With the increasing anxiety of layoffs and outsourcing across the oil and gas industry, should staff that are not engineers or scientist reduce expenses to where they could live off a fast food/retail job salary?
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Agreed. Don't need that F250 just to come into work.
The integrated majors were the market leaders around the world 30+ years ago and now that there is new market dominance by Big Tech (Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, Nvidia), oil and gas companies will naturally retreat in prominence. This comes with reduced spending across the board with both the company and staff. I only care about how the staff can make sure their employer doesn't have leverage over them every time they announce job reductions. Cutting spending on the biggest expenses in your life (housing, insurance, transportation, utilities, food) is the best way to do this.
Funny how it's always the workers who get told to "live like peasants" while leadership racks up private jets, golden parachutes, and bonus targets built on cutting the rest of us.
Wait, are we talking about staff spending Shell's money or staff spending their own money.
If it is the former, then yeah we buy in at a high price.
If the discussion is about spending your own money... then mind your own business.
You should reduce your own expenses. Live under your means. Figure out what that is, do it for a year. Your future self with thank me.
Shell rarely is 100% owner in any development. So, Shell actually is a partner in most of the stages from upstream. So what is the selling point to be a partner?
Do you think there is credibility to claim low cost operator?... No that's not credible.
Do you think that there is a differentiating technology?... Well no we get 99.9% of our stuff from vendors on the open market.
Do you think that it is having a sizable workforce?... No, having low cost people who barely know their job doesn't help.
Does having the best people who actually know what they're doing?... Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes it works.
Does paying higher than market prices work?... Often, you can buy into a project by paying more and accepting less profit.
Basically, all they have is a claim to Buy-higher than market rate, sometimes they can claim quality people and merit to make them the partner on a development.
Do DEI or hiring in from low cost centers like Bangalore really act as a catalyst to be a partner. Yes, when your motive is virtue signaling and claiming to be global and hiring indigenous peoples. No, if your motive is profit.
Maybe we have to overspend because we're not checking the other boxes to be a partner of choice?
admin and middleman jobs are far more likely to be replaced by modern automation than to go to you.
The mistake is thinking you have the power to keep what is largely administrative jobs in America. You just want to think of yourself as more aligned with c-suite executives than the regular working class person in America. What's so bad about fast food/retail jobs if those jobs will actually stay in America?
because it’s obviously a bait post from one of the many angry indians who think they deserve US money
how did you read “you should cut enough expenses to where you can live on a fast food or retail worker salary” and think that was friendly good advice instead of mean spirited slop?
sure cutting expenses is useful, but not much of a tip and certainly not productively delivered in the post
I don't know why so many people are negative on this post. The higher your expenses, the more leverage your employer has over you. This is really bad if you know executives have no problem outsourcing your job. And it's not just Shell executives that have this POV. It's across almost every industry.
As a staff ask yourself if you would put up with all the negative energy and directionless leadership if you did not get so much salary.
If the answer is no, start cutting your expenses and prepare to move out.
Thank me later