BP Reviews in Houston, TX Area

Pros

Good retirement benefits of about 15% pension + 401K match. Usually good life/work balance, you can take weekends off unless there is a pressing project deadline. Free gym onsite. Not as hectic as a bank. Politics are much easier to deal with than a bank. Management is flexible about outside responsibilities, appointments, etc.

Cons

Pay is lower than a bank. Expectations are high for job performance, and oftentimes unreasonable. Recognition for hard work is not really present. Management oftentimes gives in to front office demands without realistically assessing what it takes to meet those demands - in terms of man hours required to do the job correctly. Understaffed - employees are stretched far too thin. Market risk in Houston in the "model" risk group for BP, which means the workload and project demands are far higher than any other location.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should reflect on employee contributions and meaningfully recognize those who make the group successful. There is not a sense of long term commitment of management for employees and their growth within the company. More team building would go a long way.

Pros

most employees wear a happy face and friendly smile, some are helpful, others are concerned you are there to replace them

Cons

can't trust the friendly smile, very fluid environment, sometimes hard to get information needed to be effective

Advice to Senior Management

look at the positive results too, allow employees time learn their job to be effective in a very fluid environment

Pros

Career development programs are abundant

Cons

Complex culture; needs to establish yourself through informal network

Advice to Senior Management

Informal network

Pros

My supervisor and colleagues are a great group of people. My supervisor is extremely understanding with his employees to be able to take care of its family in time of need. My supervisor is the best supervisor I have ever worked for.

Cons

Negative media and press surrounding BP Texas City Refinery makes it a difficult work environment. The Texas City refinery has received some backlash from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Advice to Senior Management

In 2008 and 2009 the company made record profits, yet did not reward the refining and marketing division of the business. No pay raises were given for three years and morale at the refinery has suffered because of it.

Pros

The people have great attitudes. The work is very relaxed. Safety is of top priority especially in the field. Benefits are amazing. Highly invested in alternative energy.

Cons

Association with killing animals and ruining the environment isn't a good thing to be table as. Salary could be higher

Advice to Senior Management

Yearly reviews, so I've heard are pointless. They need to occur more frequently. Maybe managers can get more involved with their people.

Pros

Leader in the industry. Top talent. Flex Schedule. Challenging work.

Cons

Recent safety accidents which will hopefully change the company for the better going forward.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay focus on safety and reliable ops. Invest in your people.

Pros

Good work environment. BP is a very large company, I still feel like I am treated as a person and not a just an emplyee. My work is valued.

Cons

Public image due to the oil spill.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

BP has a top notch portfolio with one of the best records of reserves replacment. Training is excellent and consideration for flexibility in life issues is above average.

The wild-cat wells are often genuinly wild-cats.

Cons

I think technical staff are somewhat under appreciated in that there's a strong push to reduce promotions so as not to outpace grades in downstream such as running a bunch of gas stations.

It's also getting more difficult to accomplish task with increasing process to control the range of ways of doing things. This is good and bad. BP drills very few exploration wells per year (10 wildcats).

Advice to Senior Management

don't over complicate the processes and settle on a set of processes. Be careful of promoting minorities to tick the box. Baring the current CEO, Stop changing the organization just to leave a CEO-mark! I.e. John Brown's BP was mostly fine, but needed a real hse organization and to rein in spending.

Pros

Great benefits. They take very good care of their employees. Able to achieve good work/life balance. Challenging environment with promise for future growth.

Cons

Limited upward potential and at times even lateral movement within the company. Very hierarchical and I often felt restricted due to bureaucracy and middle management's personal agendas. Lots of favoritism.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide more opportunities to engage high performers and allow them growth and development opportunities or you will lose them. Create a more flat organization with easy access to management.

Pros

excellent salary and benefits
some truly knowledgable experts to work with
state of art technology

Cons

only 5 options (time frame based) on 401K direction
Utter and appalling disrespect by management towards employees has led to discouragement and low morale.
Management is by quarter; this means necessary long-term expenditures (read maintenance, inspection, etc.) may be deferred.
Focus on personal safety with ignorance about process safety
Wonderful, people-oriented American managers have been replaced with uncaring Brits
Do not seek employment here if you are female or a minority - you will not receive respect or opportunities
Say no and you will be asked to leave; it is viewed as disrespecting authority; even politically correct questioning may lead to consequences

Advice to Senior Management

Treat the employees as the assets they are.
Seek to understand process safety and the human elements thereof. Unbridled arrogance and failure to understand consequences leads to platforms sinking. So does deferred maintenance and inspections.
What's wrong with women and minorities? Get in this century! Methinks the man doth protest too much! Stop sponsoring diversity conferences in the community until you understand the subject.
Not everyone who disagrees with you is your enemy; they may be trying to CYA. For you English, ask an American what that means.