What does it say about me that between a toxic work environment and the stress of a potential layoff my life has flipped completely upside down. I have no mental health left, I'm on the brink of losing my family and now being medicated to cope with daily life. One year ago, life wasn't perfect, but I knew who I was and had a drive. How quickly things change. Why I feel like I could not live without this place I can't for life of me figure out. I do like it here, I want to be here. But no job or work environment should be this detrimental to your own psychological safety, mental health and well-being.
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OP here. Thank you for the kind words and encouragement, everyone. The way this board goes I was fully expecting to get s#!t on and ridiculed but have no other outlet. A day at a time and that's all I can do. I hope one other person was uplifted by these posts as much the way that I was.
There's that old saying about it being darkest before the dawn. Very true. Without revealing too much about myself, I was unexpectedly laid off after working for a company (we'll leave them unnamed) more than a decade. I thought I was secure in my job. Next thing I know, I didn't have a job, and a good chance my professional career was over. I dug in my heels, started making phone calls to headhunters and cold calls to companies, posted my resume on job sites and mailed it to everyone I could. My family and I went through Hades of no work "for a little while" (the severance did help). With hard work (and probably a lot of luck), I hit on a cold call where I matched specific experience to the specific need that company had after making a lot of discreet inquiries. Got a job that got me back in the industry (one I was definitely overqualified for) and allowed me to build new skills unlike what my main job was before. I know this is hard to fathom in OP's current place, but in retrospect that layoff was the best thing that happened to my career. A decade later my career is way beyond where I would have been if I had stayed with the original company.
this is no longer the cvx we know of yesteryears
Take a mental health day and the company therapy.
Let me say this, there is life after Chevron. Please dont get stuck in the mindset that you only have life while at Chevron.
I love working here as well but if something happens where I lose my job, I will bounce back, and so will you. It will su-k for sure BUT you will bounce back and who knows, you might be more happy.
Everything is a learning experience, learn and grow.
Reach put to your friends and know that they will help you along the way.
Please do not think this is the end because it certainly is not, its a new beginning. Embrace it and succeed.
I pray you fair well in whatever happens
Mate. Put yourself and family first. I have been through a few of these and no company ever will be there for you but family will. If you need med up to help clear the head and tackle the next. We live by "She'll beright" in Oz. You will be Mate.
Face it, you are at will employment. No job is guaranteed. You have to keep yourself professional trained and challenged with the mindset of not staying with one company despite the platitudes of being part of a “family” or a “culture”. Facts are in the oil and gas industry if times are bad and your services are no longer valued or needed, you will be out the door. The key is to always have a plan and skills that are marketable should you need to seek employment elsewhere. Given past history of layoffs and downsizing at Chevron (2010, 2016, 2020) and now again in 2025, what will happen in the future?
"The way things are going with the country, things are going to get worse so hang in there."
we are basically taking out new credit cards to pay for the old credit cards
all the while cheapening or hallowing out the US companies
as a side note, the traditional american culture is just gone
Hang in there, friend. I find myself in a similar position. After 15 years here, the company has become part of my identity - how could it not? I fell into the misguided belief that the company is its people, and therefore, the company is - at least in part - me.
The past seven months have been tough. I have no idea what lies ahead, except for the fact I am the primary income earner for my young family. We don’t lead an extravagant life, but still there are bills to pay and the cost of living isn’t getting any easier. I have come to seriously doubt myself, and my skills, which have all but atrophied under the current leadership despite by best efforts to preserve them on my own time. Employment options in my region are slim.
I think over the past few weeks I have come to realise that this is a psychologically abusive workplace. Not in an overt way with shouting and yelling, but in a coercive control way. The company makes you believe that there is nothing better. That you won’t do well without them. But I am coming to realise they this could be the best thing that could happen to me. I am better than this place, better than its dogmas and mediocrity, better than the sycophantic leadership, better than the hollow platitudes that ring forth from on high. This company is an empty vessel.
I now feel deep regret that I have given so much of my best years to a company that evidently thinks I am an expendable cog that can be exchanged for a lower cost expendable cog. And I feel deep sadness.
Im sorry for what you are going through. The mind is capable of tormenting us in excruciating ways, where we are fighting the enemy within us. Take time to step away from the noise, and remember that the world will still be here tomorrow. We are all in this together; you’re not alone.
I wish you peace and happiness, in whatever form that comes for you.
The way things are going with the country, things are going to get worse so hang in there.
This sounds like an episode of The White Lotus
You must accept that you are your best friend and biggest supporter, as you're around yourself the most time. This is a for profit company, with selfish individuals just as there are anywhere in the world, given the right circumstances. Give love to yourself and others and let yourself heal to see another day, even better opportunities when available.