Pros
Good compensation and benefits. Good exposure to best practices
Kontras
Seriously flawed performance appraisal system, the infamous bell curve which is based on forced ranking. When the going was good, they recruited by the hundreds created multiple departments, and when the oil prices crashed, they panicked and instead of doing away with dead wood, terminated good efficient hard working employees. Too much of red tape, they are very much restricted by systems and processes, which leaves no room for creative thinking. Too man procedures, to the extent that you are judged against following procedures and not against your output or work quality. Instances where management does not walk the talk. Lot of nepotism. In their zeal for nationalization, merit has no meaning, they just want to promote half ready nationals into key positions. one cannot be strict with nationals however poor their performance or behavior is. One complaint from them to the HR and training department and you would be out of your job. Lots of expats have been terminated or sidelined in favor of nationals with almost nil experience. They say their safety system is world class and not punitive in nature but reality is they have golden rules which are used more to threaten and terminate people rather than improve safety culture. Too much dependence on Exxon Mobil. bench marking is creating havoc. They are not doing cost optimization but cost cutting which is leading to lots of operational inefficiency and safety concerns. their HR survey conducted by third party is a waste of time and effort. The findings are not used to really understand the frustrations of the employees. They pay lip service to employee issues.