BP Reviews

Pros

- Highly respective of diversity
 - Senior Management very open to mentoring and advice
 - Highly skilled colleagues
 - Great benefits and pension package
 - Immense diversity in job options available - because of huge geographical spread so each role is like a new job
 - A genuinely good company with genuinely good people
 - Superb work-life balance

Cons

- slothful HR (but thats the case everywhere!)
 - Policies and Processes keep changing before there is a chance to settle down
 - High reliance on consultants to come up with a new strategy everytime a new leader of a division comes in. Consultants dont put their money where their mouth is. So things keep changing every few years (read: above comment)
 - Focus on 'change' to showcase leadership rather than 'silent running' and 'stability'
 - slow salary growth after joining (my peers in consulting firms get 20% pa raises compared to 4-6% I get)
 - Negative impression of the company after the Macondo incident (though I strongly blv that BP is a genuinely good company - much better than its other supermajor peers)

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on stability and silent running rather than constant change everytime some new divisional head comes in. Build internal capability rather than recruiting expensive consultants to direct strategy. After the consultants are gone, there is little time to implement suggestions before a new wave of consultants come in and change everything again.

Pros

There is nothing good about this company. You don't get anywhere on your work, but only on ratting each other out and butt kissing. They call it "holding each other accountable but yet fail to hold themselves to the same standard.

Cons

Some very bad apples in the firm and the usual political untochables.

Advice to Senior Management

Kill yourself please. You are not worthy to lead. START SHOWING SOME RESPECT !!!!

Pros

stable company
excellent work life balance
genuine care for employees
can be a very good place to learn, if you always seek it

Cons

your career path totally depend on your current manager, if you are good and step up for accountability, you'll go up, but if your manager is not a leader, you'll be burried, systems are there but your manager is the most important thing
too many frequent changes in the company structure, without leaving enough time for a scheme to prove it self
too much dependency on consultants, no trust in their own employees to deliver alone

Advice to Senior Management

stick with a structure for some time & it will work, hiring managment consultants every 4 years to flip down the organization?! you're wsting money & effort
make sure that the processes you promote are really implemented, honestly, it all depends one's line manager powers

Pros

professional growth, benefits, work-life balance programs

Cons

male-oriented organization; difficult for women to reach same professional levels

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Salary and benefits are very competive for work in the industry. Great place to work if you are a workaholic.

Cons

Overworked due to large staff cuts. People moved to new roles and unsure of direction and responsibilities. No work life balance. Reorganizations trapp employees into roles and prohibit transfers into other parts of the organization. The only way out of USPL is to leave the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Allow employees to choose career paths and move to other roles in the organization without management approval. Poor leadership USPL. Some of the new managers in USPL could really benefit from some leadership/management training.

Pros

BP offers excellent benefits and due to its global reach there are opportunities to gain international experience if desired, although the expat program has been severely reduced from what it used to be.

Cons

They do not have a grasp on what constitutes good leadership qualities. The pay is not competitive, especially if you have been with the company a long time.

Advice to Senior Management

Get better leaders who can make swift decisions and follow through in a timely manner. The business units spend way to much time debating and revisiting issues over and over again. Focus on leaders who can get things done!

Pros

Compensation and benefits are very good, They are open about their business strategy and performance.

Cons

Top down approach to their business units.

Advice to Senior Management

Business units need to be able to adapt to their needs within obvious guidelines. London is micro-managing too much and hindering innovation and productivity.

Pros

Treats employees well. The business is split into many smaller businesses which provides a sense of ownership in the team.

Cons

Tricky times in the company due to many asset sales and constant rumours of splitting downstream. Often too focused on removing non-core assets even if they are profitable. You dont know if you'll have a job next year.

Advice to Senior Management

Have a more stuctured plan for the company and inform employees of which direction the company is going rather than letting them find out on the news!

Pros

Good salaries and benefits. Prestige of working for a supermajor in Oil & Gas industry. Continual job opportunities all over the world.

Cons

Nobody is empowered to make a decision. A lot of talk, but little or no action. Each project either remains uncompleted or takes a left turn. Excellent strategy, but little execution.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize talent at the lowest levels of the organization and promote from within. Remove "managers" and replace them with "leaders" who have a proven track record. Stop acting like an M&A company on the downstream. Create sustainable programs, integrate systems and make a decision. Hoshin Planning is virtually non-existant. Better coordinate the corporate R&M function with each refinery and petrochemical site. The site BULs have too much power, so the corporate function is diminished.

Pros

Big company and various locations. Opportunities for grouth

Cons

D&I needs to be improved

Advice to Senior Management

Do less process