VH mentioned “many” employees want to return to work. From everyone I have talked to, no one wants to go back. When does everyone think they will force us back? I think morale will rank when they force everyone back.
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No other states should legalize weed. CO is the example and went great to sh– in 2 years. Weed is a gateway d–g that leads to other d–gs meth, o—ids etc. . now we have people shooting up in the middle of the day downtown outside on walking paths. Nothing like seeing someone with a needle in their arm on a lunch time walk. I won't go down there anymore. Government does nothing.
Other than maybe legalizing weed Texas is just as nice as anywhere else. Many of us can't stand the liberal ways of Portland and Seattle to name a few. I for one don't mind cops keeping me separated from the bad people. Also, if you need to get your liberal on just go to Austin. Smoking pot there is a ticket these days, and the same in Houston, so that is pretty liberal. In the big cities you will see about any type person you care to see. I still don't know if that is something to be proud about, but Texas has a lot. I would not move to California or New York because you will be taxed to death and the big cities like San Fran, NYC, and Los Angeles have been ruined. San Fran use to be the most beautiful place in my mind, but downtown is just horrible now. NYC is the same way as the crime rate is going through the roof just like in Chicago. In the end my personal best would be to logon from Denver with my morning joe and joint to get the day going.
It will turn into one big hi-grading exercise if they can draw from Colorado, Dallas, Anchorage, and Bakersfield for Oxy WF anywhere jobs. Sounds great for employees wanting to live in a nice place rather than Texas. Don’t get me wrong. Texas has nice people. It is just that they are way too conservative except for the big cities.
Mark my words. WFH today will evolve into WF anywhere in the world, and then into hire from anywhere in the world with no restrictions, to get your a$$ replaced.
if I see one more post about how somebody’s wife decided to stay home and it works well for them I’m going to vomit.
@iktl
Wanting to WFH in no way equates to being “lazy and not wanting to interact and collaborate”. If you think you can’t interact and collaborate just as (if not more) effectively with Teams and video conferencing you need to catch up. And No I’m Not a Millennial.
Yes I would trade some salary for flexibility. But if the hirers are smart they are basing their pay decisions on effectiveness, what the employees deliver and how they deliver it and not on eagerness sit in the office.
First off, stop with the "Boomer" stuff. Secondly, if it wasn't for the Boomers like Gates, Jobs, Dell, you wouldn't have anything to work on from home. Thirdly, of course you can do the work from home now, all you do is do repetitive, factory type drilling with little innovation. The Boomers already did all of the calculations and laid out 95% of the repetitive parts of your job...there isn't any real design anymore, the Boomers did most of it. Fourth, quit acting like you all are some type of tech geniuses. Being able to use Instagram, etc. doesn't make you any smarter than someone who doesn't fool with that stuff, it just shows that you have the attention span of a squirrel and don't have anything else to occupy your time with. Fifth, you decided to get into an industry, that per many people, will be slowing and is extremely reliant on field operations, and not on someone sitting at home on a laptop. So maybe roll up your sleeves and see what it is really about. And the Boomers will have the last laugh anyway, as they will be leaving the industry/retiring as it starts to decline and you all will be mid career as it starts to wither and die. Anyway, I am not a boomer, far from it. But I had some really good Boomers teach me about how the industry works, and also about respect. Maybe start there instead of slinging insults, you might learn something.
With recent ups and downs, WFH definitely keeps a lot people still motivated and loyal to the company
You will have a choice to come back or not. Maybe there will be some retirements and people with two incomes just staying home with the kids. I know we thought we could never afford for one of us to stay home, and when my wife got laid off she decided she would stay home and we made it just fine. It could have been me just as well, but at the time she was the one without the job. Once the kids got to where they had to be hauled around to sports, school events, doctor appts, it turned pout to be great. I am sure some families are thinking about that now. Plus, our fed taxes are going up to payoff all this virus debt no matter what party gets in. The more money a family makes the more they are going to be hit on taxes. I am thinking about retiring and getting in the social security pool before ss age limits change again. So a few of us might not be coming back.
Young folks just need to grow up! But just like little children spilling their beverage at the dinner table millennials should be forgiven because of their lack of experience.
There are a host of reasons we young folks don’t want to keep working in oil and gas and WFH is a tiny blip on that radar.
I think something like 2 days a week mandatory and the other 3 days optional would be a reasonable office schedule.
We all knew what we signed up for when we bought a home in the burbs. It’s unrealistic for us to demand WFH permanently because we are butthurt about traffic.
To follow up on @1rgt+16wnk9C3
People with pets should also have the option to work from home. Cat owners would be excluded from this option. For dog owners they only get the WFH option for puppies and for geriatric dogs. Other pets would have to be decided on a case by case basis.
Agreed with the comment below, oil companies need to stop living in the past and adopt the trend of wfh. Way more valuable companies like google, amazon and Facebook have adopted these policies and guess what..the younger generation actually wants to work for these companies, unlike oil and gas. If oil and gas companies do not become more flexible, they will lose out in future talent to more flexible industries. Sorry boomers. This is how my generation thinks. If you don’t like it retire, y’all are overpaid in this environment anyway.
I know literally one person who prefers the office. 30 second commute is the best thing on earth. Jeers to the boomers who can’t figure out Teams or buy yourself a decent monitor.
I can't imagine a long-term scenario in which this will turn out well for the American worker. All of a sudden, companies that are obsessed with cutting costs and stepping on employees' necks to do it realize that a number of jobs they comprise can be done anywhere in the world remotely because the days of "having to suffer through traffic to get to the office" are over...hmmmm.
You know what the brilliant, young, STEM experts China and India churn out are willing to work 80 hours a week for? I'm fairly certain we don't want companies to embrace this in any way whatsoever; it'll be self-sabotage if we ask for it.
Work from home will never happen in the oil business. Even when consultants are hired by most companies the favored arrangement is to have them in the office.
But let’s say they had an option for employees working from home for a lower rate of pay. Here you would trade compensation for flexibility. How might that be for you. Why should someone who is lazy and doesn’t want to interact and collaborate get the same pay rate.
Yes @1hqt, several companies will lead the charge in this area, but I can guarantee you that Oxy will not be one of them.
I’ve heard someone say that they think people with kids should have the choice to go into the office or work from home. Yea ok...discriminate against those without kids? We’re already expected to work longer hours and not have any outside life!
Why does everyone think that WFH will be totally eliminated. It has been proven that many can function properly at home. The entire work landscape in that regard is also changing. Remember when companies started offering 9/80 schedules? This option for some departments will be the new norm and several companies are going to test this as an option in lieu of higher pay. Think of how much less you would take to not go back to the office?
“ work is essentially polluting my favorite place in the world”. WFH topic, lol going to have to frame that quote
I’m not antisocial either. I like chatting with the people I want to chat with on video etc. But on my terms, not when forced. This is 2020 and we are expected to do more things every hour of every day than ever before. We have to high grade our socializing to those we choose to have time for and those who are an emotional benefit and not an emotional and time drain.
Also, November 3rd will go a long way to showing what the landscape of oil and gas in the US will be. I think Oxy as done a great job with the WFH and our safety to this point. I was surprised at the number of people that have left the combined company, but we might be needing even less people depending on the landscape going forward after November. LCV is part of the changing landscape, but that could be put into fast forward really fast.
Many of you are going to have real problems adjusting when the work from home option goes away next year.
And that's a valid reason. I'm lucky in that regard; I live very close to the office and I'm generally unpleasant enough for managers to attempt interacting with that I don't have supervisors (I have 8 different bosses, Bob) badgering me all the time while at work. So naturally I don't realize much benefit being prohibited from the office.
I don’t think it’s an anti social thing at all. I think it is a time saved not driving 2 hours each day in Houston traffic, time saved not having pointless and distracting conversations with coworkers who constantly drop in due to the open door policy and time saved not being micromanaged by yes men middle management. Take your pick. Plus, a very real fear that this virus will hit a second wave in late fall like most experts predict, and oxy messing up their response like most other things they do with little or no due diligence.
Oh my. Reading some of the posts here makes it sound like the employees a bunch of antisocial people who will not want to be around their coworkers even when the coronavirus is gone. Is that what this world is coming to for all companies or is it just this situation?
I think it is up to the individual and their boss. I get a lot done at home and don't mind the alone time, but I understand people needing the office and especially the ones just starting off in the industry. I have had a few co-workers tell me they want some office time. Looks like we might be okay until the end of the year because of the spread of the virus. The older employees should be the last to come back, but we also need to make sure that people with children can get the school thing worked out. It is hard to work when you have to stay on top of kids to help them do their work and stay focused. I know some companies like Marathon are in phase 2 of bringing people back.
It’s ok that some want to go back to the office. Optionality would be great, have the flex days in place and those who want to go to the office still can while others can choose to work from home. Best of both worlds...
While that might be true for "most" people, I'm not in that category. I have a serious amount of work on my plate and can barely tread water. I'm just more productive in the office, plain and simple. Productivity and home don't go hand in hand for me, unless it's something completely unrelated to my job. Different strokes, my good sir.
The only people I know that want to return are yes men middle managers who want to micro manage.
Several coworkers I work with regularly have indicated that while they are able to do their work remotely, the need to collaborate, informal meetings and whiteboard ideas is why they want to come back into the office.
Granted if you don’t have a good space to work at home then you have a problem. But if you want to be in the office for your monitors and your office supplies please shut up. Most people who prefer the office are people whose jobs are not challenged enough to keep them seriously busy. Working from home has given me back 3-4 hours of seriously productive time each day. No more commutes. No more getting trapped by someone who wants to chat. If I want to chat casually with people we still do it on video conferences, phone calls, IM. No more idling in conference rooms captive waiting on everyone to arrive. During meetings now I can sit with my three monitors now and get real work done during the times that do not warrant 100% engagement.
Stop the drama and learn to listen
Eh, I'm sure it depends on the home situation. Or just the person. I personally prefer the office because I'm on the technical side and I like all my screen space, the computing power, access to office supplies I might need (for drawing or running quick calculations by hand), and getting to talk to colleagues directly. Plus the routine keeps me on task with my diet and the gym. Home is a refuge, a safe-haven, a place where I don't have to think about work at all. Nowadays that line is nonexistent so work is essentially polluting my favorite place in the world.
Although I pretty much hate my job these days so it makes it even worse. I'm sure for someone who really loves what they do and enjoys the freedom of being home, this current situation is like a godsend. I wish I were one of them, because I don't think things will change until at least next year.
I was wondering who those people are too. Probably managers wanting to micro manage.
*tank