BP Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

Varied work
Understanding boss
Good money

Cons

Felt like senior managers were always chasing different goals and everyone had to follow.
Commute - most offices are out of town. I live in London and want to work in london

Advice to Senior Management

Respect contractors - they need love also.

Pros

Good company to start your carrer with , but may not be great in a long run. Good learning opp in the begining of your ladder

Cons

too much of red tapism, too many layers of people at each step, hence healthy growth of new ideas and radicall thinking may not be possible

Advice to Senior Management

Reducing the red tapism, too many layers of people at each step, hence healthy growth of new ideas and radicall thinking may not be possible

Pros

An enormous company with great diversity of opportunities: really interesting place to work.
A culture that enables a good work / life balance
An entrepreneurial intent, which tries to delegate responsibility and give lots of space to work
A supportive culture that looks after its employees

Cons

Not a strong performance management culture. Very hard to get a proper review, and get credit for the work you do unless you "work the system". The system sometimes seems to be more about networking and marketing yourself than doing great work. Performance reviews for many employees are once annually, too often not taken seriously, and not linked properly to bonus.
Alongside this there is a stringent and narrow grading system that requires x years in each grade and no grade hopping - if you come in at the wrong grade, its dam hard to get career enhancement commensurate with your skills and performance.
Frequent re-structures occur in certain parts of the business

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on performance management and meritocratic HR policies. Performance review processes need to be more rigorously applied, and business leaders need to work harder to find out about real performers, not just those who are very intent on shouting about themselves.

Pros

It's an unusual corporate environment where you have the security of working for a big company (and having the benefits that come with that) and the entrepreneurial space that you get from working in a startup. They're not afraid to try new things and challenge the status quo which is more than I can say for MANY other fortune 500 companies.

Cons

As with any company, there's a lot of red tape. When you want to get a project moving, it's sometimes board after board to get approval, and by the time you finally do, the project isn't really viable anymore.

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Location is nice. You have London at hand, and a good environment with your peers. There is a lot of young people bringing nice envirnment.

Cons

Paperwork is too complicated. Sometimes you get sunk under the burocracy. There is a lot of secrecy and politics concerning communications with managers and directors.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is not "protective" for employers.

Pros

Great work life balance
Respect shared by all layers of management
Sincere belief in the Code of Conduct

Cons

Too large & hierarchical
Some fat that still requires cutting
Lack of clarity in vision due to constant restructurings

Advice to Senior Management

Recultivate the mentoring framework,

Pros

Good Benefits, good pension, flexible working and free parking in sunbury.Office space is open and clean and easily accessed to technolgy across the world.ots Lunch is free also and there is a good gym on site.A FTSE 10 company so useful to have on your cv although externally there is a reaslisation of how high the turnover is of staff.The maternity policy is excellent and the level of support you get when you are pregnant is absolutely amazing.Contracters are treated with respect and get the same benefits and freedom.You can wear causal dress on a friday which is a good benefit.

Cons

Its very politcial , incredibly hard to get anything done in projects as there are too many layers of management.The level of hypocricy from senior management on cost cutting has really hit morale and Sunbury especially is a very gloomy back biting place to work.Projects are cancelled very quickly and thats really hard to see justification for and this again affects morale.There has been a headcount freeze since janaury yet the HR teams in the centre seem to be growing and growing yet the actual techncia staff are under resourced. A huge negative is the place is full of graduates who joined 10-15 years ago who have no ideas about other industries and are in senior postions which is a blockers for new entrants HR at BP especially in Sunbury is embarrsing as there are people there who dont have any HR backgrounds yet seem to be in positions of power because they know the right people.Its an environment where communication is poor, when employee surveys are taken and they dont like the results they dont share them which is really morale effecting.Leadership in the management levels is really poor , lacks inspiration and no thought leadership at all.Its like a ship with out a direction has been for last 3 years.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen but also start getting rid of the graudates who have been there forever and bring nothing new to the table especially in HR and EP Technolgy and this is the heart of your company .

Pros

Good early development opportunities and training. Very bright and interesting people. There are parts of the organisation which are very well led. There is a real opportunity to take advantage of the current market conditions to become leaner and fitter.

Cons

Very bureaucratic and slow moving so it makes it difficult to get things done in such a conservative culture. There seems to be an air of head in the sand amongst many people - maybe it's a result of too much change, too many times.

Advice to Senior Management

Really take the time to bring people along with you. This could be a very good place to work again.

Pros

The corporate culture tends to be entrepreneurial, flexible and creative. Its up to the individual to create opportunities and benefit from them - you need to be driven to progress. Also the company is very diverse and tends to be a flat organisation.

Cons

The downside of this culture is the lack of structure and constant change, that can be annoying when trying to think about your future career. It feels like your career is not in your control but in whatever management wants do do with you and your career.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop changing the firm so often and stick to the decisions you've made.

Pros

Chance to get a wide range of experience and to be exposed to all kinds of equipment. Large budget for training during the project phase. Opportunity to build a good business network during your career, to experience different aspects of mechanical engineering while working with contractors, which in turn may help you in finding your perfect next job.

Cons

Too much politics. Unfair promotions and very poor senior leadership. Failure to understand the importance of core engineering positions. Double standards between different assets in terms of benefits, salaries, promotions and career opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn from other companies which are more successful in this business. You have to understand that the most important asset that you have is people not platforms and although this is not an engineering company still the core of this asset is engineering discipline.