional status in a short period of time.

I agree with the last OP. And I am of his parents generation. Maybe I am a millennial Grandparent!

To all of the old, conservative, white men that currently run OXY in some capacity and that are kicking and screaming that OXY will never be a company that “works from home.” Here is the problem, us millennials ( I am 31) are the future. You are not. You are old and likely will retire in the next decade (I hope you do because most of you are overpaid and completely useless). Oil and gas is already a dying industry that I see as having major recruitment problems in the future. Oil is set in the old way of doing things and refuses to change with the times. Big oil is exactly as Jim Cramer put it, the next “big t-b-cco.” Money managers are more conscious of the environment and they do not want to invest in oil and gas. Why would they? Most are run horribly with executives like VH getting million dollar payouts while destroying shareholder value (the actual owners of the company). Do you not realize oil companies have been the worst performing sector on the S&P 500 for the past decade? Clearly something is not working with the way things are. So future oil and gas employees have to deal with bureaucracy from horribly run companies, the fear of constant layoffs every time a Saudi prince has a bad week (or 30% salary cuts as OXY does things), all while being told how we need to do our jobs, with the door open in our office so we can be micromanaged. If my parents generation does not change their way of thinking, there will be a bleak future for oil and gas. The best minds will go into tech or banking where they can make just as much money as in oil and gas but without constantly bs of being told how we need to do things. And for the guy saying he is a field employee that has to go into the field, obviously WFH does not apply to you, this is meant for the white collar workers like myself that have gotten more work done from home without pointless meetings all day in the office. If you think I am wrong, why is it that tech companies like google, amazon, or Microsoft are my generations dream companies, while oxy is a company that has a terrible culture where everyone is miserable? Think about it and I hope the older folks take some of this advice.

Most companies deal with very tangible products and machines that they can see. Last time I checked oil is found underground where you cannot see the oil or the rock in which it resides. There is great uncertainty that is best addressed in face to face discussions on what the subsurface is like. Not to mention how best to optimally bring the oil up from the ground, process it, sell it, etc.

So yes, if we were producing vanilla cookies or computer software it could all be orchestrated by a bunch of people working on their computers in between jogs, bike rides, and dog walking.

@1igw, really? Funny how other industries don't seem to have an issue in this area when WFH. Granted, some face to face time is always good, but what is that ratio? I would argue that beyond a day or two a week it's really not all that valuable for most things. Companies worth many many many times what we are worth have proven that's the case. And even at the highest levels, most boards don't even meet in person all that often, as they hold most of their meetings remote. Face it, your way of thinking is for the dinosaurs, and is not truly based on the requirements of productivity. Assuming Oxy survives all of this, we will have great difficulty attracting new talent in a few years time if most other companies embrace WFH more than we do.

Those that prefer WFH for their career will basically admit that they are technicians and do not want to be involved in planning and management of projects. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what you want.

To really play in the corporate world you have to be present physically. That is not really old school but is just the way it is.

Those people just out of school really need to be in a the office to learn the ropes and practice people skills. Communication specialists would agree that much of the message is lost if you take away in-person non-verbal communication.

It would take hours to get around in the elevators. The future is remote work. Probably get workers cheaper and need a lot less supervisors.

Getting GW5 back open for business is important as WFM is only a temporary/partial solution.

But it’s not just a matter of supposed courage or cowardice.

Prudent steps have to be taken but the key issue with such a contagious virus (at least before a vaccine) and a high-rise building is how to deal with elevator traffic.

Everyone wears masks?

No more than 2-3 people for each trip in each elevator car? One only won’t work.

Reserve one car in each bank for people with pre-existing conditions?

Make people use the stairs?

All returnees to GW5 get tested and are virus free?

The idea of herd immunity without a vaccine is no solution at all.

After VH and EC did the APC fiasco, we expect them to handle this issue? Laughable at best.

Some does need supervision to do the job. Just like first graders need someone checking on them. As a adult with general working ethics, we of course can perform 100% anywhere .

@1bhz+1508ausO - You’re an excellent example of the stupidity that plagues our country and your comment also confirms why you’ll never actually be smarter than a fifth grader. You clearly swallowed too much disinfectant Sling Blade. 👍🏻

I find myself getting more work done at a more relaxed pace. I usually login around 7:00am and logoff around 6:00pm. Between those times I get a lot more work done than in the office, plus I am not spending over 3 hours a day on the road. To me the commute is the biggest drawback to working for Oxy at Greenway. Also, Greenway is old and worn out, and if you go to the bathroom on my floor on a Monday morning it smells like urine. Total POS building and way behind the times for modern office buildings. That building is not worth near what they are charged for.

If you’re too afraid to go back to the office, take your VSP and let the rest of us have more space in the office. All you complaining about Greenway are probably the same ones that think the economy should stay closed for the rest of the year too.

Speak for yourself then. Do you really think we are going to perform at 100% when we go back to the office at 70% pay? Yea right..

lol who are you superhumans who are performing more efficiently at home? I don't even have kids and I find it to be a roughly 30% drop in productivity across the board.

Give us the 30% cut back, then we talk about going back to greenway.

So once the health concerns about the virus are solved people should have no excuse to get back to their office buildings.

Younger people may have the biggest adjustment to going back because they don’t like putting in “face time”. But they also don’t like answering phones or even returning phone calls.

There are laws about disclosure of sickness. So reality is that everyone is taking their own safety in their hands when going back to the office. Some o&g companies are currently requiring release waivers to avoid potential litigation and to ensure everyone is aware it's a personal protection matter and not company related risk. This is all of course if the HES/HSE and HR orgs can agree on a phased protocol for returning that doesnt not require illegal self disclosure.

There is one OG company in the energy corridor that had 18 people on 1 building and now they are not returning until mid June at the earliest because of this 'wave'.

I cant wait to join the class action lawsuit when someone catches covid at gw5

As a result of WFH, Oxy will realize jobs can be done remotely. Hello Outsourcing.

"I have a law degree,"

Landman doesn't count. What a waste of space.