One thing I find interesting here is the difference between the ConocoPhillips site vs the Concho one. The people from COP seem so much more bitter than Concho’s, surely for a reason. In the Concho page first you don’t see that many responses, which I interpret as they are not bothered about gossip and second the nasty responses I read on some of the posts come from COP people. We are not having massive layoffs because of them, so be nicer. And being bitter about cop leadership is only going to affect you, not them.
15 replies (most recent on top)
Concho has had plenty of negative stuff happening the last 15 months or so. Longtime employees getting fired with no severance and no warning. There was also a severance package for everyone above age 55. The remaining Concho people are nervous and have low morale at this point.
It’s also stressful that instead of becoming more “agile” and independent, ConocoPhillips has instead become more process driven, slower, and more bureaucratic. Add all the soft skills and D&I training and there’s less time to focus on the job at hand thanks to endless meetings a ongoing training. But when times get tough, forget all the touchy feely self validation garbage...you’re out the door, ace. Most everybody works with the knowledge that “the next one is coming” and that doesn’t do much at all to engender good feelings of trust and loyalty. True, Exxon just did it bigger and better than we ever could, but we’ve done it so many times now that it’s almost farcical. “Maybe next time we’ll get it right” should be the company slogan.
May relate to this being the bazillionth layoff we’ve had in 5 years. It’s demoralizing and stressful. Survivors of the repeated cuts suffer more stress than those who actually are cut and can walk away. Each layoff has a negative impact on the individual and group psyche. Nobody comes away unscathed from these. It is actually quite obvious that attitudes and the culture are becoming increasingly toxic.
Concho employees 55+ were offered a package back in May, 85%+ took that package, the last group leaving this month. The majority of employees left have no idea of what comes/doesn’t come from a buyout and think they will be the chosen ones to stay, ie this is their “first rodeo”.
Not to justify the mismanagement and poor decisions that some of COP leadership has made, but when you work for a global company, you enjoy the good times by better salaries and bonuses, global opportunities, etc, and get hit harder during the bad times, because a global company is more exposed. There is definitely less risk in working for likes of EOG and Concho but you would be working one asset your whole career with limited growth and learning opportunity. Again, this does not justify what’s going on now at COP by any means... but we should not forget the advantages.
I feel sorry for the conoco people who left for Concho back whenever. Welcome home gang! It’s just as bad as when you left.
I would be happy too if the buyout guaranteed me a 200% bonus target payout like it does for the Concho employees. What are the odds of that happening on the COP side? Anothet dilutive deal like Burlington all over again. When is our payout? Meanwhile COP stock price sits at 2005 value. Great investment !?
Working at COP will destroy every shred of humanity, optimism, creativity, joy and pride in what you do. Other than that, it’s a pretty great place to work.
I know we are all supposed to be happy to still have a Job, but the bitterness is likely due to the 2019 salary cuts, the re-orgs that have occurred in 2020 (unorganized rollouts with very little thought put into them, and no measurable accountability at the LT level), increasing bureaucracy (competencies again, really?), as well as the upcoming RIF. Regardless of what our LT claims the SPIRIT values stand for, the company prioritizes share holders over employees. It's a shame. In addition, we are investing significant dollars in data analytics, remote operating centers, remodeling updates, and other "nice to have" services that all increase overhead, while low cost of supply ideas that could bring more oil production online are overlooked. And we wonder why other Operators are able to achieve lower CoS.
A little secret - most of the posts here are from bitter ex-COP employees looking for misery company.
Former Concho here. The Concho people don’t actually know what’s coming. We all had a firm belief in our Executive staff and a lot of Concho people still believe the Executives that survive this are still all in for their people. They will feel the slap of betrayal in a few months
What is it then?
Is the OP Dr. Phil?
Work at COP for 6 months and then come back and tell us how we shouldn’t be bitter.
100% correct! Want validation? Go to the ExxonMobil and Chevron threads.
I'll take a shot...Concho has a lot fewer employees.