We've been asked by our managers to notify if we'd be interested in a severance package. Several people notified they would like to accept an offer. That offer has now been revoked... Super fun for both managers and employees to sit and continue working with both parties knowing the employee wants to leave.
The horrible communication at this company is unreal.
I know it's been said countless times, but I really am astonished how quickly we went from being a truly great company, with respectable and honorable leadership, to the cesspool this place is now. What happened?
Everyone in the company knows the "hallway gossip" story (which is true) of the one ELT member that has refused multiple times to grant EOI to volunteers "about to retire". He in fact instructed his reports and HR to NOT grant EOI to employees above a certain age. Very clearly an age descrimination situation.
This has been pursued in the company, but this ELT member is of course very powerful, so both ethics and HR have chosen to ignore this.
The expected result: employees retire in place.
@PAQOcHc-7zqu: I am betting in those 30 years you went above and beyond what was expected otherwise you wouldn't be there, so they are keeping you because of this. When I was in O&G I was always working 60+ hours a week and thought this would get me to where I wanted to be. All that did was make the company a lot of money, line the pockets of execs on the high bonuses while I neglected my family for this business. Yes I had decent money, but also poor health and relationships. If you look at oil and gas, it has many loyal followers, but in addition it also has many fatherless families as they are gone all the time and lots of divorces as most people don't want to be married to be by themselves. Yes, I know many make it, but those are the ones that value the money higher than i did. And if you look at the cars being driven in Houston, the folks around here really like their "stuff". Nothing wrong with that, but when you die and your tombstone reads "Joe Blow, he worked hard in the oilfiled", I think you have lost in life personally. But this is just my two cents. I have been out of this for a year and am happier than ever. I was lucky, I had gotten a new boss who was so concerned about saving his own sorry AZZ, that he dumped me as soon as I asked. He was a POS, and I am so happy to be gone. So advice, is to find the snake (they are easy to identify now), let them know what you are thinking and they will package you away.
Does this become an ethics issue?
I submitted my EOI in August 2016 and was rejected. Never officially told why. Finally heard our leader was "not going to pay people about to retire to leave." He makes a salary of $10 million per year but doesn't want to pay me a small fraction of that.
So I've simply retired in place. If after more than 30 years of sevice they want to pay me to wait around for the next layoff I'll wait. We all know more layoffs are coming. My boss asks me to do things and I tell him "I'm busy" because if you are graded "useful", helpful, and productive, you probably won't be granted severance.
I know most employees will look at me harshly, but if I'd been given some reason or company need to stay I would have done so. But when our CFO (making $10 million per year) says he won't grant me EOI (which would cost the company a small fraction of that) he lost my loyalty and service to this corrupt leadership.
My current cost per hour of productivity is massive because I'm doing very little work.
I figure I'll be severed in 2018 and in the meantime I've been on the payroll for almost two additional years for very little actual work.
The one EVP that actively worked to punish employees that volunteered for EOI should be fired. Instead he was promoted. One of the great examples of what has gone wrong with the company.
@iqjw: agreed. Better to clean house than let these folks smoulder and undermine the business. It would be interesting to see how many people would ask to get out. 10%? 20%? More?
EOI is a win-win situation. The company pays folks who want to leave during layoff times. Unfortunately our leadership has screwed up this simple process.
I'm sure the employee will keep doing a half a$$ job while receiving a full pay check.
Is this just L48? Bad for everyone involved.
But I already bought chips and salsa for the party