Thread regarding Saudi Aramco layoffs

Global payroll consolidates benefits. It does not consolidate compensation. It is easy to mske a statement the most are hired midrange because it requires no proof. I have been involved in many offers and my experience is that it isn’t true. In some cases GC was dropped just to get the offer inside the range. As far as last paycheck as a basis, also not always true. We had one offer that the HR liaison refused to release because she was embarrassed. Base pay is what drives everything and it is still very much dictated by passport. As far as the total benefit package, it is continually being squeezed to try to be “competitive” or, in other words, to be equal to any other company in the world. Given that a candidate can get the same package anywhere else, why go to Saudi? Why take a significant financil loss to sell house, cars, uproot kids from school to risk the possibility you might even get fired on arrival? Yes this has happened. A guy goes to his first day of work and the manager who hired him has been replaced and the new manager doesn’t believe the position is necessary.

I dont agree with the "expert". The mere existence of different payrolls is evidence enough. Normally in most international companies there are two packages, local and expatriate. Although the consolidation of other payrolls into Global seems to indicate there is a move in that direction.

You can tell the old days are over by the fields of scattered brand new equipment rotting in Jazan. Aramco and their cheap knockoffs are doing a fantastic job of showing the world how kick-@$$ competitive they are while spending 3X what it actually costs to get there.

Why are you on a western layoff site asking why you cannot recruit westerners? duh

“The days of Americans getting preferential treatment are over, the skills and abilities of other nationalities are now widely acknowledged”.

Wait a sec...According to the expert the company does not compensate based on passport?

And yes, many from the Indian Subcontinent are being hired. So contrary to your belief that the skills gap is closing with the west, it has much more to do with cheap labor than anything else.

In fact, for most new hires now most of their HR requirements are handled by a company based in India called “Data Flow”.

As a point of clarification, when I said that we had four offers rejected, NONE of them were made to US passport holders. One guy was a Canadian, so I am not sure which payroll he would be included under. Unless Aramco is hiring people from places like India, Pakistan, etc, I really don't think that salary expectations are dramatically different. There is a global market for technical skills.

I must say that this thread has ventured pretty far from the question that I posed. Has anybody else noticed an increase job offer rejections? No doubt HR has this data, but they aren't going to share it with anybody but senior management. In the meantime, at least some of us live with the facts on the ground because vacancies aren't being filled.

Your acceptance rate will definitely improve if you carefully and clearly outline that you are only budgeted for bare minimum requirements when you post the job and advertise for the candidates

Being competitive is confusing and hard to understand. Please defer it to another business plan or operating plan or master plan cycle and let the next manager deal with it.

There's your answer. Your candidates are not competitive so it's their fault.

Dam I'm good. I already said that just not as "importantly" 😂😂😂😂😂😂

As per the below you have actually hired these people. Please set up their individual development plan immediately and if theirs is like mine you can leave it untouched for the next (4) years.

Most offers are mid-range where candidate meets job description minimum requirements. If he brings exceptional experience or qualifications beyond job description then offer would be above mid-range. The reality is Saudi Aramco is hiring expats contrary to the opinion of the doomsayers. The days of Americans getting preferential treatment are over, the skills and abilities of other nationalities are now widely acknowledged. Its called competition.

My department cannot hire

Thanks Obama

Expatriate candidate's fault for sure. You nailed it. Good sleuthing!

Sounds like the reason you aren't getting acceptances is: it is the candidates fault.

Good job! You figured out the problem.

Your perception along with some many others is wrong. The Company does not conpensate based on your ‘passport’ as you put. There are 3 payrolls : Global, Saudi and US. For all these positions the Company takes into consideration your salary from your most recent employer and extends you an offer based on that - if you were making top dollars on your previous job, and if Aramco is willing to hire you they factor in all the incentives and give you an offer on that basis. Not every US payroll gets better than you do - if that is what yoy think you are sadly mistaken. That is another thing here, you have lot of people who dont know what they are taking about and worse misinforming people. I know ‘Saudi nationals’ getting better pays than expats.. but then again what other people get paid is none of my business!

We find it hard to get western or western educated people. The company still compensates according to passport and without the right passport, offers are very low. Most of our hires come from ASEAN countries. The compensation here is still competitive with that. We have not been able to get a US or Canadian passport hired for many years. It seems like the only decent job offers right now are IPO related. Nobody cares about Upstream.

Sorry, but I don't think Aramco's "reputation" had anything to do with the four guys that turned us down. We would never gotten their CVs in the first place. In one case, the candidate straight up told us that compensation package was below market. I think that Aramco has cut back on the comp it is offering at a time when the job market in the West is healthy. I started this thread to try to confirm that, not to bash the company or encourage others to do so.

The good news is that layoffs are unlikely where I work. The bad news is that we have some retirements coming up, and those holes will be hard to fill with existing people. Department Management is aware of this, but can't put together a competitive package for new hires. I suspect that Aramco isn't hiring in many places, and so the top bosses have told HR to keep the packages modest. It takes at least six months to get people over here, so I hope that things change soon.

No drama here. We have no stake one way or another in Saudi Aramco's long term outcome and are the last who have anything to lose or gain from commenting on issues related to who chooses to work where. It is interesting to see the increasingly insistent comments from those who keep declaring that the status quo in a broken company actively conducting emergency fire sales with their assets is just fine and everything is OK.

There are a few skilled and highly experienced local candidates and I have met many of them who can compete and thrive in any market anywhere.

Unfortunately they seem to prefer the JV companies or the firms that provide tech services to Aramco and other companies rather than Aramco itself.

The only reason (that I can guess is that the word seems to be out on the Saudi side as well. Aramco is not viewed favorably as a place for skilled talent who want to see their work and time spent on that work result in more than a presentation and end up in more than someone's electronic filing cabinet. I do know that Aramco is seen locally as more of a "family run business" where friends and relatives impact your status far more than the quality or quantity of work you do. This does not seem to be true in the JV's where the management is mixed and your work and your skills matter more than who your father or grandfather was.

Just a summary of remarks and comments collected over the years. So yeah good luck with that recruiting. Hope things turn around. From the expat/non-saudi side it's pretty obvious that Aramco has given itself a huge reputational black eye and I don't think that will be repaired anytime soon. That is a fact.

It’s true within Aviation as well, we are hiring like crazy but the overwhelming majority are consultants that want nothing to do with an Aramcon position, but just want a good touring schedule.

It meets their needs, but the issue is that becoming an Aramcon used to be the carrot to convince them to stay for the long term. With no interest on their end, then they can leave whenever they want no matter the duration of their contract. Basically, they simply don’t get on the airplane and that’s it, we’ve lost our manpower.

Management seems to love it though, cheap labor. But they’re playing with fire and either don’t realize it, or don’t care.

Define ‘better’....?

So over dramatic. Panic panic panic. It is not like that at all. The Company is still better than so many others. Many people still want to work here so stop making it sounds like its doom and gloom.

You dont find too many highly skilled and experienced Saudis. I mean there are some but for the most part....unless they clean up the house, this Company will get worse and worse...

Once a company loses its reputation that is what usually happens. Professional refrain from accepting job offers. I have seen it happen to Irving Oil, unfortunately Aramco has dropped the ball in this field. Such a shame cause it was once a great company to work for.

Aramco is already getting a bad name and it can only get worse and worse. Weak up people, their money alredy stinks like the money they are paying for prostitutes in Bahrain.