Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

To the person stating that admins only order food and schedule meetings. First of all there are very few if any that have that type of job.

They handle payroll. Problem with your pay or vacation time or how about your sick time? Who manages that for you? Ergonomics? Need something fixed or help with something? All the new software and systems. Who do you think learns that stuff first? I promise you, most of them know more about compliance of administrative rules than any manager. Tax implications on purchases and proper coding? Need a purchase order - do you know the company code and job cost numbers? Who can approve - they know all about what level is needed for approval. Someone new comes to the company - how do you think they get what they need and have the correct accesses. Security? How many professional jobs were given to them to handle on top of ordering food and scheduling meetings. Their salaries not near what the person who was handling it before. They have to retain so much knowledge in so many areas. I could go on and on. But I won’t.

Are there bad admins? Yep. But there are a lot who work really hard and everything runs because they are in the background making sure it does.

Just remember when you want to get rid of all the admins. There are many who have dedicated 20+ years and just like everyone else are terrified. Single moms. Main breadwinners for their families. What a hateful thing for anyone to say.

@3puq+16tyJ8DU Management decided to throw credibility down the drain. Similar to workers, contact staff are still present which we dump the experienced employees..

We are ExxonMobil?

Time to lay-off the Admins. All they do is order food and schedule meetings for managers. Half there work is gone, no more catering. Make the managers schedule their own damn meetings.

Last years new hires were also told this years assessment did not apply. Yet here they are.

@2xun+16tyJ8DU
Everyone can clearly see you are full of it blowing smoke. I would tell new grads to run from this place right now. I just watched you cut them not because they couldn’t compete but because we didn’t have the work. Go blow smoke somewhere else!

Layoff odds depend on your relative performance and the business climate. Oil price getting back to $60, would lower the NSI category back to a normal 3% in just a couple years. In addition, XOM will continue to have 3% retirement each year. Plus there is normal attrition, people who want to got to grad school, leave Texas, following a spouse career outside of XOM locations, or changing industry. MPT headcount can decline nearly 2000/year, if recruiting stays low for a couple years. The company does not want humps in its demographics where there are no people in certain age ranges. These humps occurred in past boom-busts and it causes boom-busts in hiring

@2ssx+16tyJ8DU troll? Or are you this dumb?

: @1jvk+16tyJ8DU
Either you are too naive to have your job or just plain lying.

Im another new hire that was about to hit 1 year with the company when I was asked to leave. They compared us against other new hires up to 2-3 years with the company, and only used data from our start date last April until February (during that entire time, we were in a training program unfortunately unable to provide business contribution). The reasons they gave me for being NSI were entirely out of my control, which s—ed. I’d recommend caution. Lots of amazing people at XOM and I enjoyed working there, but I’d also be keeping my resume up to date.

Firstly, if you have just joined the company this month, welcome! In spite of what you may be hearing and reading on these forums, EM is by and large a great place to work.

Something to remember in these difficult times: while it’s true that the bottom 8% of performers are being let go, the top 92% are staying. So as you embark on your journey with the company, focus on learning, development and doing your job well. Chances are, if you do that, you’ll have nothing to worry about.

From the mechanics of this year’s process, even in the unlikely circumstance that further cuts are made, they would be made on this year’s assessment which doesn’t apply to you. So, don’t be worried or let that be a distraction to you. Also, it’s my understanding that you don’t have to pay back your relocation if the company initiated the end of your employment.

@tfi+16tyJ8DU

Holy sh–, I'm sorry that happened to you. I have not heard of that happening; most new hires laid off had at least 1-2 years with the company. How long were you working at Exxon? Did they even rank you in this cycle?

I doubt they would lay you off before the end of the next ranking cycle, as they've implied that any potential midyear cuts would be "based off" performance assessments that already occurred this year. I also wouldn't worry about relocation. I was laid off just before hitting my one year anniversary and they didn't try to pull those shenanigans with me even thought I technically left the company within one year. Heck, they even gave me three months severance, so I think there's a bit of leeway with the one year cutoff.

If you don't want to hack it at Exxon due to everything that's happened, I suggest taking this year to beef up your resume as much as possible. Do some projects outside of work, develop a personal website, and create your brand so that you can jump ship once COVID-19 ends/stabilizes. It's much harder to get your ducks in a row when the company has already given you the boot. Target a new industry to pivot to, figure out what the entry level job requirements are, and then work on getting yourself to the point to where you are a competitive applicant in that industry.

If you want to make it at ExxonMobil, focus on your technical work a little, but also work on getting noticed by as much management in your function as possible. As someone who put their nose to the grindstone and worked on making their project technically sound, I neglected to focus on the politics of ExxonMobil until after March when I submitted my PDS form. And even though I did do a fair bit of outreach/presentations to BUs and whatnot between March and July, by then it was too late as it wasn't in my PDS form. Make a goal to have made yourself noticed to everyone humanly possible by early February. It's a numbers game, and you want as many people as possible in that ranking meeting to know and like you. You won't get there if you just focus on technical work. Get an "MVP - minimum viable product" as UIS likes it call it, and then go around acting like it's the bee's knees. Swallow your scientific and engineering pride about the bugs you hide and the tall tales you tell. This is business, not academia, and it will spit you right out if you can't play the game.

You are safe if you are a good performer. You are compared with other new hires or similar CL. Oftentimes you are compared against people without degrees who got promoted to exempt CL. If you cannot out-compete a non-degreed person, shame on you...You probably do not belong

I recently relo’d and found myself given the pip/pil or retire decision right after moving. Was told I wouldn’t have to repay relo expenses as it was a company initiated action.

New hires are sometimes let go during their first year if it’s abundantly clear that they aren’t a good fit and won’t work out. This has always happened, and isn’t based on any quotas or percentages.

Joining in August, I imagine you’ll be assessed this year, but guidance around percentages for each bucket hasn’t been finalized and most likely won’t be until March or April next year.

We’ve all heard rumors about more layoffs, but I haven’t heard anything concrete. That doesn’t mean anything in particular, just that I don’t have more information to share.

The comment around saving your money is good advice, as we’re in uncertain times right now. I would be absolutely stunned if they asked for your relo $ back. Even in these hard times, I just can’t see that happening.

The last piece of advice I’ll give is to keep your head down and focus on your work. Write down your accomplishments throughout the year, focusing on deliverables that will leave an impression for your management team. That will make your PDS as competitive as possible next year. I’ve been here for a while, and this is the worst I’ve seen it. There are some serious, legitimate concerns being expressed on this board, but don’t focus too much on all the doom and gloom here.

During ranking, new hires were ranked into 3 buckets. There is a specific number that HR wanted to NI category.. but yes, if I were new, I would not be too comfortable about it.. suggest that you should also use your hours at home wisely.. have a back up plan.. more cuts will come

I wouldn’t count on anything. Just make sure you do your best work wise and save as much money as you can so if they do ask for the relocation $ you can pay it back. Exxon is choosing to only follow the guidelines that benefit them most without any consideration for anything else currently. You should also volunteer to do things that you want to put on your resume, and continuously see what other opportunities are out there. If things just don’t feel right at Exxon they never will and you’re better of jumping ship early if you can. Congrats on your offer, and hopefully things work out for you! :)

I would not put it past them. They will more then likely wave the relocation payback and more then likely give you the severance as well.

Or they will keep you on for one year then lay you off as you can’t compete at the level of 3-4 year employees.