Chevron Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Chevron

Pros – Good opportunities for global exposure
Good commute - Corporate office not in congested area

Cons – Inexperienced and poorly trained leadership, particularly middle management
Work-life policies subject to local interpretation
Qualitative performance ranking subject to supervisor abuse

Advice to Senior Management – Train your leaders! Don't wait until someone becomes a supervisor to gage whether they have leadership skills (and leadership is not just knowing how to fill out supervisor forms). Assure that people in management positions actually understand the function they are managing - too many mangers are "placed" without appropriate subject matter expertise. Listen to employee feedback, rather than glossing over the negatives and highlighting the positives. Plan better for succession - there's a large pool of experienced people who aren't being given the change to develop - particularly minorities and women.

Current Employee – been working at Chevron

Pros – Job Security, Pay, I can't think of anymore...

Cons – The hours are horrible at the Richmond Refinery. As a normal human being, I would like to go to bed when it's dark and get up when it's light outside. Many people go to work at 5, 6am and it's the norm, and therefore you are also expected to go to work no later than 7am. So much for work/life balance. Sure, you can argue I get to go home early. But what about personal preferences?! I'd like to have a good night sleep according to my own biological clock and get up to the sunshine. However, I think this schedule is location oriented. Richmond refinery is one early bird, same as Houston I believe, but people in San Ramon generally go to work a lot later in the day.

There is NO standard, or company procedure. If you like a lot of uncertainties, surprises, then this is the place for you. Surprises come up all the time, and there is no one way to deal with it. You make up whatever form you need to fill out, and you write up whatever guideline you need to follow. The rules are changing all the time. For example, I was promised a certain amount of money for my relocation lump sum written on a piece of paper, company document sent by HR. Only when I was receiving the money in my paycheck did they inform me that that amount was incorrect and sorry for the "misunderstanding" but I'm suddenly thousand dollars short. If I had known this earlier, I would have weighed the different relocation options differently. How could I have imagined that even a written document is no good in this company?

Discrimination against your degree and major. If you were a petroleum engineer, you get paid the most, then chemical engineer, and then the rest of the engineering disciplines. Unfair right? Since you all end up doing the same work. Too bad, so sad, go live with it.

Advice to Senior Management – Give a clear scope of what you want.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Chevron

Pros – To work with top notch technology

Cons – Poor Management, "Good ole boy" mentality

Advice to Senior Management – Take a close look at what is actually going on in the organization at the troop level. See how middle management is treating their employees.

Current Employee – been working at Chevron

Pros – Health and Welfare Benfits Only

Cons – Salary; Lack of opportunity for non-exempt and administrative professionals; Lack of opportunity for women and minorities; Unfair treatment by management; Constant presence of the "good ole boys" network

Advice to Senior Management – Continue with unethical and illegal activities, you are helping my case and giving me more proof for legal action!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Chevron

Pros – The 401K is great and the pay isn't bad and there is a fair amount of oppurtunity to move around within the company.

Cons – It's still an old boys club. Politics are huge at Chevron, it doesn't matter if you are qualified for the job, all it matters is who you know for the most part. I was told not to apply for a promotion because my counter part would get it over me because she had been there for 10 years longer than I had, even though she barely spoke English and could barely put a sentence together.

Advice to Senior Management – To follow the Chevron Way. They talk so much about it and how important it is, and yet it isn't enforced.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Chevron

Pros – - If you want to coast along and are a "yes" person, definitely the place for you
- If you don't mind being treated as a child it is a good place to work
- Chevron is best in class at ignoring prior work experience and wanting to continue to do things the way they have always been done
- Broad range of international location if expat role is in your plans
- Salaries are competitive

Cons – - Prior work experience almost a negative because makes your re-programming even more difficult. If one is not a Chevron "lifer", then it is tough to get respect or elevation into the "club" and certainly never obtain a leadership role in the organization
- Worst/subjective employee appraisal system on the planet. All it takes is one person with mildly negative feedback and your rating will disproportionately suffer
- Getting the job done well, on time/budget counts far, far less than how the job is done. The balance is extremely twisted
- Middle and senior management rarely have experience outside of Chevron and this myopia will be frustrating
- They have turned their project management process into a lethargic beast that does little other than significantly increase project costs and time
- Chevron seems to be incapable of executing their projects whether major capital or small IT projects on a budget or timescale that most people would consider reasonable
- High commodity prices let CVX get away with many mistakes

Advice to Senior Management – - John Watson is too new to rate but a corporate 24% reserve replacement rate would be an "F" in anyones books
- Bridge the enormous gap bewteen the Cxx level and Middle Management. Every year the Cxx message asks staff to fucus on execution and delivery (faster, more often). That meassge does not get throgh to middle management who are paralyzed by the consensus driven culture and fear to make a decision in which others may disagree

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Chevron

Pros – The company is one of the biggest oil companies and has the potential to employ thousands of workers especially the unemployed.

Cons – The company has a phenomenal return in revenue earnings but decided to lay off employees to maintain profit in the books and keep high salaries to CEO, board of directors and top management in expense of the rank and file employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Chevron

Pros – A Chevron engineering career offers the opportunity to put your expertise and passion for solving problems to work in a stimulating environment where you'll have access to leading-edge technology and tools. You'll work with other talented engineers around the world to help create new and innovative energy solutions to power the world.

Cons – Low salary, competitive, long hours, low promotion

Advice to Senior Management – I don't know

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend